JPH0785044A - Document preparation supporting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the document preparation supporting device which can simplify the input of overlapped contents, can automatically generate a document equipped with contents suitably arranging items, can improve the preparation efficiency of the document and can reduce the errors or mismatching of descriptions. CONSTITUTION:Among items stored in an item storage part 2, an item name corresponding to the kind of the document designated from a user by a document kind designation part 1 and know-how information stored in an item description guide storage part 3 are presented to the user by an item presentation part 4. Respective item contents inputted from an item content input part 5 by the user are stored in an item content storage part 6. According to the form of a document designated from the user by a form designation part 9 among converted forms stored in a converted form storage part 8, a document generation part 10 performs conversion processing while using conversion rules stored in a conversion rule storage part 7, and the item contents stored in the item content storage part 6 are arranged at the sentence in the designated form.

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 user in easily creating a document when creating a document with a word processor, an electronic notebook, a digital copying machine or the like. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to create a new document, it is important to organize the matters to be stated in the document and not to omit necessary matters in the document. The content of the matters to be stated varies depending on the subject of each document, but the outline of the matters to be stated may be fixed depending on the type of the document. For example, there are issues and solutions in papers, planning ideas in planning documents, and market needs. In order to support the creation of a document in which such an outline is determined, for example, in the document creation support system described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-288960, a blank-fill type fixed sentence is prepared and created. Documents are created by selecting fixed phrases according to the development of the theory of the document and entering the necessary information. Further, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-147059, a method is used in which a document is created by using a common logical structure as a model of an item according to a document model of ODA.

To make the logical structure of a document easy to understand,
It is required that not only the important matters are described in this paper, but also the other parts such as the introduction, summary, and summary are overlapped so that the subject of the document can be easily understood by the reader. . In response to this request, in the conventional technology, it is necessary to manually describe each portion to be described, although the content is the same. For example, in the system described in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-288960, since one sentence or a sentence example in a paragraph unit is presented, it is not considered to assign a sentence having the same content to a plurality of parts. . Further, in the system described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-147059, the content of one basic logical object in the logical structure can be laid out in only one block according to the definition of the ODA standard. Can only be laid out in one place in the document. Further, according to the definition of the ODA standard, the contents of a basic logical object in the logical structure cannot be automatically copied as the contents of another logical object.

As described above, according to the conventional method, the overlapping contents are manually described according to the place where the contents are arranged. For this reason, not only the time and effort of the user's description increases, the efficiency of the document creation decreases, but also an error or inconsistency may occur in the description written in another part.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and simplifies the input of duplicate contents, and automatically creates a document having contents in which items are appropriately arranged. It is an object of the present invention to provide a document creation support device that can generate and improve document creation efficiency and reduce description errors and inconsistencies.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, in a document creation support device for supporting a user's document creation, an item storage unit for storing items to be described in the document and a document type designated by the user are provided. The item presenting means for presenting to the user the item to be described in the document by the user from the items accumulated in the item accumulating means, and the user providing the content information of the item in accordance with the item presented by the item presenting means. Item content input means for inputting, item content storage means for storing content information of items input from the item content input means, conversion rule storage means for storing conversion rules of documents, and conversion format of documents The conversion format accumulating means and the content information of the items accumulated in the item content accumulating means perform document conversion processing in accordance with the conversion rules accumulated in the conversion rules. It is characterized in that it has a document generation means for generating a document according to the specified format by the user from among the conversion format stored in the conversion format storing unit.

[0007]

According to the present invention, from the items to be described in the document stored in the item storage means, the items to be described corresponding to the type of the document designated by the user are presented to the user by the item presenting means. It When the user inputs the content of each item from the item content input means, the content of the item is recorded in the item content storage means. According to the format of the document designated by the user from the conversion formats stored in the conversion format storage means, the item contents recorded in the item content storage means are arranged in the text in the format designated by the document generation means. . At the same time, based on the conversion rules stored in the conversion rule storage means, it is possible to perform conversion processing on the contents of sentences, etc., and to supplement the input document information such as adding sentences according to the conversion format. You can generate documents that At this time, it is also possible to arrange one item content in a plurality of parts.

[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 a document type designation unit, 2 is an item storage unit, 3 is an item description guide storage unit, 4 is an item presentation unit, 5 is an item content input unit, 6 is an item content storage unit, and 7 is a conversion rule storage unit. , 8 is a conversion format storage unit, 9 is a format designation unit, 10 is a document generation unit, 11 is a layout document storage unit, and 12 is a layout document visualization unit.

The document type designation unit 1 has a function for designating the document type for the item storage unit 2. The item storage unit 2 stores information in which the type of document and the item name of the item to be described are associated with each other. When the type name of the document that matches the character string passed from the document type designation unit 1 is stored, the item name associated with the designated type name is stored in the item content storage unit 6 and the item description guide storage unit 3 Pass to.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of information stored in the item storage unit 2. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the document type “proposal” is the item name “title”, “problem pose”,
It is necessary to describe "proposed answer", "expectations", and "topics". These item names and the order of item names are
It does not always match the item name of the document that is finally output. For example, when the document type designated by the document type designation unit 1 is “proposal”, these five item names are passed to the item content storage unit 6 and the item description guide storage unit 3.

The item description guide accumulating section 3 has a function of accumulating know-how information about items to be described in a document.
If any of the accumulated item names matches the item name passed from the item accumulating unit 2, the item name and the know-how information associated therewith are passed to the item presenting unit 4. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an example of information stored in the item description guide storage unit 3. For example, with respect to the item name "title", know-how information about what content to write as a title is stored.

The item presenting section 4 has a function of presenting to the user the item name to be described in the document and know-how information regarding the description of the item. The item names and item contents accumulated in the item content accumulating unit 6 and the know-how information passed from the item description guide accumulating unit 3 are displayed on the screen so that the user can understand the corresponding relationship. The item presenting unit 4 can be realized by, for example, a display device or the like.

The item content input unit 5 has a function of selecting an item stored in the item content storage unit 6 and inputting its content. The item content input unit 5 can be realized by, for example, a keyboard and a keyboard input control circuit. For example, the character string input from the keyboard is passed to the item storage unit 6. The user inputs the item content for the item name displayed on the item presenting section 4 with reference to the know-how information. The already entered item contents are also displayed on the item presenting section 4, so that corrections can be made. When inputting the content from the item content input unit 5, it is possible to import the content from the created document.

The item content storage unit 6 stores information in which item names of items to be described in a document are associated with item contents.
The stored item names are passed from the item storage unit 2.
Further, the accumulated item content is passed from the item content input unit 5. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an example of information stored in the item content storage unit 6. Each item in the item name column is, for example, an item name stored in the item storage unit 2 shown in FIG. The item content is information input in the item content input unit 5 for each item. For example, for the item name “title”, the item “new research start proposal” in the item content input unit 5 It shows the case where the content is input.

The conversion rule storage unit 7 stores the conversion rules. The conversion rule can be expressed by a function that takes a character string as an argument. For example, an operation of adding another character string to the character string given as an argument or changing a part of the character string given as an argument can be defined. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an example of conversion rules stored in the conversion rule storage unit 7. For example, the function Name () shown in the first line in FIG. 3 indicates that when this function is interpreted, it becomes a character string “Patent Taro”. The function Domain () in the second line is also the same. In this way, it is possible to insert a sentence at a required place. In addition, the function Intro (bakkgnd, subjec on the third and subsequent lines
t, communicate) is, for example, an argument bac
If "background description" is given as kgnd, "subject" as argument subject and "explanation" as argument communicate, and this function is interpreted, "background explanation Rtn In this document, the subject is explained.
It becomes a character string "Rtn". Here, Rtn indicates a line feed character. In this way, the text can be converted. An operation to change the style of such a sentence is, for example,
JP-A-59-197965 and JP-A-62-786.
It can be realized using known techniques such as those described in JP-A-74, JP-A-62-298869 and the like. The above-mentioned conversion rule is described in the conversion format stored in the conversion format storage unit 8 and is interpreted when the document generation unit 10 executes the conversion process.

The conversion format storage unit 8 stores a conversion format for converting the information stored in the item content storage unit 6 into a laid-out document. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an example of conversion formats stored in the conversion format storage unit 8. One piece of conversion format data to be stored has “format name” and “conversion instruction” as attributes. The attributes "format name" and "conversion instruction" take character strings as attribute values. The attribute value of the attribute "conversion instruction" is
It defines how to convert the information stored in the item content storage unit 6, and is interpreted when the document generation unit 10 executes the conversion process. For example, the example shown in FIG. 6 shows a conversion format used when creating a priority precedent type proposal document whose conclusion is described first. The information described as the attribute value of the attribute “conversion instruction” uses the conversion rule stored in the conversion rule storage unit 7. First, assign <title> in the center and specify the name and affiliation. And <problem raising>, <solution proposal>, <expectation>
Allocate a summary consisting of. After that, an introduction,
In conclusion, it is instructed to allocate the documents in this order to compose the document. In addition, the format name of another conversion format can be described in the conversion instruction. Further, by using the conversion rules described above, various layouts such as centering, right-justification, and multi-column setting can be described. A plurality of conversion formats can be stored in the conversion format storage unit 8.

The format designation section 9 has a function for the user to designate a conversion format for the document generation section 10.

The document generating unit 10 reads out the item contents necessary for generating a document from the item contents accumulating unit 6 and the conversion format designated by the format specifying unit 9 from the conversion format accumulating unit 8 to convert the conversion rules. The conversion process is executed while using the conversion rules stored in the storage unit 7. The layout-completed document generated by the conversion process is output to the layout-completed document storage unit 11.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining an example of the conversion process in the document generation section 10. First,
In S21, the designation is received from the format designation unit 9. S
In step 22, the specified conversion format is searched from the conversion formats stored in the conversion format storage section 8 based on the specification from the format specification section 9, and the value of the attribute “conversion instruction” of the conversion format is read. Here, when the format name of another conversion format is designated as the value, the conversion instruction is further read. S2
In 3, the portion enclosed by <> in the conversion instruction read in S22 is replaced with the item content stored in the item content storage unit 6. That is, when the character string enclosed in <> and the attribute “item name” of the item of the message have the same value,
Replace the part enclosed in <> with the value of the attribute "item content" of that item. Then, referring to the conversion rule storage unit 7,
Interpret the conversion rule in the conversion instruction and replace it with a character string.
In S24, the result of S23 is converted into a laid-out document, that is, layout-formatted data.
The layout-formatted data to be converted may be a DVI file, a page description language, or the like. At this time, a line feed character Rtn indicating a line feed and a C indicating center alignment
A conversion rule regarding a layout style such as nt () is interpreted to determine the arrangement of the character string on the page. S2
5, the result of S24 is stored in the laid-out document storage unit 5, and the process ends.

Returning to FIG. 1, the layout-completed document storage unit 1
1 stores the layout-completed document converted by the document generation unit 10. Layout completed document visualization unit 12
Has a function of converting the laid-out documents stored in the laid-out document storage unit 11 into a form visible to the user. The converted document can be output to a display device, a recording device, or the like and viewed by the user.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart for explaining the operation in one embodiment of the document creation support device of the present invention. First, in S31, the document type is designated by the document type designation unit 1. In S32, the item storage unit 2 transfers the corresponding item to be described to the item content storage unit 6 based on the document type designated by the document type designation unit 1. The items to be described are also sent to the item description guide storage unit 3. In S33, the items to be described accumulated in the item content accumulation unit 6 and the item description guide accumulation unit 3
The item presenting section 4 presents the know-how information from the user to the user. In S34, the user inputs the item content from the item content input unit 5 with reference to the presented information. The entered item content is stored in the item content storage unit 6 together with the item name.

In step S35, the conversion format for the document in which the item contents are input is specified from the format specification unit 9. S
In 36, the conversion format designated in S35 is read from the conversion format storage unit 8. In S37, based on the read conversion format, the item contents accumulated in the item contents accumulating unit 6 are read, conversion is performed using the conversion rules accumulated in the conversion rule accumulating unit 7, and the item ordering is performed.
Perform conversion processing such as text conversion and addition. Also, S38
In, the layout process is performed and the layout-completed document storage unit 11 stores the layout process. In step S39, the laid-out documents accumulated in the laid-out document accumulation unit 11 are visualized by the laid-out document visualization unit 12.

By such processing, the user can create a desired document by inputting item contents for items that need to be described. At this time, the overlapping contents are read a plurality of times when the document generation unit 10 performs the conversion process and inserted into the document. Therefore, it is not necessary to input the same content a plurality of times, and it is possible to avoid a contradiction in a portion where the same content should be described.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the document creation support apparatus of the present invention. In the figure, the same parts as those in FIG. Reference numeral 13 is a logical structure storage unit, 14 is an output instruction unit, and 15 is a logical structure output unit. In this embodiment, the document type information designated by the document type designation unit 1 is passed to the item storage unit 2 and the item description guide storage unit 3. The item accumulating unit 2 passes the item name to be described to the item content accumulating unit 6 and also to the item presenting unit 4 based on the designated document type. The item description guide accumulating unit 3 transfers to the item presenting unit 4 know-how information corresponding to the document type designated by the document type designating unit 1 and know-how information about an item described corresponding to the document type. The item presenting section 4 displays the item name passed from the item accumulating section 2 and the know-how information passed from the item description guide accumulating section 3 on the display means. The user inputs the item content from the item content input unit 5 based on the information presented by the item presentation unit 4. The input item content is stored in the item content storage unit 6 together with the item name passed from the item storage unit 2.

On the other hand, the conversion format storage unit 8 stores a conversion format that defines logical objects and how they are connected. According to the rules contained in the conversion instructions of the conversion format,
It is determined which logical object the item content stored in the item content storage unit 6 becomes. Document generator 1
0 performs conversion processing based on the conversion format specified by the format specification unit 9 to generate a logical structure of the document. The logical structure of the generated document is stored in the logical structure storage unit 13. The logical structure output unit 15 has a function of passing the logical structure of a document to another system. This is realized by a network device with another system, a writable disk device, or the like. The output instruction unit 14 has a function of instructing the logical structure output unit 15 to pass the logical structure of the document stored in the logical structure storage unit 13. With such a configuration, it becomes possible to exchange a document with another system in a document format defined by ODA, SGML or the like and having only a logical structure.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the layout-completed document is output, and in the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, the document having the logical structure is output.
It is also possible to output a document having both a layout and a logical structure according to the conversion instruction of the conversion format to be stored in.

In the above-described two embodiments, the item contents are input for the document type designated by the document type designation unit 1 and the item contents are stored in the item content storage unit 6. In some cases, it may be desired to interrupt the creation of the document while inputting the item contents. In addition, there are cases in which it is desired to correct the item content that was previously input. Therefore, the item instruction unit 4 and the item content input unit 5 are configured to be able to input from the item content of any item among the items to be described, and when the item content is already input to the item to be input. Has
The item contents can be presented by the item presenting unit 4 so that the item can be corrected.

The item content storage unit 6 can also be configured to store item names and item contents for a plurality of documents. In this case, a document may be selected according to a user's instruction, and the content of the item may be input and corrected. Further, the document generation unit 10 may be configured to instruct the document to be converted by the format designation unit 9, for example. By allowing a plurality of documents to be stored in the item content storage unit 6, the user can input, correct, and output a desired document from the plurality of documents.

In the above two embodiments, the know-how information stored in the item description guide storage unit 3 is used as the item presentation unit 4
The item description guide accumulating unit 3 may be omitted if it is not necessary. Also,
The means for inputting and designating the document type designating section 1, the item content inputting section 5, the format designating section 9 and the like can be constituted by one inputting section. Further, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, when a document is displayed on the display device by the laid-out document visualization unit 12, it can be displayed on the display device that displays items and the like by the item presenting unit 4. . Further, the item storage unit 2, the item description guide storage unit 3,
Item content storage 6, conversion rule storage 7, conversion format storage 8, laid-out document storage 11, logical structure storage 1
3, some or all of them can be realized on a common storage device. In addition, the data stored in them can use a common array type data structure to associate different types of information. However, the data structure is not limited to this, and any data structure may be used as long as it can play the role of each functional element, for example, a hash table type data structure or a list structure.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a specific example of the document creation support apparatus of the present invention. In the figure, 41 is a keyboard,
42 is a display, 43 is a pointing device,
44 is a memory and 45 is a CPU. The document editing apparatus of the present invention includes, for example, a keyboard 41 and a pointing device 4 used for inputting item contents and various designations and instructions.
Display 42 used for various displays such as presentation of items and know-how information and visualization of laid-out documents
And a memory 44 for holding a program and data according to the document creation support method of the present invention and variables at the time of program execution, a CPU 45 for reading the program stored in the memory 44 and executing the program, and the like. can do. Pointing device 43
A mouse, a pen, a trackball, or the like can be used for this. The keyboard 41 may be replaced with a pen input device.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing another specific example of the document creation support apparatus of the present invention. 10, those parts that are the same as those corresponding parts in FIG. 10 are designated by the same reference numerals, and a description thereof will be omitted. 46 is a scanner, 47 is a touch panel, and 48 is a printer. In this specific example, the scanner 46 is used to input item contents. Further, the touch panel 47 is used for various designations, instructions, and presentation of items and know-how information. Further, the printer 47 can be used to visualize the laid out document.

In addition to the configurations shown in the above two specific examples,
For example, incorporating an interface for the network,
It can also be configured to exchange documents with other systems.

[0033]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the user can understand the matters to be described by simply selecting the desired document type, and describe the contents in the desired items. Only by selecting the transmission format, the document content is automatically converted and arranged based on the conversion format selected from the item content input by the user, and the desired document can be obtained. Therefore, compared to the case where the duplicate contents are described in various places in the past, the burden on the user can be significantly reduced, and inconsistencies in the description between the multiple places where the contents should be duplicated can be reduced. The effect is that it can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of information stored in an item storage unit 2.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an example of information stored in an item description guide storage unit 3.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an example of information stored in an item content storage unit 6.

5 is an explanatory diagram of an example of conversion rules accumulated in a conversion rule accumulating unit 7. FIG.

6 is an explanatory diagram of an example of conversion formats stored in a conversion format storage unit 8. FIG.

7 is a flowchart for explaining an example of conversion processing in the document generation unit 10. FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the document creation support apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the document creation support device of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a specific example of a document creation support device of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram showing another specific example of the document creation support apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 document type designation section, 2 item storage section, 3 item description guide storage section, 4 item presentation section, 5 item content input section, 6
Item content storage unit, 7 conversion rule storage unit, 8 conversion format storage unit, 9 format designation unit, 10 document generation unit, 11 layout document storage unit, 12 layout document visualization unit, 13 logical structure storage unit, 14 output instruction Part, 15
Logical structure output section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A document creation support device for assisting a user in creating a document, the item storage means for accumulating items to be described in a document, and the item storage means according to the type of document designated by the user. An item presenting means for presenting to the user an item to be described in the document from the selected item, and an item content inputting means for allowing the user to input the content information of the item in accordance with the item presented by the item presenting means, Item content storage means for storing the content information of the item input from the item content input means, conversion rule storage means for storing the conversion rule of the document, conversion format storage means for storing the conversion format of the document, and the item The content information of the item accumulated in the content accumulating unit is converted into a document according to the conversion rule accumulated in the conversion rule and is accumulated in the conversion format accumulating unit. A document creation support apparatus comprising: a document creation unit that creates a document according to a format designated by a user from among the accumulated conversion formats.