JPH0214367A - Method for retrieving and displaying document - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily execute the control, referring and registration of a correspondence relation data base by providing the correspondence relation data base which can refer and register correspondence relation between related spots in a system. CONSTITUTION:A part of a first document is displayed in the frame f a CRT 51. Here, an operator designates a certain spot 52 in a document 51 by executing position designation in a screen and the system specifies a related spot 53 from the position, document data 11, which go to be the source of display, and correspondence relation data base 2. Next, the document data 11 to include the specified spot 53 are searched in the system, arranged in the suitable position of the screen and displayed. Thus, the document to include the spot 53 is parallelly displayed in the frame of a CRT 54 and the operator can efficiently display and obtain necessary information. Then, the plural related documents can be read as compared with each other.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an electronic document information system, and in particular, to a display terminal of the system, it is possible to register related parts within a document or between multiple documents. The present invention relates to a system having a method for automatically and immediately displaying related parts in juxtaposition.

[Conventional technology]

In electronic filing systems and the like that display documents page by page, the function of adding bookmarks to pages desired by an operator has been put into practical use. In addition, a system with a bookmark function that can assign and display keywords such as names to individual bookmarks that have been attached to multiple bookmarks has also been put into practical use.By using the 0 book function, the operator can By adding bookmarks, you can immediately find the desired page on the display screen.

Furthermore, as described in ``Item Information Display Method'' in JP-A No. 60-15736, there is also a method for displaying more detailed information about displayed items in response to instructions from the operator during interactive processing on a computer. be.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

With the bookmark function of the conventional system mentioned above, it was only possible to search page by page, so even if the desired page was displayed,
It was difficult to immediately determine the desired location within the page. In addition, to clarify the purpose and meaning of each bookmark, you can add keywords to each bookmark by inputting them from the keyboard, etc.

It was necessary to identify the bookmarks by the operator's own operations.

In a system such as that described in JP-A-60-15736, "Item Information Display Method," selection items and corresponding information to be displayed are determined in advance in the program that controls the system or in the form of control data. Therefore, the operator can view information prepared in advance by the system only for items that are allowed to be selected on the screen.

On the other hand, literature searches using keywords are being performed for literature information accumulated in electronic databases. However, in this case, only the presence or absence of a relationship with the keyword for the entire document in the - edition is registered, and it is not possible to search and display mutually related parts within the document in the - edition or within multiple documents. Not done.

The purpose of the present invention is to make it possible to easily search for and display related parts between multiple related parts within one document, or between documents, once the correspondence between related parts is registered. .

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a correspondence database in the system that can refer to and register the correspondence between related locations, and manages, references, and stores the correspondence database.
Provides a man-machine interface that facilitates registration.

[Effect]

FIG. 2 shows an example of the screen of the terminal 5 when the present invention is implemented. Initially, a part of the document is displayed within a frame 51.

Here, the operator specifies a certain location 52 within the document 51 by specifying the location on the screen, and the system identifies the related location 53 from the document data that is the source of the location and display, and the correspondence database. .

Next, the system is searched for document data including the identified portion 53, and it is placed and displayed at an appropriate position on the screen. As a result, the documents including the section 53 are displayed side by side within the frame 54 as shown in Fig. 2, and the operator can efficiently display and obtain the information he/she needs, and can also view multiple related documents. You can read and compare.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In step 101, a text, a diagram, a page of a document containing them, or a part of the page is displayed. This is normally displayed based on instructions from the operator, and scrolling and page turning are performed.

In step 102, the operator looks at the displayed content and specifies a certain location. This is operated when the operator desires, so the system is on standby. Also, various tools can be used to provide instructions to the operator. For example, moving the cursor and pressing a certain key,
The present invention can be carried out using any of the methods, such as moving a mouse and pressing a button, direct instructions using a transparent tablet placed directly on the display screen, or a separate tablet.6103 In step 102, for the position on the screen designated in step 102, do you call up a location related to the designated location that has already been registered in the correspondence database that stores correspondence data, or call a new, related location? The operator selects whether to register the location. This can be done, for example, by displaying a pop-up menu on the screen and asking the operator to make a selection immediately after specifying the position in step 102.The correspondence database and its data will be described in detail later. do.

Also, in step 103, already! It may also be possible to specify deletion of correspondence data recorded in i from the correspondence database.

In step 104, when the operator selects to call up a related location in step 103, data specifying the related location is read from the correspondence database.

In step 105, based on the correspondence data obtained in step 104, the portion including the target location is displayed together with the display 101.

In step 106, when the operator selects new registration of a related location in step 103, the operator specifies a location to be associated with the location specified in step 102. Note that before specifying this step, the display of the text may be changed by scrolling, turning pages, etc. Also, step 1
A portion other than the display of 01 may be displayed separately in parallel, and the position may be specified for that display.

In step 107, data specifying the location specified in step 102 and the location specified in step 106 is written into a portion of the correspondence database that is permitted to be registered by the operator. Also, here, both the locations specified in steps 102 and 106 may be highlighted or an icon or the like may be displayed to indicate that a related document exists.This will be described in detail later. This makes it easy to recall related documents when rereading.

After step 105 and step 107, the process returns to step 102 and waits for the next operation.
Before the pointing in step 2, the display of the text may be changed by scrolling, turning pages, etc., and in that case, the process returns to step 102.

Further, the present invention may be applied to the document displayed in step 105. That is, this can be achieved by providing the same steps as steps 102 to 107 after step 105 and providing the same flow as steps 101 to 107. Any number of layers may be provided.

Further, the present invention can also be implemented as shown in the flowchart of FIG.

In FIG. 4, steps 101 to 107 are the same as in FIG. 3. In step 108, step 1
It is determined whether the correspondence between the location on the screen designated in step 02 and a related location has already been registered in the correspondence database. If the correspondence relationship has already been registered, the process proceeds to the selection step 103, and the process is carried out in the same manner as described in FIG. 3 below. On the other hand, if it is not registered, 1
Proceed to instruction step 06. At this time, a display or the like may be displayed to prompt the operator to input the second instruction location.

Next, the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

There is one piece of document data 11 read out from the literature database 1. Also, from the correspondence database 2,
Correspondence data 21 related to document data 11 is read. The document data 11 is character string code data lla
and format data llb. Format data llb and character string code data lla of a certain page of the document are sent to the drawing processing section 3, and a part of the document is written into the frame memory 4 based on them. The contents of the frame memory 4 are immediately displayed on the CRT 5. A transparent tablet 6 is installed overlapping the display surface of 5. When the operator specifies a certain word in the displayed text by touch, the tablet input circuit 7 calculates the screen coordinate value 71 and the touch type 72, and furthermore, the screen coordinate value 71 is sent to the designated point indexing section 8. is input. Here, the touch type 72 refers to a predetermined type of touch method, such as the number of consecutive touches.

Here, in order to find the designated location, the designated location identifying section 8 calculates the data 81 that identifies the designated location based on the document format data llb and the screen coordinate values 71. This will be explained in detail when explaining the correspondence data.

The touch type 72 determined by the tablet input circuit 7 and the position specifying data 81 determined by the specified location indexing section 8 are sent to the control section 9 . In the control unit 9, based on the touch type 72,
Interpret the user selections of step 103.

Here, when proceeding to step 104, the correspondence data 21 read from the correspondence database 2 is referred to.
Search for the desired location in the document.

Here, in a system that stores a document as text data, the document is searched based on the one-character string code data 11a and the format data llb, and an area to be displayed is cut out, while the document is stored as an image. In a system that uses memory, a region near the designated coordinates is cut out. Next, the cut out area is sent to the drawing processing section 3 and displayed on the CRT. In addition, if multiple related locations are registered in the related location correspondence table 23 for the position 81 specified by the user, 1
For example, a list of the relevant parts may be displayed to allow the user to select which relevant part to display.

On the other hand, when proceeding to step 106, the next position specified by the operator is read, and the second position specification data 82 is obtained using the route obtained above 81. Next, the position specification data 81 and 82 are obtained.
The relationship is registered in the correspondence database 2 as correspondence data 21.

Thereafter, the relationship between 81 and 82 can be referenced by reading the correspondence data 21 from the correspondence database 2 by the control unit 9.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the correspondence database and data stored therein. Here, the correspondence database is expressed in a tabular format, but it may be in any format that provides the same functionality inside the computer.

In Figure 5 Ca), for example, the first column of the 0 table, in which data is arranged in the order in which the correspondence relationships were registered, is the number of the first document, and the second column is the number of the first document. The data indicating the specific position, the number of the second document in the third column, and the data indicating the specific position within the second document in the fourth column are described in each row of the table. a specific position of the first document;
A correspondence exists between the specific position of the second document and the specific position of the second document. Here, the first document is step 102 in FIGS. 3 and 4.
, and the second document is step 106
This is what was instructed.

Different methods are used to describe a specific position within a document depending on the data type of the document.

Specifically, the following method can be used.

For example, when a document is stored as text data, if the format is specified, the page number, line number, and column position within the line, or if the format is not specified, the number of characters counted from the first character of the document. Describe it with etc. Even if the format is specified, if you write the number of characters counted from the first character of the document, even if the format is changed later, it will be possible to write one document without changing the correspondence data. The invention can be implemented as is. If the document is stored as an image, it is described using the page number on which the designated position is located and the coordinate values within the page, for example, in a coordinate system with the upper left corner of the page as the origin. Alternatively, the following method may be used: 6 pages are divided into a predetermined number of squares (for example, 16 x 16 squares) in a grid pattern, and each square is identified.For example, in the above example, each square is divided into 1 to 256, or (1,1) to (16
, 16), etc., and a specific location within the document may be described using a method that identifies the grid.

When reading the correspondence data in step 104 of FIGS. 3 and 4, the first column of the table is searched to extract the correspondence data regarding the document displayed in step 101, and then the second column of the table is searched. The eye is searched and correspondence data relating to a specific position within the document designated by the operator is read out in step 102. Furthermore, by searching the third and fourth columns in the same way, the correspondence data is referenced in the opposite direction from when it was registered. Dereferencing can be achieved.

Also, when the document is displayed in step 101, the first
column or the third column to extract related correspondence data in advance, and in step 104, the specific position in the document specified in step 102 is searched for in the second column of the table, or Alternatively, you can also search from the fourth column. This makes it possible to speed up the processing.

FIG. 5(b) shows an example in which correspondence data is organized and stored for each page of a document.

The first column of the table contains the specific position in the first document assigned to the table, the second column the number of the second document, and the third column the specific position in the second document. is described. A correspondence exists between two specific positions in each row.

Here, the unit for organizing the data may be, for example, each document. In that case, the data describing the specific location of the document also includes the page number. Also, Figure 5 (
Other description methods described in a) may also be used.

Again, the first document is step 1 in Figures 3 and 4.
02, and the second document is step 1
This is what was instructed in 06. When reading the correspondence data in step 104, it is sufficient to read the table assigned to the first document, reducing the need to search for data as shown in FIG. 5(a), and speeding up the processing. I can figure it out.

In order to realize dereferencing, the specific position of the first document may be written in the table assigned to the second document.

In this case, it becomes necessary to approximately double the capacity of the correspondence database.

Furthermore, a column for recording attributes may be added to the table of FIG. 5 so that each row of correspondence data can be assigned an attribute. Here, the attribute refers to, for example, a keyword, and can be specified by the operator when registering the correspondence data in step 106. This attribute is used, for example, as follows. When the first document is displayed in step 101, instead of pointing in step 102,
Specify the attributes and execute steps 104 and 105 to
Displays related documents that have a correspondence relationship between document 1 and the specified attributes. This allows you to do the following, for example: Assume that the first document being displayed references multiple drawings. At this time, it is assumed that the correspondence relationship with the corresponding drawing is registered for each reference location, and a "figure" attribute is attached to each reference location. If the "diagram" attribute is specified in step 102, all drawings related to the first document being displayed are displayed. At this time, if there are many documents to display, the operator may be able to specify the number of documents to display, or display the document name etc. so that the operator can select which one to display. It may also be possible to attach multiple attributes to one correspondence. Regarding the method of specifying an attribute, it is possible to input a character string from a keyboard, display a menu of a plurality of predetermined attributes and specify from among them, or a combination of both methods may be provided.

In the example shown in FIG. 5, only specific locations in two documents can be recorded in each correspondence data, but a data format that can record three or more specific locations may also be used.

On both sides of FIG.
For example, OD A (Office Document A
A structure such as that defined in architecture (office document architecture) may be used. FIG. 6 shows an example of the document structure.

The document structure takes a tree structure as shown in FIG. 6(a).

Here, one document 1 consists of two pages, and the first page consists of the text 11 area and FIG. 11, and the second page consists of text 211, FIG. 21, and text 22. Each node of the tree structure has Information on the storage location of relevant format data and substantive data such as text and images is written. Figure 6 (a
) and an example of displaying the document based on the substantive data is shown in FIG. 6(b). The description of the specific position in the document in FIG. 5 can be done using each node of the document structure as a unit.1 For example, a certain first position in the text 11 and a certain second position in FIG. A correspondence relationship is established, so that, for example, the instruction in step 102 in FIGS. 3 and 4 can be given later in the first position, and step 105 in FIG.
It is possible to display only 1. For example, in step 105, the amount of data to be displayed per page is reduced compared to the case where the entire page 2 is displayed, and high-speed processing can be realized. Further, since only the necessary information is shown to the operator, there is an advantage that the operator can easily obtain the necessary information. In this case as well, the operator may be able to specify display of the entire page 1, for example, page 2.

Although only one type of correspondence database has been provided in the system as described above, a correspondence database divided into a plurality of sections may also be provided. For example, as will be explained below, it may be divided into a shared part that is shared and used by a plurality of operators, and an individual part that is used by each operator. Further, the use attribute permission for each part may be set individually for each operator.

For example, the shared part only refers to correspondence data.

Also, the personal part can be made both referenceable and registered. In this case, the shared portion will be created by the system administrator. For example, general correspondences, such as the correspondence between a place where a reference name is mentioned in a document and the document data of that reference, or the correspondence between a place where a drawing is referred to in a document and that drawing. As a shared part of the database, when the system administrator registers the document in the document database 1, it is registered in the correspondence database 2 for the convenience of system users.

Regarding the personal section, each operator may have their own dedicated section so that they can only refer to and register their own data, or furthermore, they can only refer to the data of other operators. You can also do it like this. At this time,
When displaying a document and displaying an icon etc. that indicates the existence of a correspondence relationship, it is also possible to indicate in the icon etc. whose correspondence data exists, or to selectively select a specific operator, e.g. It may be possible to indicate only the existence of correspondence relationship data for system users in the group to which the operator belongs, so that when the operator reads the document and tries to understand its contents, other operators can read the document. Other documents referenced for management can be easily referenced, which helps in understanding one document.

The display in step 101 of FIGS. 3 and 4 may be performed as follows. In other words, in order to clarify the location where other related locations have already been registered, that location is highlighted (blinded). (king, black and white inversion, brightness, change of font color, etc.), or display a mark or symbol such as an icon at that position, and from now on, pointing in step 102 will be directed to that icon. Just do it.

Furthermore, the display in step 105 may be performed as follows. If there is space to display the entire document, including the referent, display the entire document. At this time, at least the area around the specified part of the original text will remain on the display screen. If it is not possible to display the entire text, leaving only 0 sentences, display only one page or a few lines including the specified part. It is only necessary to make it possible to select the relevant part, and if the relevant part in the displayed document is highlighted, it will be easier for the operator to highlight the relevant part when executing the display.

In addition, if there is a correspondence with two or more documents at the location specified in step 102 in the first document, the display in step 105 may be as follows.For example, those related documents All of them may be displayed, or the names of the related documents may be displayed so that the operator can specify which ones to display.

The time required from when the operator issues a command to display a related document in step 103 of FIGS. 3 and 4 until the display of that document is completed in step 105 mainly depends on step
For example, in a system in which each function is distributed and connected via a network, it is necessary to first transfer data over the network in step 105. occurs, so step 103 to step 1.0
There is a problem that it takes a long time to reach 5, and the usability of the system deteriorates. An embodiment of a method for solving this problem and shortening the time required from the specification of the related police box display to the completion of display will be described below with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

FIG. 7 shows the processing procedure explained in FIG. 3 or 4, as well as the processing of sub-steps 1011 and 1012. Step 109 is step 10 in FIG.
This is a step in which steps 3 to 107 and steps 103 to 108 in FIG. 4 are executed.

While sub-steps 1011 and 1012 are being executed, control is performed such that steps 1.02 and 109 can be executed, for example, by using a multi-tasking or multi-processing method. When the first document is displayed in step 101, step 102 and substep 1011
is started. In sub-step 1011, the correspondence data regarding the first document is referenced.Next, in sub-step 1012, all related document data that has a correspondence relationship with the first document is checked, based on the data referenced in step 1011. , or perform partial loading/transfer processing as explained below using Figure 8.If only a portion of the related document is to be processed, for example, only image data with a large amount of data may be selected and processed. You may do the following.

Further, regarding the document that has been read/transferred in sub-step 1012, it may be treated as a first document and subjected to this process, and related documents may be read/transferred. This process may be executed recursively any number of times.

In sub-step 1012, the related document data to be read and transferred is transferred to the transfer control 201 and LA.
Through N (Local Area Network) 202,
Read from the document database 1 and send it to the system bus 203
Transfer to the auxiliary file 204 or memory 205 through For example, the display is connected to a CRT via system bus 203 and output control 206.
5. In the display processing at this time, the LAN202
Since the transfer process through etc. is omitted, the time required for the process can be shortened, and the usability can be improved. Also, although the correspondence database 2 is omitted in this figure,
This may be provided on the LAN 202 in parallel with the document database 1, or may be provided on the system bus 203 in parallel with the auxiliary file 204. If so, the shared portion may be provided on the LAN 201, and the personal portion may be provided on the system bus 203 of the terminal used by the user. Furthermore, if the correspondence data that has been referenced several times is stored, for example, in the memory 205, the processing speed when referring to the same correspondence data from now on can be sped up. Also in related document data.

Regarding the data that has already been read/transferred in sub-step 1012, it may be possible to identify it by setting a flag on the correspondence data written on the memory 205 to that effect.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, once a certain position in a document is registered, the corresponding part of the document can be automatically searched and displayed side by side by simply specifying the position, and the operator can There is no need to repeatedly perform operations such as searching and position scrolling, or operations such as displaying other documents and searching for a specific position therein. Therefore, it is possible to provide new functions that were not possible with conventional methods of viewing documents bound in paper.

It is possible to proceed with the understanding of the document without interrupting thinking, and it is also possible to assist in recollection during rereading, thereby improving work efficiency.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a display example for explaining the invention in detail, in a table format, and Fig. 6 is an example of the structure of a document. A diagram showing an example of the display, FIG. 7, is a configuration diagram showing the front side of the related document. 1... Document database, 2... Correspondence database, 3... Drawing processing section, 4... Frame memory, 5
... CRT, 6... Transparent tablet, 7... Coordinate input processing unit, 8... Specified location indexing unit, 9... Control unit, ]1... Document data, 21... Correspondence data,
101-108...Steps for carrying out the present invention, 1011-Agitation] Kuniki picture play Figure 5 figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a system that displays necessary parts sequentially or juxtaposed according to an operator's request from document data stored in the system, (1) operations on the displayed document; (2) a first step of finding the first specified location in the document based on the screen position specified by the operator; , or a second step of determining a second instruction location in a document displayed separately from the document; (3) the first instruction location determined in the first step and the second instruction location; a third step of registering the correspondence relationship with the second instruction location found in the step in a part of the correspondence database that is permitted to be registered by the operator; searching for and displaying a document; Method. 2. In a system that displays necessary parts sequentially or juxtaposed according to the operator's request from the document data stored in the system, (1) the operator gives instructions to the first document displayed; A first method for determining the first instruction location in the document based on the screen position.
(2) a second step of determining whether or not the first instruction location found in the first step has already been registered in a portion of the correspondence database that the operator is permitted to refer to; (3) Only when it is determined in the second step that the location is registered in the correspondence database, the first instruction location found in the first step is registered there. (4) a third step of reading out a second instruction location corresponding to the second instruction location, including the second instruction location found in the third step and its front part, rear part, or both parts; A method for searching and displaying a document, comprising: a fourth step of displaying the content.