JPH06231265A - Graph preparing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a graph preparing device capable of converting a graph with a prescribed format which can not be processed by a self-device into a graph with another format which can be processed by the self-device. CONSTITUTION:At the time of judging that the preparing of a graph is impossible by data to be graphed by a graph included in an electronic document prepared by another device, a control device 13 stores basic data such as numerical data included in the data to be graphed as a graph in an unknown graph storing device 15. The device 13 transfers the basic data stored in the device 15 to a specified part, e.g. an individual graph preparing part 20, to prepare a graph with a format to be processed based upon the basic data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a graph creating apparatus for creating a graph of a predetermined format from a plurality of element data and attribute data which constitute data to be graphed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a graph creating apparatus of this type, in order to create a graph, original data (data to be graphed) is input to a graph application (even if data of another application is referred to). Create) by selecting the graph type and specifying the necessary parameters for the graph (drawing the graph on the screen, saving the drawing data, outputting the drawing data to the printer, or all) ) Was instructed.

In general, such a graph creating apparatus can create graphs such as a line graph, a bar graph, and a pie graph. Further, an apparatus capable of creating other graphs suitable for various purposes and a system capable of using the graphs in combination (overlapping) have been realized.

Such a graph creating apparatus is provided with a graph creating processing function (program) for creating a graph for each graph, or a graph creating processing function (program) for supporting the creation of each graph. ing.

Some conventional graph creating apparatuses are connected to other devices (for example, a computer having a graph creating function) via a communication line. In such a graph creating apparatus, a document request is made. Accordingly, an electronic document created by another device is transferred via the communication line. In many cases, this electronic document contains a special graph.

As a conventional graph creation, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
The one disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 164969 is known,
In the one disclosed in this publication, different types of graphs are simultaneously displayed on the same screen.

[0007]

However, when the above-mentioned conventional graph creating apparatus does not have a function of processing an electronic document including a special graph (hereinafter referred to as a special graph), the special graph (program) When () is not activated), the data of the special graph is deleted from the electronic document when the electronic document is received. At best, there was a limit to recognizing the special graph as a mere collection of figures.

Therefore, it is not possible to perform graph processing such as wanting to see the numerical data used for creating the graph, or changing the numerical data and recreating the graph (the type of graph is changed). It was

In order to deal with such a problem, a program (graph creating processing function) for all of a plurality of types of graphs including the above-mentioned special graph is provided in the graph creating apparatus, and these programs are activated. It is possible to create a special graph and refer to its numerical data.

However, in this case, a program for processing a special graph that is rarely used must be activated at all times, resulting in a waste of memory resources.
Moreover, there is an inconvenience for a general user to purchase such a program.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a graph creating apparatus capable of converting a graph of a predetermined format which cannot be processed by its own device into a graph of another format which can be processed by its own device.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a graph creating apparatus of the present invention creates a graph in a graph format preset based on a plurality of element data and attribute data constituting data to be graphed. A graph creating means to be created, a storage means for storing a plurality of element data and attribute data which form data to be graphed created by another device, and an attribute data stored in the storage means. If the graph format recognition means for recognizing a graph format that is present and the graph format recognized by the graph format recognition means are different from the preset graph format, the plurality of element data items are stored in the storage means. And processing means for reading and outputting to the graph creating means.

[0013]

According to the present invention, the graph format of a graph created based on a plurality of element data and attribute data constituting data to be graphed created by another device is as follows:
If the graph creation means is different from the preset graph format of the graph that can be created, by the graph creation means, based on a plurality of element data in the data to be graphed created by another device, Since the graph in the preset graph format is created, a graph that cannot be created by the own device can be converted into a graph that can be created by the own device and output.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of a graph creating apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the graph creating apparatus comprises a graph creating basic unit 10, individual graph creating units 20 and 30, and a display unit 40.

The graph creating basic unit 10 includes a data input unit 11 for inputting data to be graphed, a parameter input unit 12 for specifying parameters (attribute data) used when drawing a graph, and a data flow. A control device 13 that controls the data, a transfer device 14 that receives data to be graphed created by another device, transfers the data to the control device 13, and transfers the data to the individual graph creation units 20 and 30 in accordance with a command from the control device 13; Graphs that cannot be created by the graph creation units 20 and 30 (hereinafter referred to as unknown graphs)
An unknown graph storage device 15 for storing the data of 1. and an unknown graph reading device 16 for reading the unknown graph are configured.

The individual graph creating unit 20 stores a graphed graph data and parameters (attribute data) received from the transfer device 14, and a graph created by another device. It has a reading device 22 that reads data and parameters (attribute data) from a graph and stores the data in the storage device 21, and a graph creating unit 23 that actually creates a graph based on the data and parameters in the storage device 21. Has been done. Further, the graph creation unit 23 adds identification information (hereinafter, referred to as a graph ID) to the created graph so that the type of the graph can be recognized. As described above, the storage device 21 stores, by the transfer device 14, the data and parameters to be input and graphed by the data input unit 11 and the parameter input unit 12 of its own device, and graphs the graphs created by other devices. Data and parameters to be read by the reading device 2
2 will be stored.

The individual graph creating unit 30 also has the same structure as the individual graph creating unit 20.

Since the individual graph creating section 20 and the individual graph creating section 30 are set to create graphs of different graph formats, two types of graphs can be created in this embodiment. Of course, the present invention is not limited to these two types of graphs, but by providing a graph creation unit for each of a plurality of commonly used graphs (bar graph, pie graph, line graph, stacked graph, etc.) It goes without saying that it is possible to create three or more types of graphs.

The display unit 40 displays the graph created by the individual graph creating unit 20 or the individual graph creating unit 30.

The data to be graphed includes a table composed of element data indicating each constituent element of the graph, a graph format indicating a kind of graph such as a bar graph and a pie chart, and a graph such as a title and each parameter. The attribute data regarding conversion is included, and the element data includes at least the element name (label) and the corresponding numerical value data or character string data.

In this embodiment, the above-mentioned graph creating means corresponds to the individual graph creating sections 20 and 30 (in particular, the graph creating sections 23 and 33) shown in FIG. 1, and the above-mentioned storage means is shown in FIG. Corresponding to the unknown graph storage device 14,
The graph format recognition means described above corresponds to the control device 13,
The processing means described above corresponds to the control device 13 and the transfer device 14 shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration for realizing the apparatus of the embodiment shown in FIG.
Specifically, it can be applied to an information processing device such as a personal computer, a general-purpose computer, or a workstation.

In FIG. 1, the disk device 210 includes a document creation application program in which an application program for implementing a graph creation function including a graph creation process according to the present invention is incorporated, data to be graphed, and graph creation. Stores property sheet data for entering each parameter for. The disk control unit 220 controls access to the disk device 210.

The keyboard 230 is for inputting various data and commands, and the mouse 240 is a pointing device for designating a desired portion on the display screen of the display device. The keyboard / mouse control unit 250 controls various data and commands input from the keyboard 230 and the mouse 240.

The main memory 260 stores the data and programs loaded from the disk device 210, as well as various data and commands input from the keyboard 230 and the mouse 240.

The display device 270 is a bit map type display and displays a multi-window, a property sheet and a created graph. The display control unit 280 controls display on the display device 270.

The communication control device 290 sends and receives data such as electronic documents with other devices via a communication line. Data such as an electronic document received by the communication control device 290 is stored in the main memory 260 and, if necessary, in the disk device 210.

Central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU) 30
0 is connected to the common bus BUS200, and the common bus BUS
The graph creating process is executed by controlling the respective control units and the main memory connected to the computer 200, and loading and executing the document creating application program from the disk device 210 to the main memory 260.

The correspondence between the components of the functional block diagram shown in FIG. 1 and the components of the block diagram shown in FIG. 2 will now be described.

The data input section 11 and the parameter input section 12 shown in FIG. 1 correspond to the keyboard 230 and the mouse 240 shown in FIG. 2, and the control device 13, the unknown graph reading device 16 and the reading device 22 shown in FIG. , 32, graph creation unit 2
3 and 33 correspond to the CPU 300 shown in FIG. 2 (actually realized by the CPU 300 executing an application program for realizing the above graph creating function), and the transfer device shown in FIG. Reference numeral 14 corresponds to the CPU 300 shown in FIG. 2, and the unknown graph storage device 15, storage devices 21 and 31 shown in FIG. 1 correspond to the main memory 260 and disk device 210 shown in FIG. 2, and are shown in FIG. The display unit 40 corresponds to the display device 270 shown in FIG.

Next, the graph creating process of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing operation.

Here, with respect to the graph created by the individual graph creating unit in the own graph creating apparatus, the graph processing such as displaying, changing the graph, and referring to the numerical data can be performed by the own graph creating apparatus. Therefore, the operation of processing a graph included in an electronic document transferred from another device will be described.

First, when an electronic document including a graph from another device is transferred to the graph creating device via the communication line, the electronic document is transferred to the control device 1 via the transfer device 14.
Input to 3.

In the control device 13, while opening the electronic document including the graph (step 401), referring to the graph ID added to the graph, is the individual graph creating section corresponding to the graph ID activated? It is determined whether or not (step 402). Here, when the individual graph creating unit is activated, the control device 13 requests the corresponding individual graph creating unit to perform the graph creating process (step 403). At this time, since the graph data and parameters are input to the corresponding individual graph creating unit via the transfer device 14, the reading device reads the graph data and parameters in the individual graph creating unit, and the storage device stores the graph data and parameters. Further, the graph is created by the graph creating unit based on the data and parameters of the graph in the storage device. The created graph is displayed on the display unit 40 and also stored in the storage device as needed.

When the individual graph creating unit is not activated in step 402, the control device 13 requests the unknown graph reading device 16 to create the graph (step 404). In the unknown graph reading device 16, the control device 13
Of the data and parameters of the graph expanded in,
Read basic data such as numerical data (step 40
5) and store it in the unknown graph storage device 15 (step 40
6) After that, the control device 13 is notified that the processing has been completed. In this case, for example, in the case of a bar graph, the type of graph indicating the bar graph (graph format), the bar pattern information for creating the graph, and the like are not stored.

The controller 13 controls the unknown graph reader 16
When receiving the notification that the storage processing from the has been completed, when its own individual graph creation unit inputs an electronic document containing a graph that cannot be created, it determines whether there is a change request to change the type of the graph. (Step 407). The change request in this case is limited to the graph that can be created by the individual graph creating unit of its own.

If there is a change request in step 407, the basic data stored in the unknown graph storage device 16 is passed to the transfer device 14 and is requested to be transferred to the corresponding individual graph creating section. As a result, the basic data is transferred to the corresponding individual graph creating unit, where it is read by the reading device and then stored in the storage device (step 408).

When the basic data is thus stored in the storage device of the corresponding individual graph creating unit, the control device 14
Requests the individual graph creation unit to create a graph (step 409). The graph creating unit of the corresponding individual graph creating unit creates a graph based on the request from the control device 13 transferred from the transfer device 14, and displays the graph on the display unit 40.

If there is no change request in step 407, the graph cannot be created, so the process ends.

Next, the graph creating process of this embodiment will be described with reference to the specific example of FIG.

In FIG. 4, a persol computer (hereinafter referred to as computer) 500 and a computer 600.
Are connected to each other via a communication line 600, and data such as an electronic document including a graph is transmitted and received via the communication line 700 to each other. The computers 500 and 600 are those to which the graph creating apparatus according to the present invention is applied, and the graph creating basic units 510 and 610 have the same configuration as the graph creating basic unit 10 shown in FIG. The graph creation unit 620 has the same configuration as the graph creation unit 20 shown in FIG. 1, the line graph creation units 530 and 630 have the same configuration as the graph creation unit 30 shown in FIG. 1, and the display units 540 and 640. Has the same configuration as the display unit 40 shown in FIG.

Therefore, here, in the computer 500, the bar graph creating section 520 and the line graph creating section 5 are
In other words, the pie chart creating unit 620 and the line graph creating unit 630 are activated in the computer 600.

The computer 500 performs the following processing. The user inputs numerical data to be graphed by the data input unit 11 and parameters including the type of graph to be graphed by the parameter input unit 12. In this case, the types of graphs are limited to bar graphs and line graphs supported by the activated graph creation unit. Here, a bar graph is specified. Numerical data input by the user and parameters necessary for creating the bar graph are stored in the storage device 21 of the bar graph creating unit 520 via the transfer device 14. The bar graph creation unit 520 creates a bar graph based on the numerical data and parameters and displays it on the display unit 540.
At this time, the identification information (I
D) is stored in the created bar graph at the same time.

Next, when the electronic document including the line graph created in the same manner by the line graph creating unit 630 from the computer 600 is transferred to the computer 500 via the communication line 700, this electronic document is , Is input to the control device 13 via the transfer device 14. The control device 13 refers to the graph ID added to the line graph in the received electronic document, and determines whether or not the line graph creating unit that processes this graph (line graph) is activated. In this case, since the line graph creating unit 530 has been activated,
It instructs to transfer the electronic document to the line graph creating unit 530. Then, since the electronic document including the line graph is transferred to the line graph creating unit 530, the reading device 32
Reads the line graph data and parameters from the electronic document and stores them in the storage device 31. As a result, the graph creation unit 33 creates a line graph, and the graph is displayed on the display unit 630.

Subsequently, when an electronic document including a pie chart created in the same manner as above by the pie chart creating unit 630 from the computer 600 is transferred to the computer 500 via the communication line 700, this electronic document is created. Since the data is input to the control device 13 via the transfer device 14 in the same manner as described above, the control device 13 refers to the graph ID added to the pie graph in the received electronic document to display this graph (pie graph). It is determined whether or not the pie chart creating unit to be processed is activated. In this case, since it has not been activated, the unknown graph reading device 16 is requested to perform the graph creation processing.

In the unknown graph reader 16, the controller 1
Of the pie chart data and parameters developed in FIG. 3, basic data such as numerical data is read and stored in the unknown graph storage device 15, and then the control device 13 is notified that the processing has ended. When the control device 13 receives from the unknown graph reading device 16 that the storage process has been completed, the control device 13 determines whether or not there is a graph type change request.

Here, when there is no change request, based on the bar graph drawing request already specified by the user,
Image data of the pie chart included in the electronic document,
The transfer device 14 is instructed to transfer to the personal computer 500. Then, the image data of the pie chart is input to the display unit 40 via the individual graph creating unit 20, and the pie chart (graphically) is displayed on the display unit 40. However, in this pie chart, the original data (basic data, etc.) cannot be grasped in the chart, and it is only displayed as a percentage. At this time, the original data can be referred to by a predetermined operation without changing the pie chart (graphically).

Here, when the user makes a graph change request (request for recreating a graph), the control device 13 transfers the basic data stored in the unknown graph storage device 16 to the transfer device 14, and the computer 500. The bar graph creating unit 520 is requested to transfer. As a result of this,
The basic data is transferred to the bar graph creation unit 520, where it is read by the reading device 22 and then stored in the storage device 21.

When the basic data is stored in the storage device 21 of the bar graph creating section 520 in this way, the control device 14
Requests the bar graph creation unit 520 to create a graph. As a result, the graph creation unit 23 of the bar graph creation unit 520 creates a bar graph based on the basic data stored in the storage device 21.

As described above, in the computer 500, it is possible to create a graph by changing a pie chart, which originally cannot be operated for graph processing, into a bar graph. Further, since the numerical data to be graphed can be manipulated, the numerical data can be changed to create a new graph (for example, a bar graph).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, even if the types of graphs have become rich, they have not been started (or purchased) without starting (or purchasing) all the graph creation processing functions (programs). Since the graph created by the graph creating function can be processed by the activated graph creating function for the time being, it is possible to effectively use the hardware resources and reduce the cost. In addition, it is possible to create a graph in graph format that can be graphed based on the input graph data in graph format that cannot be graphed, so the graph format is different, but refer to that graph, Can recognize large numbers of data.

Next, an application example of this embodiment will be described.

Recently, in computers, not only simple text and graphic processes but also images, mathematical formulas,
Various other functions are being provided.
In order to construct these functions with one document processing system, software (program) for realizing those functions must be resident in the main memory. However, it is a waste of memory resources because a program that is rarely used must be made resident in the main memory.

Therefore, the document processing is decomposed into functional units, only the necessary functions are activated on the main memory, and the unnecessary functions are stored in the disk device.

For example, simple text processing, graphic processing,
Prepare a program for each image processing and mathematical processing, start each text processing and graphic processing program that is usually used frequently, and store each image processing and mathematical processing program in the disk device. . Then, when the mathematical formula processing program is not started, the mathematical formula processing is performed by loading the mathematical formula processing program from the disk device to the main memory and executing it when processing an electronic document including the mathematical formula processing. It becomes possible to do.

[0058]

As described above, according to the present invention, the graph format of a graph created on the basis of a plurality of element data and attribute data forming data to be graphed created by another device is If the creating means differs from the preset graph format of the graph that can be created, the graph creating means creates a graph based on a plurality of element data in the data to be graphed created by another device. Since the graph in the preset graph format is created, a graph that cannot be created by the own graph creating device can be converted into a graph that can be created by the own graph creating device and output. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of a graph creating apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration for realizing the apparatus of the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a graph creation processing operation in this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a graph creating process according to the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Graph creation basic part, 11 ... Data input part, 12 ...
Parameter input unit, 13 ... Control device, 14 ... Transfer device,
15 ... Unknown graph storage device, 16 ... Unknown graph reading device, 20, 30 ... Individual graph creating unit, 21, 31 ... Storage device, 22, 32 ... Reading device, 23, 33 ... Graph creating unit, 40 ... Display unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A graph creating means for creating a graph in a preset graph format based on a plurality of element data and attribute data constituting data to be graphed, and data to be graphed created by another device. Storage means for storing a plurality of constituent element data and attribute data, graph format recognition means for recognizing the graph format included in the attribute data stored in this storage means, and recognition by this graph format recognition means When the generated graph format is different from the preset graph format, the processing means for reading the plurality of respective element data from the storage means and outputting the element data to the graph creating means is provided. Characteristic graph creation device.