JPH07121535A - Document preparation supporting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a document preparation supporting device enabling a document preparator to easily prepare a publishing document having effective expression while grasping the logical structure of the whole publication. CONSTITUTION:An item to be described in an inputted document and its contents are stored in an item information storing part 2. Relation among plural items stored in the storing part 2 is also stored in the storing part 2. On the other hand, a relation conversion rule storing part 4 stores a conversion rule for converting the relation among the items into characters or a graphic. A layout processing part 6 refers to a specified layout style stored in a style storing part 5, lays out the items stored in the storing part 2, generates a laid- out document, and stores the generated document in a laid-out document storing part 7. In the case of executing layout, the relation among the items stored in the storing part 2 is referred to and conversion processing is executed based upon the conversion rule stored in the storing part 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document creation support device for assisting a document creator to easily create a document in a document creation device such as a word processor. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art One of the documents created by a document creator using a document creating device is a document for presentation such as an OHP sheet manuscript. In the conventional document creation support device, the preparation of such a document for presentation is generally supported by two methods.

One method is to prepare a page-based form that has already been laid out and write the announcement items in it. However, with this method, the content of the presentation is dispersed for each page, and it is difficult for the document creator to create the document while grasping the logical structure of the entire presentation.

Another method is to describe the presentation items in outline form on a word processor and automatically lay out the presentation items by selecting a template for layout. However, with this method, from the heading hierarchy described in outline format,
Only the title of each sheet and the indentation of the bullet points are laid out by indenting, and there are great restrictions on the expression format that can be used in the document. For example, it is not possible to connect a plurality of items with an arrow, which is often seen in an OHP sheet document, and to generate a layout in which a causal relationship and a state change can be grasped at a glance.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and allows a document creator to easily obtain a presentation document having an effective expression while grasping the logical structure of the entire presentation. It is an object of the present invention to provide a document creation support device that can be created.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, in a document creation support apparatus for supporting document creation by a document creator, item information storage for accumulating input items and accumulating relationships among a plurality of accumulated items. Means, relationship conversion rule accumulating means for accumulating conversion rules for converting relationships between matters into characters or figures, relationship between matters accumulated in the matter information accumulating means, and relationship between matters It is characterized by having a document generation means for generating a document laid out by using the conversion rule that has been set.

[0007]

According to the present invention, the announcement items input by the document creator and the relationship between the input items are stored in the item information storage means. When the document creator sends a document generation instruction to the document generation means, the document generation means lays out the items stored in the item information storage means and generates a document. At this time, the document generation means uses the relation between the matters stored in the matter information storage means, converts the relation between the matters into a character or a figure based on the rule stored in the relation conversion rule storage means, and lays out the layout. To reflect. This makes it possible to express the relationship between matters in a document,
For example, a presentation document having an effective expression can be easily created.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a document creation support device of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an input unit, 2
Is an item information storage unit, 3 is a display unit, 4 is a relation conversion rule storage unit, 5 is a style storage unit, 6 is a layout processing unit, and 7 is a layout-completed document storage unit.

The input unit 1 receives an input from a document creator. Information to be input includes items to be described in a document, a relationship between the items, selection of a style to be laid out, instructions for layout processing, and the like. Items to be described in the input document and their contents are stored in the item information storage unit 2. Further, a logical relationship such as a cause and a result can be made to a plurality of items stored in the item information storage unit 2, and the result is also stored in the item information storage unit 2. By selecting and inputting a style, it is possible to select an arbitrary layout style from the layout styles stored in the style storage unit 5. The selected layout style is used when the layout processing unit 6 generates a layout-completed document. In addition, information regarding the selected layout style is displayed on the screen by the display unit 3. The layout processing instruction input is an instruction to the layout processing unit 6 to start the layout processing. For a plurality of items stored in the item information storage unit 2, it is possible to make an input instructing layout on one page. This instruction is stored in the item information storage unit 2.

The item information storage unit 2 stores the items input from the input unit 1 and the relationships between the items. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a data structure in the item information storage unit 2.
In the figure, 11 to 13 are matter cells, and 14 and 15 are related cells. In this example, the data structure using two types of cells accumulates the items, their contents, and the relationships between the items. The two types of cells are the matter cell and the relation cell. The item cell expresses one item, and is composed of a field holding the contents of the item and a field holding a pointer to the related cell. The relationship cell expresses a relationship between items, and is composed of a field holding the type of the relationship, a field holding a pointer to the item cell, and a field holding a pointer to another related cell. When a certain item cell points to another item cell via the related cell, it is expressed that those items are related. In the example shown in FIG.
The item cell 12 is associated as back data of the item cell 11, and the item cell 13 is associated as an item derived from the item cell 11. Of course, other data structures can be used.

The item information storage unit 2 can further store an instruction to lay out a plurality of items on one page as a page set. This instruction is represented by, for example, a set of pointers to the item cells. The content of the item cell pointed by the pointer included in one page set is laid out on one page.

The display unit 3 displays on screen the items and their contents and the relationship between the items, which are stored in the item information storage unit 2. Also, the layout style selected by the input unit 1 is displayed on the screen, and the selection range, state, and the like of various operations and instructions performed through the input unit 1 are displayed on the screen.

The relation conversion rule storage unit 4 stores a conversion rule for converting the relation between matters into characters or figures. Also, the layout rule for the content of the related items can be held at the same time. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a data structure of the relation conversion rule storage unit 4. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the relation names between the items and the rules are held in a table-like data structure. FIG. 3 shows an example of conversion rules corresponding to the relational cells 14 and 15 shown in FIG.
In the figure, "itemize" is a bulleted format, for example,
It is a rule indicating a conversion that adds “tab + ●” to the front of a sentence. “PointDown” is a rule indicating that the layout is made smaller than the standard character size. “PointDownContent” is a rule indicating that the contents of the related items are laid out with a size smaller than the standard character size. "F
"orwardArrow" is a rule that indicates conversion into an arrow pointing in the direction of line progression in a page layout, that is, a downward arrow in the case of a horizontal document. The relation conversion rule accumulating unit 4 defines such various conversion rules as relation names. The data structure is not limited to the table format shown in FIG.

The style storage unit 5 holds information relating to the style of page layout such as page size, printing ratio, character type, character size, ruled line position, presence / absence of page number, and the like. In addition, information about which layout style is designated by the input unit 1 is also stored, and the designated layout style is used when the layout processing unit 6 generates a document.

After receiving the layout process start instruction from the input unit 1, the layout processing unit 6 lays out the items stored in the item information storage unit 2 and generates a laid-out document. When the layout processing unit 6 generates a layout-completed document, it refers to the instructed layout style stored in the style storage unit 5 and generates a document having this layout style. When laying out the items, the relation between the items stored in the item information storage unit 2 is referred to, and the conversion processing is performed based on the conversion rule stored in the relation conversion rule storage unit 4.

The layout-completed document storage unit 7 stores the layout-completed documents generated by the layout processing unit 6.

FIGS. 4 to 6 are flowcharts for explaining an example of the layout processing performed by the layout processing section 6. In S21 of FIG. 4, it is checked whether or not there is any item cell that is not pointed to by another cell and that has not been laid out, and the process ends when all the items have been laid out. If there are still unlaid out matter cells that are not pointed to by other cells, S2
At 2, one of the cells is selected and the contents of this cell are laid out at the beginning of a new page.

In S23, it is determined whether or not the matter cell selected in S22 has a pointer to the related cell.
If not, the layout process for the selected matter cell is terminated, and the process proceeds to S38 in FIG. When the pointer has a pointer to the related cell, the processing of the related cell is performed by the processing from S24.

In S24, the pointer to the related cell is put on the stack. In S25, with respect to the related cell pointed to by the pointer at the top of the stack, it is determined whether or not the pointer to the item cell held by the cell is included in the page set indicating the instruction to lay out on one page. If it is included in the page set, it is further determined in S26 whether or not the matter cell last laid out at this point is included in the same page set. If it is determined in S25 and S26 that they are included in one page set, in S27,
The relational name of the relational cell pointed to by the pointer at the top of the stack is read, the conversion rule associated with this relational name is read from the relational conversion rule storage unit 4, a sentence or graphic is generated from this conversion rule, and Layout is continued. When it is determined in S25 and S26 that the page is not included in one page set, a new page is generated in S28. In S29, regarding the related cell pointed by the pointer at the top of the stack, the content of the item cell pointed to by the cell is laid out at the continuation of the page.
At this time, if there is a conversion rule stored in the relational conversion rule storage unit 4 related to the layout of the item content, it is reflected.

In S30 of FIG. 5, it is determined whether or not the item cell laid out in S29 of FIG. 4 has a pointer to the related cell. If it has the pointer, in S31, the pointer to the related cell is stacked. Stacked on S3
In S2 and S33, it is determined whether or not the pointer to the finally laid out item cell and the pointer to the item cell at the top of the stack are included in the same page set. If they are included in the same page set, the process returns to S27 of FIG. 4 and the layout process of the matter cells is performed. If they are not included in the same page set, the process returns to S28 in FIG. 4, a new page is generated, and the layout process of the item cells is performed.

If the item cell does not have a pointer to the related cell in S30, the process proceeds to S34, and it is determined whether the related cell pointed to by the pointer at the top of the stack has a pointer to another related cell. judge. If there is a pointer to another relation cell, in S35, the pointer at the top of the stack is removed, a pointer to another relation cell is stacked on the stack, and the procedure proceeds to S32 where the item cell pointed to by the other relation cell. Layout processing. If there is no pointer to another related cell, the pointer at the top of the stack is removed in S36, and S3
In 7, it is determined whether or not the stack is empty, and if it is not empty, the process returns to S34 and the processing is performed when the related cell pointed to by the pointer stacked on the stack has a pointer to another related cell. . When the stack becomes empty in S37, it means that the layout process for the series of item cells related by the related cell is completed.

When the stack is determined to be empty in S37, the pointer to that cell is included in the page set for the item cell finally laid out at this point in S38 and S39 of FIG. In addition, it is determined whether or not there is an unlayed-out item cell that is not pointed to by another cell and is an item cell pointed by the pointer included in the page set. If it does not exist, it indicates that the layout of all the independent item cells or the item cells pointed to by the pointer included in a certain page set has been completed. Therefore, the process returns to S21 of FIG. Perform processing. If there is an item cell that satisfies the conditions in S38 and S39, in S40, one of the item cells that satisfy the condition is selected, and the content of the selected item cell is laid out on the continuation of the page.

In S41, it is determined whether or not the matter cell selected in S40 has a pointer to the related cell.
If there is no pointer to the related cell, return to S38,
Process item cells in other page sets. When the pointer to the related cell is held, in S42,
A pointer to the related cell is stacked on the stack, and S in FIG.
25, the layout processing of the related matter cells is performed.

In the above process, S21 to S22 are processes for selecting an item cell to be laid out at the top of the page from a plurality of related cells and laying out the cell. S23 to S24, S30 to S31, S
34 to S37 and S41 to S42 are processes for selecting a cell to be laid out next from a plurality of related cells. In steps S25 to S26, it is checked whether or not the matter cell to be laid out next is instructed to be laid out on one page, and this cell is laid out at the top of a new page. In S28, when these conditions are satisfied, the page is changed. Also, S32 to S3
At 3 at this point, the last laid-out matter cell is instructed to be laid out on one page, and it is checked whether this cell is laid out at the end of the page. In S27, the relation held in the relation cell is converted into a sentence or a graphic and laid out. A step S29 lays out the item content held in the item cell. S38 ~ S
Reference numeral 40 checks whether or not a plurality of unrelated cells are instructed to be laid out on one page, and in that case, the cells are laid out on the same page.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a layout-completed document. The matter cell and the relational cell shown in FIG. 2 are accumulated in the matter information accumulating section 2, and the conversion rule shown in FIG. 3 is accumulated in the relational conversion rule accumulating section 4, so that the matter cell shown in FIG. When registered in the page set, the layout processing unit 6 shown in FIGS.
It is possible to obtain a laid-out document as shown in.

That is, in S22, the item cell 11 of FIG. 2 is selected as an item cell not pointed to by another cell, and laid out at the top of a new page. The pointer to the relational cell 14 of the matter cell 11 is S24.
Is put on the stack with. In S27, the relation cell 14
Based on the relation name “back data” of, the conversion rule corresponding to “back data” is read from the conversion rule shown in FIG. 3, and “tab + ●” is generated as in the itemized list, and S29
In, the contents of the item cell 12 are laid out in small letters after that. If a pointer to a related cell is set in the item cell 12, those processes are performed.

Next, the relation cell 14 is changed to another relation cell 15
The pointer to the relational cell 14 is removed from the stack and the pointer to the relational cell 15 is pushed onto the stack. Then, in S27, the conversion rule corresponding to "derivation" is read from the conversion rules shown in FIG. 3 based on the relation name "derivation" of the relation cell 15, and a downward arrow is generated. Further, in S29, the contents of the item cell 15 are laid out.

In this item cell 15, since the pointer to the related cell is not set and the pointer to the other item cell is not set in the item cell 15, the related cell 15 on the stack is set in S23. The pointer to was removed,
After checking in S38, S39, and S21 that there is no unlaid out item cell, the process ends.

In this way, the laid-out document as shown in FIG. 7 is generated. In the above process, the layout of each part is performed based on the selected layout style among the layout styles stored in the style storage unit 5.

[0030]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, by inputting relationships between inputted items, it is possible to grasp the logical configuration while inputting items and to perform the relation between items. Documents laid out so that relationships can be grasped at a glance can be automatically obtained. Therefore, there is an effect that the efficiency of creating a document can be significantly improved as compared with the related art.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a document creation support device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a data structure in the item information storage unit 2.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a data structure of a relation conversion rule storage unit 4.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a layout process performed by a layout processing unit 6.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of layout processing performed by a layout processing unit 6.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of layout processing performed by a layout processing unit 6.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a laid out document.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 input section, 2 item information storage section, 3 display section, 4 relation conversion rule storage section, 5 style storage section, 6 layout processing section, 7 layout completed document storage section, 11-13
Matter cell, 14, 15 Related cells.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A document creation support device for supporting a document creator to create a document, wherein an item information storage means for storing input items and a relationship between a plurality of stored items and a relationship between the items are provided. Using relational conversion rule accumulating means for accumulating conversion rules for converting into characters or figures, relations among matters accumulated in the matter information accumulating means and relations between matters, and conversion rules accumulated in the relational conversion rule accumulating means A document creation support apparatus having a document creating unit for creating a laid out document.