JP5156545B2 - Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that processes information used for publishing.

  Conventionally, editing of information such as characters and images used for publishing on paper media such as books, magazines, catalogs, and electronic media, etc., for example, desktop publishing (hereinafter referred to as DTP) software, cross-media publishing, etc. It has been performed using software called software or the like (for example, see Non-Patent Document 1), a DTP device or a system capable of realizing similar processing, and the like.

In a process of creating a normal document, it may be necessary to reduce the number of pages of a document after creating a document by laying out objects such as characters and images on a page. In the conventional information processing apparatus, the number of pages of a document on which objects are laid out is reduced as follows, for example. The user manually deletes objects such as characters and images arranged on the page while confirming the contents and the like, and the area where the deleted object is arranged is packed with objects that have not been deleted. Then, by repeating this process and filling the objects, blank pages where the created objects are not placed are deleted automatically or manually, reducing the number of pages in the entire document on which the objects are laid out. It was.
"Essential Guide [Feature Highlights for Graphic Users] ADOBE INDSIGN CS3", [online], Adobe Systems, Inc., [March 5, 2008 search], Internet, (URL: http: //www.adobe. com / jp / special / creativesuite / portal / pdf / idcs3_eg_x4_screen.pdf)

  However, in the conventional information processing apparatus, every time an object is actually deleted from the page, it is considered appropriate to delete the page by reducing the number of pages of the document after the user confirms the user. There was a need to determine which objects would be. For this reason, there is a problem that it is difficult to easily select an object to be deleted in a short time. In particular, if the user does not reach the desired number of pages as a result of deleting the object, the object to be deleted is changed again and the same processing is repeated, so the object to be deleted is selected efficiently. It was difficult.

  An information processing apparatus according to the present invention receives a layout information storage unit that can store layout information including one or more pages on which one or more objects are arranged, and a reduction instruction that is an instruction to reduce pages of the layout information. A deletion instruction receiving unit and a deletion candidate that detects a deletion candidate object that is one or more objects that are candidates to be deleted among objects arranged on one or more pages of the layout information according to the reduction instruction The information processing apparatus includes an object detection unit and an output unit that outputs information on the deletion candidate object detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit.

  With this configuration, it is possible to propose objects that are candidates to be deleted when pages are reduced. Accordingly, for example, the user can easily and quickly determine an object to be deleted when reducing pages.

  The information processing apparatus according to the present invention relates to the number of pages when the deletion candidate object is deleted in the information processing apparatus and the area where the deletion candidate object is arranged is packed with objects that are not deleted. A reduction page information acquisition unit that acquires reduction page number information, which is information, and the output unit includes information on deletion candidate objects detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit, and the number of pages acquired by the reduction page information acquisition unit Is an information processing apparatus that outputs information on the information.

  With this configuration, it is possible to output information related to the number of pages when deletion candidate objects are reduced. As a result, for example, the user can know the number of pages when the deletion candidate object is deleted, and determines whether it is appropriate to delete the deletion candidate object in comparison with the reduction result of the page number. can do.

  The information processing apparatus according to the present invention relates to the number of pages when the deletion candidate object is deleted in the information processing apparatus and the area where the deletion candidate object is arranged is packed with objects that are not deleted. A reduction page information acquisition unit that acquires reduction page number information that is information; and the reduction instruction reception unit receives the deletion instruction including reduction page designation information that is information for designating the number of pages after reduction, and The deletion candidate object detection unit detects the deletion candidate object in which the number of pages after reduction indicated by the reduction page number information acquired by the reduction page information acquisition unit is the number of pages after reduction specified by the reduction page designation information. Information processing apparatus.

  With this configuration, it is possible to detect a deletion candidate object that can reduce the number of pages of layout information to the number of pages specified by the reduced page designation information. Thereby, the user can know the deletion candidate object that can be reduced to, for example, a desired number of pages easily and in a short time.

  In the information processing apparatus of the present invention, in the information processing apparatus, the deletion candidate object detection unit may perform the matching when a plurality of objects with matching attributes specified in advance are arranged in the same page. And an information processing apparatus that detects the deletion candidate object that is at least one of the plurality of objects.

  With this configuration, an object having a matching attribute arranged on the same page can be detected as a deletion candidate object. As a result, for example, an object having a relatively low importance level and an object having the same content in the same page can be proposed as a deletion candidate object.

  In the information processing apparatus of the present invention, in the information processing apparatus, when the deletion candidate object detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit is deleted, the cost for publishing layout information is calculated using the reduced page number information. A cost calculation unit for calculating is further provided, and the output unit is an information processing apparatus that outputs information indicating the cost calculated by the cost calculation unit.

  With this configuration, it is possible to propose a cost for printing when a deletion candidate object is deleted. Thereby, for example, the user can consider whether or not the deletion candidate object is appropriately deleted in consideration of the cost related to printing.

  The information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes an object deletion instruction reception unit that receives an object deletion instruction that is an instruction to delete the deletion candidate object detected by the object detection unit, and the object deletion instruction The information processing apparatus further includes an object deletion unit that deletes the deletion candidate object to be deleted from the layout information.

  With this configuration, deletion candidate objects can be deleted, and the number of pages of layout information can be reduced.

  The information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes an object deletion instruction receiving unit that receives an object deletion instruction that is an instruction to delete the deletion candidate object detected by the object detection unit, and the object deletion instruction according to the object deletion instruction. The object deletion unit that deletes the deletion candidate object from the layout information, and the expense related to the publication of the layout information when the deletion candidate object indicated by the object deletion instruction is deleted in response to reception of the object deletion instruction Is calculated using the reduced page number information, and the output unit is an information processing apparatus that outputs information indicating the cost calculated by the cost calculation unit.

  With this configuration, it is possible to propose a cost for printing after deletion immediately before deleting the deletion candidate object. Thereby, for example, the user can confirm or reexamine whether or not the reduction is appropriate before the deletion.

  According to the information processing apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to propose an object to be deleted when reducing pages.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of an information processing apparatus and the like will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, since the component which attached | subjected the same code | symbol in embodiment performs the same operation | movement, description may be abbreviate | omitted again.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an information processing apparatus according to this embodiment.

  The information processing apparatus 1 includes a layout information storage unit 101, a reduction instruction reception unit 102, a deletion candidate object detection unit 103, a reduction page information acquisition unit 104, an output unit 105, an object deletion instruction reception unit 106, and an object deletion unit 107. To do.

  The layout information storage unit 101 can store layout information including one or more pages on which one or more objects are arranged. An object is a component of information that the information processing apparatus 1 arranges on a page, and is, for example, a character string, an image such as a moving image or a still image, or data such as 3D data. The image data may be bitmap data or vector data. The object may be data of application software that can be arranged on a page whose display contents and the like dynamically change. The object may be composed of data associated with the tag. Specifically, the object may be configured by a tag and an element of the tag, or may be configured by data indicated by information indicating a tag and a link destination set in the tag. An object usually has attributes. This attribute may be any attribute. For example, the object may have a predetermined attribute. Information indicating this attribute may be included in the object, or may be managed in association with the object. Further, for example, when the object is data tagged as described above, the tag attached to the object may be considered as the attribute of the object. An attribute associated with a tag attached to an object may be considered as an attribute of the object. For example, when a tag “<price>” is attached to a certain object as a tag indicating the attribute of the item of the object, the tag of this object may be used as the attribute of the object. Also, the “price” that is the tag of this object is the attribute value of this object. Further, for example, the attribute of the object may be an attribute regarding the structure or format of data. Moreover, the attribute based on the content which data shows may be sufficient. Further, it may be an attribute based on the use of data. Specifically, it may be an attribute for a data type such as character string data, image data, or 3D data. Further, it may be a data format such as JPEG or TIFF. Moreover, the attribute about the content of data, such as photography content, such as a product photograph and a landscape photograph, may be sufficient. Further, it may be an attribute regarding the number of characters or the data size such as less than 40 characters, 41 characters or more. Further, the attribute may be an image size such as a width of less than 300 pixels, a height of less than 500 pixels, and a width of 10 cm. Further, a part of the object may be considered as an attribute based on the content of the object. For example, a predetermined character string including data may be considered as an attribute. An object may or may not have identification information, information indicating an attribute of the object itself, or the like. Objects may be grouped. The object may be hierarchized. The group relationship between objects is managed using information for managing the group relationship. Since one or more objects are highly versatile, it is preferable to describe them using XML (extensible markup language).

  The layout information is information configured using, for example, one or more pages on which objects are arranged. The layout information may be considered as document information that is information indicating a document. The layout information usually includes information on the object and the position where the object is arranged. The layout information usually includes information indicating a page. The information on the position where the object is arranged is information indicating an area where the object is arranged, for example. The information on the position where the object is arranged may be considered as one or more pieces of coordinate information specifying the position where the object is arranged. For example, the information on the position where the object is arranged is information on one or more coordinates of the center of the object or four corners of the object. However, the object information may not be included in the layout information. For example, in the layout information, information indicating an arrangement destination of an object arranged on the page, for example, information indicating a link destination is stored, and the information of the object itself is managed by another file or the like. Good. In such a case, the object is stored in an object storage unit that is a recording medium (not shown). The object may be arranged in an arrangement area for arranging an object called a frame, a box, a layout frame, or the like. In such a case, the position where the object is arranged may be considered as the position of the arrangement area where the object is arranged. Further, the object and the arrangement area where the object is arranged are managed in association with management information or the like (not shown). However, the object may be arranged directly on the page without being arranged in the arrangement area. The layout information storage unit 101 may be a non-volatile recording medium or a volatile recording medium.

  The reduction instruction receiving unit 102 receives a reduction instruction that is an instruction to reduce a page of layout information. For example, the reduction instruction may be considered as an instruction to reduce the number of pages of a document output using layout information. The reduction instruction is, for example, an instruction to reduce pages for a plurality of pages included in the layout information. The reduction instruction may be considered as information such as an instruction. The plurality of pages may be all the pages constituting the layout information or some pages constituting the layout information. The reduction instruction may be simply an instruction for instructing to reduce pages, or may include reduction page designation information that is information for designating the target number of pages after reduction. Note that the reduced page designation information may be information that can eventually designate the number of pages after reduction, and here, it is considered to include information that designates the number of pages to be reduced. Further, the reduction instruction may include information for designating ranges of a plurality of pages to be reduced. The reduction target means that a page reduction process is executed for any one of the target pages. Further, reduction attribute designation information that is information for designating an attribute of an object used when determining a reduction candidate may be included. The reduction attribute designation information is information indicating an attribute designated by the user. In addition, the reduction attribute designation information includes information for designating a judgment condition when judging whether or not the attributes designated by the reduction attribute designation information match each other, for example, information for designating a threshold value or a matching range, etc. But it ’s okay. The reception of the reduction instruction is, for example, reception from an input unit, reception of an input signal transmitted from another device, reading of information from a recording medium, or the like. The input means for the reduction instruction may be anything such as a numeric keypad, a keyboard, a mouse, or a menu screen. The reduction instruction receiving unit 102 can be realized by a device driver for input means such as a numeric keypad or a keyboard, control software for a menu screen, or the like.

  The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 is one or more objects that are candidates to be deleted among the objects arranged on one or more pages of the layout information in accordance with the reduction instruction received by the reduction instruction reception unit 102. Detect deletion candidate objects. The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 detects a deletion candidate object from among still images, moving images, or objects that are 3D data arranged on a page.

  For example, the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 selects a deletion candidate object that is at least one of the plurality of matching objects in a case where a plurality of objects having matching attributes specified in advance are arranged in the same page. To detect. In addition, when the objects arranged on the page are grouped into one or more groups, for example, the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 includes at least a plurality of objects that are included in the same group and have a predetermined attribute matching. One is detected as a deletion candidate object. At least one of the plurality of matching objects described here may be another object that leaves one object among the plurality of matching objects. The attribute to be determined here is the attribute of the object as described above.

  The attribute designated in advance may be an attribute designated by default at the time of factory shipment, initial setting, or the like. Further, it may be an attribute designated by the reduction instruction. That is, the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 may detect one or more deletion candidate objects from among the objects arranged on one or more pages of the layout information and having an attribute specified by the reduction instruction. Good. The attribute designated by the reduction instruction is specifically an attribute designated by the reduction attribute designation information included in the reduction instruction. There may be one or a plurality of attributes designated in advance. Here, attributes themselves such as “file format” and “size” may be designated in advance, or in addition to the attributes, attribute values such as “JPEG” and “12 cm” may be designated. Good. For example, when the attribute designated in advance is “file format”, it is determined whether or not there is an object whose file formats match as described later. Further, when the attribute designated in advance is “file format is JPEG”, it is determined whether or not there is an object whose file format is “JPEG”.

  More specifically, the attribute match means that the attribute values match. That is, the predesignated attribute matches means that the predesignated attribute values of a plurality of objects match. The match described here may be a complete match or a partial match. Moreover, it is good also as a case where the similarity of attributes is more than fixed. The degree of similarity is, for example, a different ratio of characters between character strings, a value difference between numerical values indicating sizes, and the like. The ratio of the completely matching attributes among the plurality of attributes may be considered as the similarity. Further, it may be considered that the attribute is constant when the difference between the values of the attributes is smaller than a predetermined value. In addition, it may be determined that the attributes match when the pre-designated attributes of the plurality of objects are all values belonging to the same pre-designated group. Here, it may be determined whether or not one or more attributes designated in advance match, and if all the attributes match, it may be determined that the attributes match. Further, when at least one of one or more predesignated attributes matches, it may be determined that the attributes match. The attributes described here may be considered as attribute values as appropriate.

  It does not matter how the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 detects the pre-designated attributes of the objects arranged on the page. The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 may determine the attribute of the object itself and acquire attribute information, or may acquire the attribute of the object from information indicating the attribute such as a tag included in the object.

  The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 may detect a plurality of deletion candidate objects or a combination of a plurality of deletion candidate objects. For example, a plurality of deletion candidate objects or a combination of a plurality of deletion candidate objects may be detected for each attribute by switching a predetermined attribute and detecting a deletion candidate object.

  The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 detects a deletion candidate object in which the number of pages when the deletion candidate object is deleted is the number of pages after reduction specified by the reduction page designation information received by the reduction instruction reception unit 102. May be. Specifically, the number of pages after reduction indicated by the reduction page number information acquired by the reduction page information acquisition unit 104 described later is the number of pages after reduction specified by the reduction page specification information received by the reduction instruction reception unit 102. A deletion candidate object is detected. For example, each time the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 newly detects a deletion candidate object, the deletion candidate object and the deletion candidate object that has already been detected are deleted from the page indicated by the layout information. Then, the detection of the deletion candidate object may be terminated when the number of pages when the position where the deleted object is arranged is filled with other objects matches the number of pages specified by the reduced page specification information. . In addition, when a deletion candidate object is detected in advance from all pages indicated by the layout information, a combination of one or more objects is determined for the detected deletion candidate object, and the deletion candidate object included in each combination is deleted The information indicating the number of pages is acquired for each combination by the reduction page information acquisition unit 104 described later, and the number of pages after reduction acquired by the reduction page information acquisition unit 104 is specified by the reduction page designation information. The deletion candidate object combination unit 103 may detect a combination of deletion candidate objects when the number of subsequent pages matches the specified number of pages as a final deletion candidate object. The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 deletes a plurality of deletion candidate objects or a plurality of deletion objects if the number of pages indicated by the layout information becomes the number of pages after reduction specified by the reduction page designation information as a result of deleting the deletion candidate objects. A set of candidate objects may be detected. In addition, when the reduced page number information described later is information indicating the number of pages to be reduced, the number of pages after reduction described here is calculated based on the number of pages of the pages constituting the current layout information. This is the number of pages after subtracting the number of pages to reduce specified by. It should be noted that an object arranged on a page designated by the user or the like in advance may be excluded from the candidates for deletion candidate objects.

  The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 can usually be realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The deletion candidate object detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 or information indicating this object is stored in, for example, a storage medium (not shown). The processing procedure of the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The reduction page information acquisition unit 104 acquires the reduction page number information that is information regarding the number of pages when the deletion candidate object is deleted and the area where the deletion candidate object is arranged is packed with objects that are not deleted. To do. The reduced page information acquisition unit 104 acquires information on the number of deleted pages when a blank page generated by filling an object is deleted. Specifically, the reduction page information acquisition unit 104 acquires simulated reduction page number information when it is assumed that the deletion candidate object detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 has been deleted. It is not necessary to delete the actual reduction target object. It does not matter how the objects in which the deletion candidate objects are arranged are filled with which of the objects that have not been deleted. For example, the positions of the deleted objects may be filled with other objects according to a rule specified in advance. For example, by moving an object that has been placed in a predetermined direction relative to the area where the deletion candidate object is placed, for example, one of up, down, left, and right, onto the area where the deletion candidate object is placed The arrangement of the objects may be reduced. Alternatively, an order may be given to the objects in advance, and when a deletion candidate object is deleted, an area in which the deleted object is arranged may be packed with an object in the order following the deletion candidate object. However, if the object does not fit in the page when the object is packed, the object may not be packed. When packing an object, it is preferable to move the object so that the distance from another object is maintained at a predetermined value. In addition, when another object moves due to the change in the placement of the deletion candidate object, another object is moved to close the area where the other object has been placed, that is, in the order of the objects. Pack it. In this arrangement change, the arrangement of the objects is reduced over a plurality of pages. For example, when the object on the second page is deleted, the top object on the third page is moved to the second page. In addition, when objects are grouped, first, when a deletion candidate object is deleted in one group, another area in the same group is packed so that the area where the deleted object is arranged is packed. Move the object. When the area where all objects belonging to the same group are arranged is reduced, the positions of all the objects in other groups are sequentially arranged so that the area where the objects generated by this reduction are not arranged is packed. You may make it move. Note that when the object itself is a character string object, even if the shape of the area where the object is placed is changed, the content itself does not change, the content of the object is maintained when packing the object. The shape of the area where the object is arranged in the state may be changed. When each object is arranged in the arrangement area, the arrangement area may be deleted together with the deletion of the object. Further, when packing objects, the position of the arrangement area where each object is arranged may be moved. For an object that cannot be moved, information indicating that the object cannot be moved may be provided, and when this information is provided, the position of the object may not be changed. The reduction page information acquisition unit 104 can usually be realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the reduction page information acquisition unit 104 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The output unit 105 outputs information related to the deletion candidate object detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit 103. Specifically, the information regarding the deletion candidate object is information indicating the deletion candidate object. The information indicating the deletion candidate object is, for example, identification information of the deletion candidate object. The information regarding the deletion candidate object may be information indicating an attribute used when detecting the deletion candidate object. For example, it may be information indicating that “a JPEG image is an object to be deleted”. Further, when the deletion candidate object detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 is a plurality of deletion candidate objects or a plurality of sets of deletion candidate objects, all of these may be output. Further, as the information regarding the deletion candidate object, information regarding the number of pages when the deletion candidate object detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 is deleted may be output. The information related to the number of pages is information indicating the number of pages to be reduced and information indicating the number of pages after reduction. The output unit 105 may output the information regarding the number of pages in association with the information regarding the deletion candidate object. Thereby, it becomes possible for the user to know how to delete the object and how the number of pages is reduced. The number of pages when the deletion candidate object is deleted can be calculated by the reduction page information acquisition unit 104. For example, when information specifying the deletion candidate object is given to the reduction page information acquisition unit 104, the reduction page number information calculated and output by the reduction page information acquisition unit 104 is information indicating the number of pages. The output described here refers to display on a display, projection using a projector, printing on a printer, sound output, transmission to an external device, storage on a recording medium, and output to other processing devices or other programs. It is a concept including delivery of processing results. The output unit 105 may or may not include an output device such as a display or a printer. The output unit 105 can be implemented by output device driver software, or output device driver software and an output device.

  The object deletion instruction receiving unit 106 receives an object deletion instruction that is an instruction to delete the deletion candidate object detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit 103. For example, with reference to the deletion candidate object output by the output unit 105, an object deletion instruction that is an instruction to delete the deletion candidate object that the user inputs using a keyboard, a mouse, or the like is received. The object deletion instruction may include information for simply instructing deletion when the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 detects one or a set of deletion candidate objects. In addition, when there are a plurality or a plurality of sets of deletion candidate objects detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit 103, information for specifying one or a plurality of sets of deletion candidate objects detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 And information that instructs deletion. In addition, when a plurality of deletion candidate objects are detected, an instruction to delete only a part of them may be accepted. The reception described here is, for example, reception from an input unit, reception of an input signal transmitted from another device, reading of information from a recording medium, or the like. The object deletion instruction input means may be anything such as a numeric keypad, keyboard, mouse or menu screen. The object deletion instruction receiving unit 106 can be realized by a device driver of an input unit such as a numeric keypad or a keyboard, control software for a menu screen, or the like.

  The object deletion unit 107 deletes the deletion candidate object specified by the object deletion instruction received by the object deletion instruction reception unit 106 from the layout information stored in the layout information storage unit 101. Further, the deletion candidate object is deleted, and objects other than the deleted deletion candidate object are moved so as to close the area where the deleted object is arranged. In addition, when a blank page is generated by deleting a deletion candidate object and filling the deleted area with another object that has not been deleted, the blank page is deleted. When the object is arranged in the arrangement area, the arrangement area is deleted together with the deletion candidate object. Further, when the objects are arranged in the arrangement area, when the objects are packed, the position of the arrangement area in which each object is arranged is moved. The deletion here may not be a complete deletion of the object, but may be a process that makes the object not arranged on the page. For example, for a deletion candidate object arranged in a linked manner, a process of deleting link information may be performed. When the object deletion instruction receiving unit 106 receives an instruction to delete only a part of the deletion candidate object, the object deleting unit 107 may delete only the object for which the instruction has been received. The object deletion unit 107 can usually be realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the object deletion unit 107 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  Next, the operation of the information processing apparatus will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

  (Step S200) The reduction instruction receiving unit 102 determines whether or not a reduction instruction for the number of pages has been received. If accepted, the process proceeds to step S201. If not accepted, the process returns to step S200. Here, a case where the reduction instruction includes information specifying the number of pages after reduction will be described as an example.

  (Step S201) The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 substitutes 1 for a counter k.

  (Step S202) The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 has already detected the kth object arranged on the page indicated by the layout information to be reduced in the page stored in the layout information storage unit 101 as a deletion candidate object. It is determined whether or not the object has been changed. For example, it is determined whether or not a matching object is stored in a recording medium or the like in which the deletion candidate object is stored. If a matching object is stored, it is determined that the deletion candidate object has already been detected. If it is not stored, it is determined that the deletion candidate object has not already been detected. If it is determined that the object is an already detected deletion candidate object, the process proceeds to step S212. If it is determined that the object is not an already detected deletion candidate object, the process proceeds to step S203.

  (Step S203) The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 determines whether or not the k-th object has a previously designated attribute. This predesignated attribute may be an attribute designated by the reduction attribute designation information included in the reduction instruction received in step S201, or an attribute prestored in a recording medium (not shown). Also good. When it has an attribute, it progresses to step S204, and when it does not have, it progresses to step S212.

  (Step S204) The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 acquires the value of the attribute designated in advance for the kth object.

  (Step S205) The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 substitutes 0 for the counter m.

  (Step S206) The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 increments the value of the counter m by 1.

  (Step S207) The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 determines whether or not the mth object is arranged in the same page as the page where the kth object is arranged. Note that an object used as the kth object in the past may not be counted as the mth object. For example, for an object that has been used as the kth object in the past, flag information or the like is added, and an object with this flag is not counted as the mth object even if it is placed on the same page. What should I do? If it exists in the same page, the process proceeds to step S208. If not, the process proceeds to step S212.

  (Step S208) The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 determines whether or not the mth object is an object that has already been detected as a deletion candidate object. However, an object that has been used as the kth object in the past may not be used as the mth object. If it is determined that the object is an already detected deletion candidate object, the process returns to step S206. If it is determined that the object is not an already detected deletion candidate object, the process proceeds to step S209.

  (Step S209) The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 acquires a value of a previously designated attribute of the mth object. This attribute is the same attribute as the attribute described in step S204.

  (Step S210) The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 determines whether or not the attribute value of the kth object acquired in step S204 matches the attribute value of the kth object acquired in step S209. . If it is determined that they match, the process proceeds to step S211. If it is determined that they do not match, the process returns to step S206.

  (Step S211) The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 detects the m-th object as a deletion candidate object, and accumulates information indicating the mth object in a storage medium (not shown) as information indicating the deletion candidate object. . The accumulation described here may be considered as temporary storage. Instead of detecting the mth object as a deletion candidate object, the kth object may be detected and accumulated as a deletion candidate object. Then, the process proceeds to step S215.

  (Step S212) The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 increments the value of the counter k by 1.

  (Step S213) The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 determines whether or not the kth object exists. When it exists, it returns to step S202, and when it does not exist, it progresses to step S214.

  (Step S214) The output unit 105 performs output indicating that the number of pages indicated by the reduction instruction received in step S201 is not reached. Then, the process ends.

  (Step S215) The reduction page information acquisition unit 104 acquires the number of pages when the deletion candidate objects that have already been stored are deleted.

  (Step S216) The deletion candidate object detection unit 103 determines whether or not the number of pages acquired by the reduction page information acquisition unit 104 in step S215 is the number of pages indicated by the reduction instruction received in step S201. When it is the number of pages to be instructed, the process proceeds to step S217, and when it is not the number of pages to be instructed, the process returns to step S206.

  (Step S217) The output unit 105 performs output related to the deletion candidate object. For example, the information indicating the deletion candidate object accumulated in step S211 is displayed as information indicating the object to be deleted in order to reduce the number of pages indicated by the deletion instruction.

  (Step S218) The object deletion instruction receiving unit 106 determines whether a deletion instruction for a deletion candidate object detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 has been received. If accepted, the process proceeds to step S219. If not accepted, the process proceeds to step S220.

  (Step S219) The object deletion unit 107 deletes the deletion candidate object detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 from the page indicated by the layout information stored in the layout information storage unit 101. Specifically, in step S214, information indicating a deletion candidate object stored in a memory (not shown) or the like is read, and the object indicated by the read information is deleted from the page indicated by the layout information. Then, the process ends.

  (Step S220) The output unit 105 determines whether or not to end the output related to the deletion candidate object. For example, when an instruction to end is received from a user or the like via a reception unit (not shown) or the like, it is determined to end. If the output is to be terminated, the process is terminated. If the output is not to be terminated, the process returns to step S220.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 2, the process is terminated by powering off or a process termination interrupt.

  For example, the following processing may be performed instead of the processing shown in the flowchart.

  First, assuming that s objects are arranged on each page indicated by the layout information, a combination for extracting 1 to s objects from the s objects (s is an integer of 1 or more) is obtained. Then, for one of the combinations, it is determined whether or not all the objects constituting the combination satisfy the condition for detecting the deletion candidate object. This condition is a condition for making a determination substantially similar to the determination made in the above flowchart. Specifically, for one object included in one combination, among s objects, the object is arranged on the same page as the one object, and the attribute value designated in advance is set. It is determined whether there is an object that matches the one object and is not included in the same combination as the one object. This process is repeated for all objects in one combination. Then, when it is determined that there is an object satisfying such a condition for all the objects in one set, all the objects included in this combination are deleted as in step S215 described above. The number of pages is acquired, and it is determined whether or not this number of pages matches the number of pages specified by the reduction instruction, as in step S216. When the reduction instruction matches the number of pages indicated, this combination of objects becomes a combination of deletion candidate objects. Therefore, information indicating one or more objects included in this combination is used as information on the combination of deletion candidate objects. Accumulate as. Then, by repeating the same process for all the combinations described above, it is possible to obtain a combination of deletion candidate objects that can be reduced to the number of pages specified by the deletion instruction. Then, the output unit 105 outputs the combination of deletion candidate objects obtained in this way. In addition, when there is no object that satisfies the above conditions for one or more objects included in one combination, or when all the objects included in one combination are deleted, the reduction instruction is given. If the number of pages to be instructed does not match, it is determined that the objects constituting the combination are not combinations of deletion candidate objects.

  In this way, a combination of deletion candidate objects can be presented to a plurality of users, so that the user can select a preferable method for deleting objects.

  Hereinafter, a specific operation of the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described. Here, the layout information in which the total number of pages is four for ease of explanation will be described as an example. The layout information is layout information indicating a document for explaining a product.

FIG. 3 is an object management table for managing objects arranged on the page indicated by the layout information. The object management table has attributes of “object ID”, “item”, “page”, “upper left coordinate”, “lower right coordinate”, and “data”. “Object ID” is object identification information. “T01 to T12” are character string objects (hereinafter referred to as character string objects). “P01 to P12” are image objects (hereinafter referred to as image objects). “Item” is an attribute indicating the item of the object, and here is information indicating what information the object indicates about the product. For example, when the object is data in XML format, the “item” may be a tag attached to the object. In this case, if the tags of the objects match, the attributes of the objects match. “Page” is information indicating a page on which each object is arranged. “Upper left coordinate” is the upper left coordinate of the object arranged on the page, and “Lower right coordinate” is the lower right coordinate of the object arranged on the page. The value _{x L1 ~x L12, y L1 ~y} L12, x R1 ~x R12 coordinates, y _{R1 ~y R12} is assumed to be a pre-specified coordinates. “Data” is data constituting an object.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the page indicated by the layout information stored in the layout information storage unit 101. A plurality of character objects T01 to T12 and image objects P01 to P12 shown in FIG. 3 are arranged on each page. Note that the character objects T01 to T12 and the image objects P01 to P12 correspond to objects whose “object IDs” in FIG. 3 are “T01” to “T12” and “P01” to “P12”. For the sake of convenience, the character object is indicated by a dotted line to indicate the range of the object. However, it is not actually necessary to display a frame line.

  Here, it is assumed that information for designating an object having the same attribute value “item” shown in FIG. 3 as a deletion candidate object is accumulated in a storage medium (not shown) or the like.

  First, it is assumed that the user gives an instruction to the information processing apparatus 1 to reduce the number of pages of layout information shown in FIG. The reduction instruction receiving unit 102 receives a reduction instruction for reducing the number of pages to three pages.

  Next, the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 determines whether or not the first object among the objects shown in FIG. 3 has an attribute “item” designated in advance. Here, since the object having the first object “object ID” “T01” has the attribute “item”, the attribute value “item headline” attribute “item” is acquired. .

  Next, the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 first determines whether or not the second object is arranged on the same page as the first object. Here, since the values of the “page” attribute in the object management table match, it is determined that they are arranged on the same page. Therefore, it is determined whether or not the value of the “item” attribute of the second object matches the value “product headline” of the “item” attribute of the first object. Here, it is determined that the attributes match if the part of the character string constituting the attribute value matches the portion excluding the numbers. Since the value of the “item” attribute of the second object is “main image”, it is determined that they do not match here.

  Therefore, for the third and subsequent objects, similarly to the second object, a process of determining whether or not the value of the “item” attribute matches the first object is performed. Here, the value of the “item” attribute matches that of the first object when the process of determining whether or not the value of the “item” attribute of the sixth object matches that of the first object is completed. Suppose no object was detected.

  Here, there are five objects arranged on the same page as the first object, and the sixth object arranged on the same page as the first object is not detected. The process of detecting an object having the same item attribute in the same page is terminated. The same process is repeated for the second and subsequent objects. Here, as a result of repeating the same processing as described above for the second and third objects, it is assumed that there is no object having the same “item” attribute value as the second and third objects in the same page. .

  Next, the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 acquires the “item” attribute value “description image 1” for the fourth object whose “object ID” is “P02”. Then, in the same manner as described above, it is sequentially determined whether or not objects having the same “item” attribute value exist on the same page.

  Here, since the “page ID” is “1”, the sixth object whose “object ID” is “P03” is determined to be arranged on the same page as the first object. Further, the value of the “item” attribute of the sixth object is “explanation image 2”, the “item” attribute of the fourth object is “explanation image 1”, and the portions excluding the numbers are both “explanation image”. ”And match, it is determined that the“ item ”attribute matches. For this reason, the fourth object and the sixth object are arranged on the same page, and it is determined that the “item” attribute which is a predetermined attribute matches. The th object is detected as a deletion candidate object. Then, the “object ID” of the detected sixth object is stored in a memory or the like (not shown).

  Next, the reduction page information acquisition unit 104 calculates the number of pages when all the deletion candidate objects detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 are deleted. For example, here, when an object is deleted, the objects arranged at the respective positions are moved in order of the right side, the lower left side, and the lower side of the deleted object so as to fill the deleted area. Is specified in advance.

  Here, assuming that only the object P03 of the sixth record whose “object ID” is “P03” is detected as a deletion candidate object, the reduction page information acquisition unit 104 deletes the image object P03 from one page. The page is simulated and the number of pages is counted.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating a state in which an object moves when the object P03 of the sixth record whose “object ID” is “P03” is deleted. As indicated by arrows in FIG. 5, the arrangement of the objects after the object P03 changes so as to close the position of the object P03. It can also be seen that the number of pages does not reach 3 pages, which is the number of pages specified by the reduction instruction, simply by deleting the object P03.

  For this reason, the information processing apparatus 1 performs the same processing for each page. As a result of repeating such processing, it is assumed that “object ID” “P03”, “P06”, “P09”, and “P12” are detected as deletion target objects by the deletion candidate object detection unit 103.

  FIG. 6 is a deletion candidate object management table for managing deletion candidate objects detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 and accumulated in a storage medium (not shown). The deletion candidate object management table manages deletion candidate objects based on the “object ID” of the deletion candidate object.

  Next, the reduction page information acquisition unit 104 counts the number of pages when the deletion candidate objects managed in the deletion candidate object management table shown in FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically illustrating the state of the page when the objects P03, P06, P09, and P12 whose “object ID” is “P03”, “P06”, “P09”, and “P12” are deleted. . As shown in FIG. 7, by deleting the position of the deleted object with another object existing on the same page or an object existing on another continuous page, the object is displayed on the fourth page of the document. None of them are arranged. For this reason, the reduction page information acquisition unit 104 outputs a result indicating that the number of pages is 3 when it is assumed that the deletion candidate object is reduced.

  Based on this result, the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 ends the detection of the deletion candidate object, and the output unit 105 displays information indicating the deletion candidate object managed in the deletion candidate object management table as shown in FIG. For example, a character string “description image” indicating the object ID and the attribute value of the object to be deleted is output to a monitor (not shown).

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an output example in which the output unit 105 notifies the deletion candidate object.

  For example, when the user inputs an instruction to delete the deletion candidate object output by the output unit 105 by operating a mouse, a keyboard, or the like, the deletion instruction reception unit 106 receives the deletion instruction, and the object deletion unit 107 deletes the deletion candidate object from the layout information page.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to suggest to the user what objects should be deleted in order to reduce the number of pages. This eliminates the need for trial and error processing for adjusting the number of pages while manually deleting objects in order to reduce pages, thereby improving the efficiency and speed of the processing for reducing the number of pages.

  For example, when an object having a predetermined attribute that matches the same page is arranged, it is possible to propose to the user to delete at least one of the objects. In particular, when this predetermined attribute is a tag attached to an object, when an object with a tag that matches the same page is arranged, information for proposing at least one of the objects as a deletion candidate object is: Can be output to the user. Usually, the same tag is assigned to the same content or the same item, etc., so that it is possible to propose an object having another similar item as a deletion candidate by such processing. It becomes.

  In particular, since it is possible to propose deletion candidate objects to be deleted so that the number of pages specified by the user is reached, the user can reduce the number of pages of the document to a predetermined number of pages. You can easily know which pages to reduce.

(Embodiment 2)
The information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment calculates and outputs the cost for publishing when the deletion candidate object detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 is deleted in the information processing apparatus described in the first embodiment. It is a thing.

  FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The information processing apparatus 2 includes a layout information storage unit 101, a reduction instruction reception unit 102, a deletion candidate object detection unit 103, a reduction page information acquisition unit 104, an object deletion instruction reception unit 106, an object deletion unit 107, a cost calculation unit 208, and An output unit 209 is provided.

  The configurations of the layout information storage unit 101, the reduction instruction reception unit 102, the deletion candidate object detection unit 103, the reduction page information acquisition unit 104, the object deletion instruction reception unit 106, and the object deletion unit 107 are the same as those in the above embodiment. Therefore, detailed description is omitted here.

  The cost calculation unit 208 calculates the cost for publishing the layout information when the deletion candidate object detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 is deleted using the reduced page number information. Specifically, the value of the reduction page number indicated by the reduction page number information is substituted into a formula or the like that is stored in advance in a storage unit (not shown) or the like that indicates the relationship between the number of publication pages and the cost related to publication. To calculate the cost of publishing. The costs related to publishing may be any costs as long as they are costs related to publishing. For example, it may be a printing cost or a cost when the book is finally bound. Further, the cost to be calculated may be the cost per book or the entire cost. The formula showing the relationship between the number of pages of publication and the cost related to publication is, for example, the formula showing the product of printing cost and the number of pages after reducing the paper price to the number of pages indicated by the reduced page number information It is. Further, the cost related to publishing may be a cost that can be reduced when pages are reduced. For example, such a reduced cost is expressed by an expression indicating a difference between a printing cost calculated from the number of pages before reduction and a printing cost when the number of pages indicated by the reduced page number information is reduced. The number of pages described here may be adjusted according to information for setting whether or not the page to be printed is a spread page. For example, for spread pages, one page may be counted as two pages when calculating costs related to publishing. In addition, when calculating the printing cost or calculating the cost that can be reduced, the formula that multiplies or adds the cost required for printing such as ink cost is used as the formula to calculate the printing cost or the cost that can be reduced. It may be used. In addition, the formula indicating the relationship between the number of pages of a publication and the cost related to publication may be a formula indicating the cost related to publication as a product of the number of publications of the publication and the number of pages of the publication. In this case, the value of the number of publishing copies may be received from the user via a receiving unit (not shown) or a predesignated value stored in a recording medium (not shown) may be read. Also, it may be a formula including parameters related to other factors, for example, basic fee for printing, page size, number of colors, ink price, and the like. The values of these parameters may be received from the user via a receiving unit (not shown) or the like, and predesignated values stored in a recording medium (not shown) may be read. Further, when calculating the costs related to publishing, if the relationship between the page size and the number of pages is a relationship specified in advance, the calculation formulas and parameters may be changed. For example, since printing usually involves allocating multiple pages on a large sheet of paper, use it to calculate costs when the number of pages to be printed and the size of the pages to be printed are optimal for allocation. You may make it change suitably a formula, a parameter, etc. to do. For example, when printing 8 sheets of A4 size pages, printing can be performed by allocating to one large sheet of paper, so the cost is set using a formula provided exclusively for printing 8 sheets of A4 size pages. In other cases, the cost may be calculated by an expression in which the charge per page is added according to the number of pages. When the reduction instruction receiving unit 102 receives an object deletion instruction including a plurality of reduction attribute designation information that is information for designating attributes of deletion candidate objects, the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 designates each reduction attribute designation information. The deletion candidate object is detected for each attribute to be deleted, and the reduction page information acquisition unit 104 acquires the reduction page number information for each attribute specified by each reduction attribute specification information, and the cost calculation unit 208 However, the cost may be calculated for each attribute specified by each reduction attribute specifying information. Then, the output unit 209 described later may output the cost calculated by the cost calculation unit 208 for each attribute specified by each reduction attribute specifying information. As a result, it is possible to calculate the cost when the object is deleted for the attribute designated by the user. As a result, the user can know what cost is required for publication when using which attribute as a condition for reduction. The timing at which the cost calculation unit 208 calculates the cost does not matter. For example, the cost may be calculated when the reduction page information acquisition unit 104 acquires the reduction page number information. Further, the cost may be calculated when the object deletion instruction receiving unit 106 receives a deletion instruction. Note that when the object deletion instruction receiving unit 106 receives a deletion instruction for deleting some deletion candidate objects, the cost for publishing when only the object specified by the deletion instruction is deleted may be calculated. In this case, before calculating the cost, the reduction page information acquisition unit 104 acquires the reduction page number information when only the object specified by the deletion instruction is reduced, and the cost calculation unit 208 displays the reduction page number information. The cost may be calculated using.

  In the above description, the cost when publishing is performed on a physical medium such as a paper medium is mainly described. However, the publishing cost calculated by the cost calculation unit 208 is the same as that published on a paper medium. If the publication is performed on an electronic medium such as a web page, an electronic file that can be read and displayed by software, so-called electronic paper or an electronic book, etc. You can think of it as an expense. In the case of publishing on an electronic medium or the like, the above-mentioned factors such as paper fee and ink fee may not be taken into account when calculating the cost as described above. Note that publication on an electronic medium or the like may be considered as printing on an electronic medium or the like.

  The cost calculation unit 208 can usually be realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the cost calculation unit 208 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded in a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The output unit 209 outputs information indicating the cost calculated by the cost calculation unit 208. Specifically, information indicating the cost calculated when the deletion candidate object is deleted is output in association with the deletion candidate object. The information indicating the cost is, for example, an amount. Since the other configuration and processing of the output unit 209 are the same as those in the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted here.

  Next, the operation of the information processing apparatus 2 will be described using the flowchart of FIG. 2 denote the same or corresponding processing steps.

  (Step S1001) The cost calculation unit 208 calculates a cost related to publishing using the reduced page number information acquired in step S215. For example, the cost is calculated by substituting the post-reduction page number indicated by the reduced page number information together with parameters prepared in advance into an equation for calculating the cost specified in advance.

  (Step S1002) The output unit 209 outputs an output related to the deletion candidate object and an expense related to the publication acquired in step S1001. For example, the information indicating the deletion candidate object accumulated in step S211 is displayed as information indicating the object to be deleted in order to reduce the number of pages indicated by the deletion instruction.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 10, the process ends when the power is turned off or the process ends.

  In the case where the cost is calculated in response to the reception of the delete instruction, in the flowchart shown in FIG. 2, the cost calculation unit 208 uses the reduced page number information acquired in step S215 immediately before step S219. A step of calculating a cost related to publication, a step in which the output unit 209 outputs the cost calculated by the cost calculation unit 208, and a step of determining whether or not an instruction to execute the deletion again has been received are added and deleted again. Only when an instruction to execute is accepted, the process proceeds to step S219, and when it is not accepted, the process may be terminated. The process of determining whether or not an instruction to execute the deletion again is accepted can be considered as a process of confirming whether or not the deletion can actually be executed.

  Furthermore, when the deletion instruction is information for instructing deletion of a part of the deletion candidate object, the reduction page information acquisition unit 104 performs the deletion instruction immediately before the cost calculation unit 208 calculates the cost for publication. You may make it perform the process which acquires the reduction page number information at the time of deleting only the deleted page.

Next, a specific example of the present embodiment will be described.
First, similarly to the specific example of the above-described embodiment, the reduction page number information acquired by the reduction page information acquisition unit 104 is specified by the reduction instruction for the deletion candidate object detection unit 103 to detect the deletion candidate object. Suppose it is repeated until it matches the number of pages. Then, when the reduction page number information acquired by the reduction page information acquisition unit 104 matches the number of pages specified by the reduction instruction, the cost calculation unit 208 calculates a cost related to publication. Specifically, using the reduction page number information acquired by the reduction page information acquisition unit 104 and information specifying the number of publications of a book to be published using layout information, the cost is calculated as follows. . Here, as an example, a case where publication is publication on a paper medium will be described as an example.

For example, it is assumed that the printing cost per page is a yen and the number of copies is b (where a and b are positive integers). In this case, assuming that the number of pages when the number of pages indicated by the number of reduced pages acquired by the reduced page information acquisition unit 104 is t pages, the formula for calculating the printing cost p, which is the cost related to publishing, is
p = a * b * t
It becomes.

  Here, the number of pages indicated by the reduction page number information, that is, the number of pages specified by the reduction instruction is 200 pages, the printing cost per page specified in advance is 10 yen / sheet, and the number of copies issued in advance is specified. If it is 1000 volumes, the printing cost calculated from the above formula is 2,000,000 yen.

  Then, as illustrated in FIG. 11, the output unit 209 displays the output related to the deletion candidate object and the cost calculated by the cost calculation unit 208 on a monitor or the like.

  The printing cost when not reduced is calculated using the same formula as above, and the difference between the calculated printing cost before reduction and the printing cost after reduction calculated above is calculated as the cost to be reduced. You may make it display as a price to show.

In the above specific example, the example of calculating the publishing cost when publishing is performed on a paper medium has been described. However, in this embodiment, the cost when publishing on a medium other than paper is described. It may be calculated. For example, an example in which publication is performed on a WEB page which is one of electronic media will be described. For example, for one WEB page described using HTML or the like, the publication fee for displaying one page of information constituting layout information is Q yen (Q is a positive value), and reduced page information is acquired. When the number of pages when the number of pages indicated by the reduced number of pages acquired by the section 104 is reduced to t pages, the calculation formula for the publication cost R is
R = Q × t
It becomes.

  Therefore, for example, if the number of pages indicated by the reduction page number information, that is, the number of pages specified by the reduction instruction is 10 pages, and the publishing cost per page of the WEB page specified in advance is 40,000 yen / page. The publication cost calculated from the above formula is 400,000 yen. Then, the calculated cost may be output to a monitor or the like in the same manner as described above.

  Calculate the publishing costs for electronic media that are not reduced using the same formula as above, and reduce the difference between the calculated publishing costs before the reduction and the publishing costs after the reduction calculated above. You may make it display as a price which shows the cost to be performed. In addition, when the number of browsing for the published electronic medium can be limited, the cost obtained by multiplying the publication cost R by a charge corresponding to the number of browsing specified in advance may be used as the publication cost. Needless to say, the calculation formula for the cost related to publication may be a formula other than the above formula.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the information related to the reduction candidate object detected in response to the reduction instruction and the publication cost when the reduction candidate object is deleted are presented to the user. Can do. Thereby, the user can determine whether or not the deletion candidate object is appropriately deleted not only from the number of pages but also from the cost aspect, and more appropriate page reduction is possible.

  Note that the cost calculation in this embodiment may be performed when an instruction to print layout information is received. For example, the information processing apparatus 2 further includes a print instruction receiving unit (not shown) that receives a print instruction that is an instruction to print layout information, and a print unit (not shown) that prints layout information in response to the print instruction. ), And instead of the cost calculation unit 208, a print cost calculation unit (not shown) that calculates the print cost using the number of pages of the current layout information is provided, and the output unit 209 receives the print instruction When the printing unit receives a printing instruction, the cost calculation unit may output information indicating the printing cost. The printing described here is not limited to printing on a physical medium such as a paper medium, and is a concept including electronic printing.

  In each of the above embodiments, each process (each function) may be realized by centralized processing by a single device (system), or by distributed processing by a plurality of devices. May be.

  In the above embodiment, information related to processing executed by each component, for example, information received, acquired, selected, generated, transmitted, and received by each component. In addition, information such as threshold values, mathematical formulas, addresses, etc. used by each component in processing is retained temporarily or over a long period of time on a recording medium (not shown) even when not explicitly stated in the above description. It may be. Further, the storage of information in the recording medium (not shown) may be performed by each component or a storage unit (not shown). Further, reading of information from the recording medium (not shown) may be performed by each component or a reading unit (not shown).

  Further, although cases have been described with the above embodiments where the information processing apparatus is a stand-alone, the information processing apparatus may be a stand-alone apparatus or a server apparatus in a server / client system. In the latter case, the output unit or the reception unit receives an input or outputs a screen via a communication line.

  In each of the above embodiments, each component may be configured by dedicated hardware, or a component that can be realized by software may be realized by executing a program. For example, each component can be realized by a program execution unit such as a CPU reading and executing a software program recorded on a recording medium such as a hard disk or a semiconductor memory.

  The software that realizes the information processing apparatus in each of the above embodiments is a program as described below. In other words, this program causes the computer to receive a reduction instruction that is an instruction to reduce a page of layout information that includes one or more pages on which one or more objects are arranged and that is stored in the layout information storage unit. A deletion candidate object detection that detects a deletion candidate object that is one or more objects that are candidates to be deleted among objects arranged on one or more pages of the layout information in accordance with the reduction instruction. And a program for functioning as an output unit that outputs information related to the deletion candidate object detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit.

  In the program, the functions realized by the program do not include functions that can be realized only by hardware. For example, a function that can be realized only by hardware such as a modem or an interface card in an acquisition unit that acquires information or an output unit that outputs information is not included in the function realized by the program.

  Further, the computer that executes this program may be singular or plural. That is, centralized processing may be performed, or distributed processing may be performed.

  FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an external appearance of a computer that executes the program and realizes the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment. The above-described embodiment can be realized by computer hardware and a computer program executed on the computer hardware.

  In FIG. 12, a computer system 900 includes a computer 901 including a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) drive 905 and an FD (Floppy (registered trademark) Disk) drive 906, a keyboard 902, a mouse 903, a monitor 904, and the like. Is provided.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of the computer system 900. In FIG. 13, in addition to the CD-ROM drive 905 and the FD drive 906, a computer 901 is connected to an MPU (Micro Processing Unit) 911, a ROM 912 for storing a program such as a bootup program, and the MPU 911. A RAM (Random Access Memory) 913 that temporarily stores program instructions and provides a temporary storage space, a hard disk 914 that stores application programs, system programs, and data, and an MPU 911 and a ROM 912 are interconnected. And a bus 915. The computer 901 may include a network card (not shown) that provides connection to the LAN.

  A program that causes the computer system 900 to execute the functions of the information processing apparatus according to the above-described embodiment is stored in the CD-ROM 921 or FD 922, inserted into the CD-ROM drive 905 or FD drive 906, and transferred to the hard disk 914. May be. Instead, the program may be transmitted to the computer 901 via a network (not shown) and stored in the hard disk 914. The program is loaded into the RAM 913 when executed. The program may be loaded directly from the CD-ROM 921, the FD 922, or the network.

  The program does not necessarily include an operating system (OS) or a third-party program that causes the computer 901 to execute the functions of the information processing apparatus according to the above-described embodiment. The program may include only a part of an instruction that calls an appropriate function (module) in a controlled manner and obtains a desired result. How the computer system 900 operates is well known and will not be described in detail.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible, and it goes without saying that these are also included in the scope of the present invention.

  As described above, the information processing apparatus according to the present invention is suitable as an apparatus for processing layout information used for publishing and the like, and particularly useful as an apparatus for processing layout information in which objects are arranged. is there.

Block diagram of the information processing apparatus in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Flow chart for explaining the operation of the information processing apparatus The figure which shows an example of the object management table for demonstrating the information processing apparatus The figure which shows the example of a display of the page which layout information shows in order to demonstrate the information processing apparatus The figure which simulates the state of the page which deleted the object for demonstrating the information processing apparatus Deletion candidate object management table for explaining the information processing apparatus The figure which simulates the state of the page at the time of deleting the object for demonstrating the information processing apparatus The figure which shows the output example of the information processing apparatus The block diagram of the information processing apparatus in Embodiment 2 of this invention Flow chart for explaining the operation of the information processing apparatus The figure which shows the output example of the information processing apparatus 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the appearance of a computer that implements an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows an example of the internal structure of the computer which implement | achieves the information processing apparatus by embodiment of this invention

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 2 Information processing apparatus 101 Layout information storage part 102 Reduction instruction reception part 103 Deletion candidate object detection part 104 Reduction page information acquisition part 105,209 Output part 106 Object deletion instruction reception part 107 Object deletion part 208 Cost calculation part

Claims (11)

A layout information storage unit capable of storing layout information including one or more pages on which one or more objects are arranged;
A reduction instruction receiving unit that receives a reduction instruction that is an instruction to reduce the page of the layout information;
In response to the reduction instruction, a deletion candidate object detection unit that detects a deletion candidate object that is one or more objects that are candidates to be deleted among objects arranged on one or more pages of the layout information;
An output unit that outputs information on the deletion candidate object detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit ;
A reduction page information acquisition unit that acquires reduction page number information that is information related to the number of pages when the deletion candidate object is deleted and the area where the deletion candidate object is arranged is packed with objects that are not deleted; In addition,
The information processing apparatus , wherein the output unit outputs information on a deletion candidate object detected by a deletion candidate object detection unit and information on the number of pages acquired by the reduction page information acquisition unit . A layout information storage unit capable of storing layout information including one or more pages on which one or more objects are arranged;
A reduction instruction receiving unit that receives a reduction instruction that is an instruction to reduce the page of the layout information;
In response to the reduction instruction, a deletion candidate object detection unit that detects a deletion candidate object that is one or more objects that are candidates to be deleted among objects arranged on one or more pages of the layout information;
An output unit that outputs information on the deletion candidate object detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit;
A reduction page information acquisition unit that acquires reduction page number information that is information related to the number of pages when the deletion candidate object is deleted and the area where the deletion candidate object is arranged is packed with objects that are not deleted; In addition,
The reduction instruction receiving unit receives the deletion instruction including reduction page designation information that is information for designating the number of pages after reduction,
The deletion candidate object detection unit detects the deletion candidate object in which the number of pages after reduction indicated by the reduction page number information acquired by the reduction page information acquisition unit is the number of pages after reduction specified by the reduction page designation information. detection to that information processing apparatus. The deletion candidate object detection unit detects the deletion candidate object that is at least one of the plurality of matching objects when a plurality of objects with matching predetermined attributes are arranged in the same page. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 . The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the deletion candidate object detection unit detects the deletion candidate object from an object that is a still image, a moving image, or 3D data. A cost calculation unit that calculates a cost for publishing layout information when the deletion candidate object detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit is deleted, using the reduced page number information;
The output unit, the information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein any one of claims 1 to output information indicating the cost of the cost calculation unit is calculated. An object deletion instruction receiving unit that receives an object deletion instruction that is an instruction to delete the deletion candidate object detected by the object detection unit;
The deletion candidate objects object deletion instruction specifies information processing apparatus in accordance with claim 5 further from claim 1 and a object deleting unit for deleting from the layout information. An object deletion instruction receiving unit that receives an object deletion instruction that is an instruction to delete the deletion candidate object detected by the object detection unit;
An object deletion unit that deletes the deletion candidate object from the layout information in response to the object deletion instruction;
A cost calculation unit that calculates a cost for publishing layout information when the deletion candidate object indicated by the object deletion instruction is deleted in response to the reception of the object deletion instruction, using the reduced page number information; ,
The output unit, the information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein any one of claims 1 to output information indicating the cost of the cost calculation unit is calculated. A layout information storage unit that can store layout information including one or more pages in which one or more objects are arranged, a reduction instruction reception unit, a deletion candidate object detection unit, an output unit, and a reduction page information acquisition unit; An information processing method performed using
A reduction instruction receiving step, wherein the reduction instruction receiving unit receives a reduction instruction that is an instruction to reduce a page of the layout information;
In response to the reduction instruction, the deletion candidate object detection unit detects a deletion candidate object that is one or more objects that are candidates to be deleted among objects arranged on one or more pages of the layout information. A deletion candidate object detection step;
The output unit includes an output step of outputting information on the deletion candidate object detected in the deletion candidate object detection step ;
In the case where the deletion candidate object is deleted, the reduction page information acquisition unit displays reduction page number information that is information regarding the number of pages when the area where the deletion candidate object is arranged is packed with objects that are not deleted. It further comprises a reduction page information acquisition step to acquire,
The information output method in which the output step outputs information on the deletion candidate object detected in the deletion candidate object detection step and information on the number of pages acquired in the reduction page information acquisition step . A layout information storage unit that can store layout information including one or more pages in which one or more objects are arranged, a reduction instruction reception unit, a deletion candidate object detection unit, an output unit, and a reduction page information acquisition unit; An information processing method performed using
A reduction instruction receiving step, wherein the reduction instruction receiving unit receives a reduction instruction that is an instruction to reduce a page of the layout information;
In response to the reduction instruction, the deletion candidate object detection unit detects a deletion candidate object that is one or more objects that are candidates to be deleted among objects arranged on one or more pages of the layout information. A deletion candidate object detection step;
The output unit includes an output step of outputting information on the deletion candidate object detected in the deletion candidate object detection step;
In the case where the deletion candidate object is deleted, the reduction page information acquisition unit displays reduction page number information that is information regarding the number of pages when the area where the deletion candidate object is arranged is packed with objects that are not deleted. It further comprises a reduction page information acquisition step to acquire,
The reduction instruction receiving step receives the deletion instruction including reduction page designation information that is information for designating the number of pages after reduction,
In the deletion candidate object detection step, the deletion candidate object in which the number of pages after reduction indicated by the reduction page number information acquired in the reduction page information acquisition step is the number of pages after reduction specified by the reduction page designation information. Information processing method to be detected. Computer
A reduction instruction receiving unit that receives a reduction instruction, which is an instruction to reduce pages, of layout information including one or more pages on which one or more objects are arranged, stored in the layout information storage unit;
In response to the reduction instruction, a deletion candidate object detection unit that detects a deletion candidate object that is one or more objects that are candidates to be deleted among objects arranged on one or more pages of the layout information;
A program for functioning as an output unit that outputs information on a deletion candidate object detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit ,
Computer
When the deletion candidate object is deleted, a reduction page information acquisition unit that acquires reduction page number information that is information related to the number of pages when the area where the deletion candidate object is arranged is packed with objects that are not deleted Make it work,
The said output part is a program which outputs the information regarding the deletion candidate object which the deletion candidate object detection part detected, and the information regarding the number of pages which the said reduction page information acquisition part acquired. Computer
A reduction instruction receiving unit that receives a reduction instruction, which is an instruction to reduce pages, of layout information including one or more pages on which one or more objects are arranged, stored in the layout information storage unit;
In response to the reduction instruction, a deletion candidate object detection unit that detects a deletion candidate object that is one or more objects that are candidates to be deleted among objects arranged on one or more pages of the layout information;
A program for functioning as an output unit that outputs information on a deletion candidate object detected by the deletion candidate object detection unit,
Computer
When the deletion candidate object is deleted, a reduction page information acquisition unit that acquires reduction page number information that is information related to the number of pages when the area where the deletion candidate object is arranged is packed with objects that are not deleted Make it work,
The reduction instruction receiving unit receives the deletion instruction including reduction page designation information that is information for designating the number of pages after reduction,
The deletion candidate object detection unit detects the deletion candidate object in which the number of pages after reduction indicated by the reduction page number information acquired by the reduction page information acquisition unit is the number of pages after reduction specified by the reduction page designation information. The program to detect.

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