JPH07152761A - Document processor and its method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently recognize the summary of document information and to effectively utilize a limited output range. CONSTITUTION:Text information inputted from an input device 207 is stored in text data 203 and priority for summation is set up in individual significant character strings constituting the text data. The set priority is stored in priority data 202. In the case of outputting data to an output device 205, character size is changed in accordance with the priority to output data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document processing apparatus and method, and more particularly to a document processing apparatus and method for outputting a document summary.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a means for assisting the purpose of displaying an overview of information stored in a database or the like and displaying details of only the information of interest. As for hypermedia etc.,
There is a system that uses a processing system having a link structure and an operation for the link structure.

In the above system, information is usually represented by a plurality of text data. The plurality of text data have different degrees of detail (hereinafter, the degree of detail of such text data is referred to as the degree of detail, the more detailed is the high degree of detail, and the more important is the low degree of detail, Information is expressed by (), and text data can be called with each other by a link structure. Usually, a plurality of pieces of text data can be called with the smallest degree of detail at the beginning, and text data with a larger degree of detail can be called in order by the operation of the user.

If the information processing user uses the above processing system,
For example, a large number of titles are displayed on the initial screen, and when a title of interest is selected, a summary corresponding to the title searched through the link structure is displayed in another window. Then, it becomes possible to perform a hierarchical overview of text data, such as searching and displaying a more detailed text.

[0005]

In the above-mentioned conventional system, the level of detail is expressed as a plurality of layers so that the information can be output while being changed in accordance with the level of detail. The text data and the link structure that connects the plurality of text data are all stored in the storage medium.

However, for this reason, when an attempt is made to perform detailed correspondence by increasing and managing the number of layers in the hierarchy that expresses the degree of detail, the following problems (1) to (3) occur. .

(1) When expressing certain information, it is necessary to prepare text data indicating the contents of the information for the number of steps of the hierarchy of the desired level of detail. Although the degree of detail of each text data is different, the contents of the text data are similar to each other, so it cannot be overemphasized that the use efficiency of the storage medium is low.

(2) When it is necessary to change the contents of the already stored information, all the text data corresponding to the information corresponding to the level of detail should be changed so that they do not conflict with each other. It has to be done, and it takes time to manage it.

(3) The level of detail is expressed hierarchically,
On the actual screen, each window is displayed in a different window. Therefore, the following (3-1), (3
-2) Problems like this occur.

(3-1) Since the level of detail is prepared in the form of a fixed hierarchy, if the user tries to use information with a level of detail that has not been prepared, new text data will be created again. You have to prepare and reconnect the link structure.

(3-2) Since a plurality of text data for a certain information is displayed in a number of windows on the screen, many windows are displayed on the screen when searching for a plurality of information at once. In some cases, the user may need to operate the window, which makes it difficult to capture information.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a document which can efficiently grasp a summary of document information and can effectively use a limited output range. It is an object of the present invention to provide a processing apparatus and a method thereof.

In order to solve this problem, the document processing apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, a document processing device for outputting a summary of a document, comprising setting means for setting a priority order for configuring each of the document elements in the document, and document elements having a high priority order according to the priority order. An output unit for emphasizing and outputting the unit is provided.

Further, the document processing method of the present invention comprises the following steps. That is, a document processing method for outputting a summary of a document, wherein a setting step of setting a priority order for configuring each of the document elements in the document and a document element having a high priority order according to the priority order. An output step of emphasizing and outputting the unit.

[0015]

In the configuration or process of the present invention, the priority order is set for each document element in the document, and the degree of emphasis is controlled and output according to the set priority order.

[0016]

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

The processing contents of the summary output device of the embodiment are shown in the flow chart of FIG. That is, step 101 for checking whether or not the unprocessed portion of the text data to be processed still exists, step 102 for fetching the next priority data, step 103 for fetching the next text data, and the fetched priority. From the frequency data, a step 104 of determining the character size of the extracted text data and a step 105 of actually outputting the text data with the character of that size are provided.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an information processing system to which the summary output device of one embodiment of the present invention is applied.

This information processing system comprises a central processing unit 2
06, text data 203, priority data 202 expressing the priority of each character in the text, storage device 201 storing the text data and the priority data, and an output device ( Display device, printer, etc.)
205, an input device 207 for inputting a sentence, and a bus 204 for interconnecting the above-mentioned devices are the main components.

To simplify the explanation, in this embodiment, FIG.
Explain the display of the text data as shown in the document "The image of a small red stone somehow stood in the dark forest in the daytime surrounded by a large mountain once in a while."

It is assumed that the above-mentioned text data is given 7 levels of priority indicated by numerals from 1 to 7 for each character, as indicated by 401 in FIG. Here, it is assumed that the priority generally starts from 1 and that the smaller the number, the higher the priority, that is, the higher the importance. In addition, this priority may be set by the person who made the input, or may be automatically set by the system by analyzing the meaning of the sentence. However, it is not possible to add too many priority levels, but it is possible to have two or three levels.

In the present embodiment, the description will be made assuming that the person who inputs the text data specifies the priority of each character.

When inputting the text data, the operator operates the screen shown in FIG.
It can be edited and input from the input device 207 shown in FIG. Here, the input device 2
In addition to the keyboard, 07 may encounter a storage medium (floppy disk or the like) that already stores text data.

Next, the operator operates the priority data input program to give priority to each character of the text data obtained by the input. The priority by the priority data input program is, for example, to first enter the mode for selecting the character to set the priority, select the character to which the inputter wants to give a priority, and then enter the character to give the priority It is given by giving priority data from etc.

Explaining in accordance with an example, first, when the mode for selecting the character for which the priority is set is entered, and the mouse cursor is placed on the character "image" and clicked, that portion is highlighted, Indicates that it has been selected. Then, when the mouse cursor is placed on the character "ga" immediately after the character "image" and the mouse is clicked, that portion is highlighted to show that it has been selected. Next, for example, when a "priority setting" button (not shown) is clicked with the mouse, another window opens, and the priority for the character currently selected therein, for example, the numerical value 1 is input. When the priority setting is completed, the mode for selecting the character for which the priority is set again is entered. The priority can be set until, for example, "end setting" (not shown) is clicked.
At the time of this designation, the character for which the priority is set may be set not only in character units but also in continuous character string units by a combination of mouse click and drag.

In addition, for example, in response to the message "Please specify the text of the first stage", a plurality of places (or ranges) are designated with a keyboard or a mouse, and when the operation is completed, a message to that effect is given. To the system. Then, after that, the operation of similarly designating that portion in response to "Please designate the document of the second stage" may be repeated. However, at this time, for example, when an attempt is made to specify a sentence in the third stage, the portion specified up to the immediately preceding stage is automatically selected as the sentence of the attention stage. as a result,
It is sufficient for the operator to first specify the main part, and then proceed with the operation as if adding a part to be added to the sentence specified in the previous stage. Needless to say, the character string of the second stage priority in this case includes the character string of the first stage.

In any case, the text data having the designated priority and the priority data are respectively stored in the storage device 2 as normal and temporary data such as a file system.
The text data 203 and the priority data 202 are stored in 01. That is, the text data and the priority data are stored so that the data corresponding to each other can be obtained by sequentially sequentially extracting the text data and the priority data.

Next, a description will be given of the processing contents for displaying the information represented by the text data and the priority data thus stored in a summarized manner. In the present description, the text data of FIG. 3 is given the priority as shown in FIG. 4 by the priority setting process and stored in the storage device 201 of FIG. 2 in the above format. To

The operator determines the text data and the priority data concerning the target information, and a coefficient such that it is between 0 and 1 (this coefficient is hereinafter referred to as a summarization degree. The summarization degree is greater than 0, An appropriate number less than 1 and 0
The overall length of the text data that is output becomes smaller the closer to), and the summary display program is specified.

This summary display program sequentially takes out designated text data and priority data one by one, calculates the character size of the extracted text data from the summary and priority data, and outputs them in order. It shall be.

In the present embodiment, the size of the character output (displayed) to the output device 205 is a power of the summarization degree P, which is the number obtained by subtracting 1 from the priority, as indicated by 501 in FIG. (Here, P ≦ 1) is calculated, and the reference size is reduced by the calculation result. At this time, since the summarization level is a number between 0 and 1, no reduction is performed on characters having a priority level of 1. If the priority level is higher than 1, the larger the level, Greater reductions are made. In this way, no matter how high the priority is, the size of the character will never become zero.

In the above character size calculation method, if the summarization degree value part is set to 1, it becomes the same as normal text output in which no reduction is performed. If it is 0, all characters are set to large size. It becomes 0. That is, the closer the summarization degree is to 0, the shorter the total length of the output text data (because the character pitch depends on the size of each character).

Therefore, when a large number of texts are stored and saved in the same format, when displaying the list,
It is also possible to effectively use the output range (the range of the display screen) of the output device 205.

Further, each character is output with a certain reference line as a baseline. That is, a certain character is displayed so as to be adjacent to the character immediately before it, and at this time, considering the readability of small characters, the output is made so that the lower parts of all the characters are lined up on a straight line.

An example of an actual output to which the above method is applied is shown at 502 in FIG. However, the output example shown in the figure is one in which the text data shown in FIG. 3 and the priority data shown in FIG. Is. In the case of this output example, the text data can be output with a length of about 51% of the case where the original text data shown in FIG. 3 is output as it is.

Although the output device 205 is described as a display device in the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be a printer or the like. Also,
When changing the size of a character, it is desirable to reduce the size by using an outline font instead of thinning out and reducing the actual dot pattern. Also, PostScript is used to output to an output device.
(Registered trademark of Adobe System Inc.) language or TEX (document clearing system such as) may be used. These are the same in the following examples.

<Description of Second Embodiment> Next, the second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the second embodiment, similar to the first embodiment, the summary output process includes the steps shown in FIG. 1, and the information processing system to which the summary output device is applied has the configuration shown in FIG. Has become.

In the second embodiment as well, the text "A long time ago, in the dark forest at noon, surrounded by large mountains, was used in the first embodiment. The image of a small stone stood up. "And the value indicating the priority of each character in the text data is assumed to have the same value.

The processing of displaying in summary in the second embodiment will be described.

It is assumed that the operator activates the summary display program by designating the text data and the priority data regarding the target information. The summary display program first reads all the specified priority data and searches for the maximum value from the stored priorities. In order to improve the execution time, it is possible to write the maximum value at the beginning of the priority data.

When the summary display program is executed, the designated text data and the priority data are sequentially taken out one by one, and the character size of the extracted text data is extracted from the summary level and the priority data. Are calculated and output in order. In the second embodiment, the character size is as shown in FIG.
As shown by 601 in the above, the number of the priority of the character currently being noticed minus 1 is divided by the number of the maximum priority that has already been found minus 1, and the above 1- It is assumed that the result is reduced and the reference size is reduced by the result of this calculation.

At this time, the characters of priority 1 are not reduced. Further, regarding the character having the highest priority, the character size is 0, but in order to indicate that there is a character, it is indicated by, for example, ".". In addition, each character is output with a certain reference line as the center line. That is, a certain character is displayed so as to be adjacent to the character immediately before it, and at that time, the center lines of all the characters are output so that they are aligned.

An example of an actual output to which the above method is applied is shown at 602 in FIG. However, in the output example shown in the figure, the size of each character is calculated and output using the text data shown in FIG. 3 and the priority data shown in FIG.

In the case of this output example, the text data can be output with a length of about 45% of the case where the original text data shown in FIG. 3 is output as it is.

The output method of this embodiment is shown in FIG.
It can also be applied to vertical writing, as shown in. It is also possible not to output the character of size 0 (connect the character outside the character string not to be output).

In the present embodiment, the case where these selections are made will be described in detail. In the case of horizontal writing, the characters were output so as to be aligned horizontally, but in the case of vertical writing,
It is necessary to output the characters so that they are arranged vertically. Accordingly, various symbols such as "" and punctuation marks may be displayed at positions different from those in horizontal writing. This problem will be dealt with by preparing a special font that requires vertical writing and will not be described in this description. In the present description, it is assumed that a character having a size obtained as a result of the calculation is output with a certain reference line as the center line. Naturally, the reference line here is not the horizontal reference line at the time of horizontal writing but the vertical reference line. That is, a certain character is displayed immediately below the character immediately before it, but at that time, it is assumed that the vertical centerlines of all the characters are output so that they are aligned. Also, a character of size 0 will not be output.

An example of an actual output to which the above method is applied is shown at 702 in FIG. The output example shown in the figure is one in which the size of each character is calculated and output using the text data shown in FIG. 3 and the priority data shown in FIG. In the case of this output example, the text data can be output with a length of about 43% of the case where the original text data shown in FIG. 3 is output as it is.

<Description of Third Embodiment> The third embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the third embodiment, similar to the first and second embodiments, the summary output process includes the steps shown in FIG. 1, and the information processing system to which the summary output device is applied is shown in FIG. It has a simple structure.

Also, the priority of the target text data and individual characters is the same as in the first and second embodiments.

The processing contents displayed in summary in the third embodiment will be described.

The operator activates the summary display program by designating the text data and the priority data concerning the desired information. The summary display program has a degree of summarization as an internal variable. The degree of summarization is exactly the same as that of the first embodiment described above.

The summary display program sequentially takes out designated text data and priority data one by one, and first sets an appropriately small numerical value, for example, 0.1 to the summary level. Then, the same processing as in the first embodiment is performed and the summary is displayed on the screen. At the same time, the summary display program outputs the current value of the summarization degree, which is an internal variable, on the screen.

At this time, the operator can change the summarization degree dynamically. That is, for example, when the summarization program is started, one window is opened on the screen, the summarized text is displayed in the window, and a bar is displayed at a predetermined position in the window where the text is displayed. It is assumed that 1 is at the top and 0 is at the bottom. A mark is displayed on the bar indicating the current degree of summarization, and the position of this mark can be freely moved by clicking the mouse and the grid. With such an interface, the user can dynamically change the summarization level. Then, when the degree of summarization is changed, the summarization program newly displays a summary according to the degree of summarization.

The output of the embodiment to which the above method is applied is shown in FIG.
801, 802, 803. However, the output example shown in the figure uses the text data shown in FIG. 3 and the priority data shown in FIG. 4, and the summarization degree is 0.3 for 801 and 0.6 for 802, and 0. It is set to 9. It is assumed that the user dynamically changes the summarization degree on the actual screen and the display on the screen also dynamically changes. The recalculation and redisplay may be performed when the user releases the mouse button, or may be performed at any time while the user moves the mark.

Although the above description of the summary display has been made for a single text data, it can be applied to a case where a plurality of text data are simultaneously displayed on a single screen. In this case, if you set a higher priority among multiple text data and enlarge one text data, and it cannot fit on the screen, the higher priority is added to the priority of other text data. It is also possible to recalculate the whole with the result obtained as a new priority and redisplay appropriately.

In the above embodiment, the character having the priority "1" is used as the reference, and the output character size is reduced as the value representing the priority increases. However, for example, this reference can be set arbitrarily. May be. For example, priority "3"
When the instruction to change is given, not only the characters of priority 3 but also the characters of priority 1 and 2 are displayed in the same size as the characters of priority 3. By doing this, the priority is "3".
When is specified, it becomes possible to read in a natural state.

Further, the resolution of the display device is generally lower than that of the printing device. Therefore, when the display device is adopted as the output device, the readability of the character having the priority before the size of the character to be output becomes "0" may not be maintained, so that the character size is the predetermined size. If the following occurs, the character or character string may not be output or may be replaced with an appropriate symbol. Also, the sizes from the large size to the nth size may be output targets.

The present invention may be applied to either a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to a case where the above processing is realized by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) Text data for certain information is displayed in larger characters with higher priority. Therefore, it is possible to easily grasp the summary of the information represented by the text data by simply looking at the displayed characters.

(2) Storing (or registering) certain information
Since only one text data is used, the efficiency of use of the storage medium is improved, and it becomes easy to correct and manage when a change occurs.

(3) Since the degree of detail can be expressed continuously, the user can use the information at any degree.

(4) No windows are displayed for certain information. Moreover, it is easy to display a plurality of text data in a single window. For example, by prioritizing more than one piece of text data, the user can display only one piece of information out of a plurality of pieces of information displayed in a single window in detail and dynamically set the remaining pieces of information. It is possible to provide a flexible user interface such as displaying an appropriate summary.

In the above embodiment, the range of each character in the text information is designated and the priority is designated for each character, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the text to be stored (registered) is relatively long, the text may be designated in line units or paragraph units. In this case, the corresponding line (or paragraph) can be specified by simply specifying the appropriate position of the line (or paragraph) with the keyboard or mouse, and the operation is simplified and the operability is improved. . However, although it may not be possible to output a detailed summary, it will be possible to grasp the outline of the document.

Although the text information has been described in the embodiment, a figure, an image or the like can be considered as an element constituting the document. Therefore, it goes without saying that such figures and images may also be targeted. Of course, in this case, the output device needs to be able to output this information as well as the text.

Further, in the embodiment, the character size having a high priority is increased so as to be compatible with most output devices.
However, depending on the function of the output device, the present invention can be represented by shading and color-coded, and thus the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0067]

As described above, according to the present invention, the summary of document information can be efficiently grasped and the limited output range can be effectively used.

[0068]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of a summary display process according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram for explaining Embodiments 1, 2, and 3 of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an example sentence of specific text data for explaining Examples 1, 2, and 3 of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an example of priorities for the text data shown in FIG.

5A and 5B are a method of calculating a character size and an actual output example according to the first embodiment.

6A and 6B are a method of calculating a character size and an actual output example according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an actual output example in the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an actual output example in the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 201 storage device 202 priority data 203 text data 204 bus 205 output device 206 central processing unit 207 input device

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A document processing apparatus for outputting a summary of a document, comprising: setting means for setting the priority order for configuring the summary for each of the document elements in the document; and the priority order according to the priority order. A document processing apparatus comprising: an output unit that emphasizes and outputs a high document element unit. 2. The document element is a character, and the setting means specifies a range in character units in the document and sets a priority order for the specified range. Document processing device described. 3. The document element is a line or paragraph, and the setting means specifies a line or paragraph in the document and sets a priority for the specified line or paragraph. The document processing apparatus according to claim 1. 4. The output means outputs the size of a character string forming a document element having a high priority in a size equal to or larger than the size of a character string of a document element having a priority lower than that. The document processing device according to the item. 5. A document processing method for outputting a summary of a document, comprising a setting step of setting a priority order for configuring each of the document elements in the document, and a priority order according to the priority order. A document processing method, comprising: an output step of emphasizing and outputting a high document element unit. 6. The document element according to claim 5, wherein the document element is a character, and the setting step specifies a range for each character in the document and sets a priority order for the specified range. Document processing method described. 7. The document element is a line or paragraph, and the setting step specifies a line or paragraph in the document and sets a priority for the specified line or paragraph. The document processing method according to claim 5. 8. The output step outputs the size of a character string that constitutes a document element having a high priority, the size of the character string of a document element having a priority lower than that, or more. Document processing method described in section.