JPH08241306A - Document processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To retrieve and manage a document which is created by a document preparing application without depending upon the document preparing application. CONSTITUTION: Documents 31 and 32 which are created by the application program for document preparation are kept as application document data 28 depending upon the application program for document preparation and also held as standardized document data 26 which do not depend upon the document preparing application program, and the documents are outputted with the standardized document data 26 without using the document preparing application program. Then attribute information on the documents for document processing is kept as attribute data 27 which do not depend upon the document preparing application program independently while related with the application document data 28 and standardized document data 26.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention further relates to a document processing apparatus capable of displaying and printing by outputting standardized document data without using the application program used at the time of creating the document. The present invention relates to a document processing device that realizes document processing such as document search based on attribute data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Currently, various application programs (hereinafter simply referred to as applications) for creating text, spreadsheets, graphics, etc. are provided on the market, and these applications are installed in a personal computer or the like. It constitutes a document processing device used for document creation. In this specification, a document is not only a text but also a document made up of various types of information such as charts, graphics, photographs, etc., and a document creation application is a document made up of these various types of information. Say the program to create.

Since there are various applications for creating a document as described above, the installed document creation application is different between a certain document processing apparatus and another document processing apparatus, and the application is created by a certain document processing apparatus. There is a problem that the document cannot be displayed on a display device in another document processing device or printed by a printer device, and information transmission by the document cannot be smoothly performed. In order to solve such a problem, there is provided an application capable of displaying or printing a document created by a document creation application regardless of the presence or absence of the application.

Adobe Systems In
If an application called Adobe Acrobat (registered trademark) in c.) is installed in the document processing device, a document created by a document creation application that is not installed in the document processing device will not be displayed or displayed. It is possible to realize printing and outputting. In this application, the data of the document created by the document creation application is converted into standardized uniform format data called PDF by PostScript language (PostScript: registered trademark) by using the printing function of the document creation application. By displaying and printing with standardized document data, a document output that does not depend on the document creation application is realized.
It should be noted that this standardized document data is bitmap data, and although document output can be realized, document editing cannot be realized.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-95367 also discloses an information processing device for converting a document into bitmap data. However, this device aims to omit the reading process by an image scanner and creates a document. It is not intended to realize application-independent output.

In addition, Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft Cor
If an application called OLE (Object Linking and Embedding: product name) of p.) is installed in the document processing device, an application created in another document creation application will be created in a document created by a certain document creation application. A compound document incorporating the created document can be created, and as described above, output of the compound document independent of the document creation application can be realized. In this application, the data of the document created by the document creation application is converted into the standardized document data as described above, and the standardized document data is displayed and printed to output a compound document that does not depend on the document creation application. are doing. Further, this application holds the data of the document created by the document creation application also as the document data dependent on the document creation application, and processes the application document data when the corresponding document creation application is installed. This allows each document to be edited.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-130256 discloses a document processing apparatus for creating a compound document.
This device does not realize the output of the compound document independent of the document creation application.

In addition to the above, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 25324/1992
In JP-A-7, a system is proposed in which, when a certain document creation application is required for processing a document in a terminal device connected to a host computer, the host computer sends the required document creation application to the terminal device and installs it. Has been done. However, in this system, after all, output processing of a document cannot be performed unless a corresponding document creation application exists.

[0009]

As described above, since the document processing apparatus conventionally holds the standardized document data that does not depend on the document creating application, the document is displayed even if the corresponding document creating application is not installed. Alternatively, it can be printed and viewed by the user. Here, for example, when the document processing apparatus stores a large number of documents in the storage device, a specific document is searched from these documents, or these documents are managed according to a certain standard. The need arises.

However, such document retrieval processing and management processing cannot be performed by the standardized document data that guarantees only output. On the other hand, if you have application document data, you can use this document data to search documents, but you must start the document creation application for each document each time. It becomes dependent on the application, and the intended purpose of realizing the document processing regardless of the existence of the corresponding document creation application is lost.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and provides a document processing apparatus for realizing search processing and management processing of a document created by a document creating application without depending on the document creating application. The purpose is to It is another object of the present invention to provide a document processing device that realizes search processing, management processing, and the like for compound documents without depending on a document creation application corresponding to each document.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, a document processing apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention relates to a document created by a document creating application program.
A document processing apparatus which holds application data (28) dependent on the application program and standardized data (26) independent of the application program, and outputs the document by the standardized data (26) without using the application program. In the storage means (3) for holding the application data (28) and the standardized data (26), and an attribute data creating means (23) for creating attribute information of the document as data (27) independent of the application program. 2, 11) and the created attribute data (27)
Management means (2, 11) for writing in the storage means (3) in association with the application data (28) and the standardized data (26) as independent data.

The document processing apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is a document creation application program (A).
One document (31) created in step 3 and another document (3) created in another document creation application program (B)
For a compound document (30) including 2), the data of each document includes application data (28) that depends on the application program and standardized data (26) that does not depend on the application program. In the document processing device that outputs the compound document (30) with the standardized data (26) without using the document (31, 3)
2) Storage means (3) for holding application data (28) and standardized data (26) for each, and attribute information of each document (31, 32) that does not depend on the application program (A, B) Attribute data creating means (2, 11) created as (27) and application data (28) and standardized data (26) of the corresponding documents (31, 32) as the created attribute data (27) as independent data. Management means (2, 11) for writing in the storage means (3) in association with the above.

[0014]

According to the document processing apparatus of the present invention, the output processing of the document created by the document creating application program is performed by the standardized data held in the storage means without using the document creating application program. The document editing process is performed by using the document creating application program according to the application data stored in the storage means. Further, with respect to the compound document, output processing and editing processing are performed in the same manner as described above.

Further, according to the document processing apparatus of the present invention, since the attribute data relating to the document is created by the attribute data creating means in a format that does not depend on the application program creating the document, the document creating application program is used. Instead, the document search process can be performed based on the attribute data. Since the attribute data is stored in the storage means independently of the application data and the standardized data by the management means, this document search processing does not perform the output processing of the document by the application data or the standardized data, but only the attribute data. Can be done using. Further, since the management device associates the attribute data with the application data and the standardized data, the document retrieved based on the attribute data can be output as the application data or the standardized data. It should be noted that with respect to a compound document as well, similar to the above, it is possible to perform a search process for each document or a compound document including these documents only by the attribute data of each document. The use of such attribute data can be applied not only to the document search processing but also to various document processing such as document file management, and a document processing means for performing a predetermined processing using the attribute data according to the processing purpose is provided. It should be provided.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a document processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the document processing apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment includes an input unit 1 that processes input information related to document creation by a user, and a management unit that manages the processing by each functional unit and data related to the created document. 2 and a data storage unit 3 that stores data related to the created document
An output unit 6 having a display device 4 and a printer device 5 for outputting display information of a created document, an application storage unit 7 storing a document creation application, and an application drive for driving the stored document creation application. A unit 8, a document data conversion unit 9 that creates standardized document data from the print function of the document creation application, and a storage unit 1 that stores a unique application that performs basic information processing of the document processing apparatus.
It has 0 and.

The input unit 1 processes information input from a keyboard, a command menu, or the like, and this input information is sent to each functional unit under the control of the management unit 2 for document creation processing and document processing. Search processing and the like are performed. In this embodiment, a compound document including a document created by one document creating application program and a document created by another document creating application program is created. For example, as shown in FIG. The document 20 is composed of a document 21 composed of text sentences and a document 22 composed of figures.

The data storage unit 3 is a storage device including a hard disk device or the like for storing data relating to a compound document created by the document processing apparatus under the control of the management unit 2. As shown in FIG. Document information about 2
3 and 24 and individual content information 25 are stored. The data of each compound document is stored in the unit of document information. This document information includes document attribute information 23 such as the document name of the compound document and the paper size of the document, and the document content information 24 about each of the constituent documents. And are included. The document content information 24 includes individual content information 25 for each of the documents (for example, the documents 21 and 22 described above) that form the compound document, and each individual content information 25 further includes the standardized document data 2
6, attribute data 27, application-specific data 28
It is included. The standardized document data 26, the attribute data 27, and the application-specific data 28 are stored in the areas allocated to the data storage section 3 as independent data units.

As shown in FIG. 4, the document content information 24 includes information about the frame such as the position and size of each document forming the compound document, and the frame information is included in each document in the compound document. It is described as coordinate data. Also,
The document content information 24, the standardized document data 26 of each document, the attribute data 27, and the application-specific data 28 are associated with each other by bidirectional pointers, and the pointers from the document content information 24 to the standardized document data 26 of each document are linked by these pointers. The attribute data 27 and the application-specific data 28 can be accessed, respectively, and the standardized document data 26, the attribute data 27, and the application-specific data 28 can also be used to access the document content information 24 by these pointers.
Therefore, the attribute data 27 is associated with the standardized document data 26 and the application-specific data 28 via these pointers, and the attribute data 27 can access the standardized document data 26 and the application-specific data 28.

The standardized document data 26 is, as shown in FIG. 4, the contents of the document in a standardized uniform format (eg, bitmap format) that does not depend on the document creation application that created the document as described in the conventional example. Is described, and this data can output document information without depending on the document creation application. The standardized document data 26 is created by the document data conversion unit 9 performing conversion processing under the control of the management unit 2. Specifically, the created document is output by the print function of the document creation application. Created.

As shown in FIG. 4, the attribute data 27 is information describing attributes such as a document creation date and time, and a management unit using a unique application 11 stored in the storage unit 10 as described later. Created by 2.
As shown in FIG. 4, the application-specific data 28 includes application document data that describes the content of the document in a format (for example, a character string code format) that depends on the document creation application that created the document. The data is document data specific to the document creation application, which can realize editing and output of the document by using the document creation application. In the present embodiment, the application-specific data 28 also includes the identifier (ID) of the document creation application used to create the document as application identification information.

The output unit 6 is for displaying the information sent from the management unit 2 on the display device 4 or for printing it on the printer device 5. The standardized document data 26, the attribute data 27, and the application document data described above are used. Any of the 28 information contents can be displayed. The application storage unit 7 is a storage device such as a hard disk device that stores various document creation applications, and stores a document creation application corresponding to each document that forms a compound document.

The application drive unit 8 drives the document creation application stored in the application storage unit 7, and this drive processing is also performed under the management of the management unit 2. Unique application storage unit 10
Is a storage device including a hard disk device and the like, and is document information 23 and 24 related to a compound document and each constituent document as a unique application that performs basic information processing of the document processing apparatus excluding the document creation processing performed by the document creation application. Information management application 11 for managing information such as creating attribute data 27 of the attribute data 27
A search application 12 for performing a search from is stored. The information management application 11 manages the information management of the entire document processing apparatus, and the management unit 2,
The processing by each functional unit such as the application drive unit 8 and the document data conversion unit 9 is realized.

The process of creating, editing, and retrieving a compound document by the document processing apparatus having the above configuration will be described. In the following description, a document creation application A and a document creation application B for creating documents of different formats are stored in the application storage unit 7, and the document creation application A is the unique application 1 stored in the storage unit 10.
It is a compatible application of a format that can share data with 1 and 12, and the document creation application B does not have such sharability, and the data created by the application B is a non-compatible application that cannot be handled by the specific applications 11 and 12. .

First, when a new compound document is to be created, when the operator inputs an instruction to create a new document from the input section 1 by selecting a command shown in the menu of the display device 4, etc. 2 is the document attribute information 23 and the document content information 2 using the information management application 11.
4 is created and stored in the data storage unit 3. That is, as shown in FIG. 5A showing the concept of the compound document, the area 30 for creating the compound document is defined,
As shown in (b) of the figure showing the data content of the compound document, in this embodiment, the document name X and the size A4 of the compound document are stored as the document attribute information 23. Note that the document content information 24 remains blank because the document content has not been input yet.

Next, the process of creating a document with the corresponding application will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. 7A shows the concept of a compound document, and FIG. 7B shows the data content thereof. First, when the operator inputs a document creation instruction in the corresponding application from the input unit 1 by selecting a command shown in the menu of the display device 4 or the like with the area 30 of the compound document opened as described above. The management unit 2 searches for a corresponding document creation application from those stored in the document creation application storage unit 7, and displays a list of the corresponding applications on the display device 4 via the output unit 6 (step S1). .

Next, when the operator inputs an instruction for selecting the corresponding application A from the input unit 1, the management unit 2 activates the application A by the application driving unit 8 (step S2), and newly writes a document in the area 30. The area 31 for creating the document is set, and the document content information 24 regarding this document is newly created (step S
3).

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7B, the position and size of the area 31 are used as default values, and the coordinates (0, 0) of the upper left corner and the width and height (representing the size, respectively) are set. 100, 100), and the pointer to the individual content information 25 is set in the record A. And still area 3
No document information has been created in 1 so individual content information 2
The standardized document data 26 of No. 5 is blank bitmap data. The attribute data 27 created and managed by the information management application 11 is the current date and time (August 30, 1994) as the creation date and time of the document, and the keyword is the name A of the document creation application selected as the default value. . The document data of the application-specific data 28 is blank character string data because the document information is not yet created in the area 31, and the application identification information is the identifier AI of the application A.
D.

Next, the standardized document data 26 included in the document content information 24 and the individual content information 25,
The management unit 2 stores the attribute data 27 and the application-specific data 28 in the data storage unit 3 (step S4).
As a result, one line of the item relating to the new document is added to the table of the document content information 24 shown in FIGS. 4 and 7, and one individual content information 25 corresponding thereto is added. Then, the management unit 2 sends the above information to the output unit 6, and the output unit 6
Updates the screen display of the display device 4 and ends the process (step S5). That is, the display device 4
On the screen, a blank frame indicating the area 31 is displayed in the area 30 as shown in FIG.

Next, processing for editing a document by the corresponding application A will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9.
9A shows the concept of a compound document, and FIG. 9B shows the data content thereof. Although the document editing process can be performed subsequent to the above-described document creating process, a case will be described below where the document editing is performed from a state where the area 31 is set but the document creating application A is not activated.

First, the operator selects the frame of the area 31 by clicking the mouse of the input unit 1 (step S1).
0), when the editing instruction of the in-frame information is input by menu selection or the like, the management unit 2 causes the data storage unit 3 to input the document content information 24 and the individual content information 25 regarding the area 31 shown in FIG.
Is read out and sent to the application driver 8.
The frame selection process of step S10 will be described later in detail with reference to FIG. The application driver 8 uses the application identification information AI included in the individual content information 25.
The application A is specified from the document creation application storage unit 7 based on D (step S11), the application A is activated, and the document content information 24 and the individual content information 25 are delivered (step S12). As a result, the document creation application A is in the edit state in the frame of the area 31.

When the operator inputs a certain event by operating the keyboard or the like, this input information is sent to the application A via the input unit 1 and the management unit 2 (step S13). The management unit 2 determines whether this event is for updating the screen display of the display device 4 (that is, input of a character string, etc.) (step S
14) If it is to be updated, the management unit 2 receives the standardized document data 26 of the document from the application A via the document data conversion unit 9 (step S1).
5) Based on this, the output unit 6 updates the screen display of the display device 4 as shown in FIG. 9A (step S16).

That is, when the document editing process of the application A based on the character input event is performed, the management unit 2
Creates the individual content information 25 based on this processing result. In this example, since the character string "abc" has been input in the area 31, the application document data 28 becomes code data "abc" as shown in FIG. 9B.
Further, although the attribute data 27 is not changed, the standardized document data 26 becomes bitmap data of “abc” which is converted by the document data conversion unit 9 into data of a format not depending on the application A.

On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S14 is that the event does not update the screen display of the display device 4, the management unit 2 determines whether this event is an input for ending the processing by the application A. If it is not the end instruction (step S17), the management unit 2 waits for the event reception (step S13). On the other hand, in the case of the end instruction, the management unit 2 updates the standardized document data 26 and the application document data 28 stored in the data storage unit 3 according to the above-described changes and ends the process (step S18). , S
19).

The frame selection process described above will now be described with reference to FIG. When the operator clicks the mouse of the input unit 1 to input the matrix position (X, Y) (step S20), first, the management unit 2 causes the data storage unit 3 to operate.
The first individual content information of the document content information 24 stored in is set as a target (step S2).
1). That is, in the example shown in FIG. 4, the document content information 2
The one written in the top row of the table of 4 is set as the target.

Next, the management unit 2 determines from the position and size information described in the target document content information 24,
The area of the document corresponding to the document content information 24 is obtained, and this area is set as a determination frame (step S22). That is, in the example shown in FIG. 4, the positions (100, 10
Areas of 0) and sizes (231, 394) are set as the determination frame. Next, the management unit 2 determines whether the position (X, Y) designated by the operator is included in this determination frame (step S23), and if it is included, the process by the frame selection in step S10 is performed. Is performed (step S24), and the frame selection process ends.

On the other hand, when the position (X, Y) is not included in the judgment frame, the management section 2 sets the next individual content information 25 of the document content information 24 as a target (step S25). . That is, in the example shown in FIG. 4, what is written in the second row of the table of the document content information 24 is set as the target. Next, the management unit 2 judges whether this target actually exists in the table of the document content information 24 (step S26), and only the individual content information 25 of the first row still exists in the table of the document content information 24 and the target If is empty, the management unit 2 ends the process without selecting a frame (step S27). On the other hand, when the target is not empty, the processing from step S22 is repeated, and when the corresponding frame exists, it is selected.

Next, the process of creating a document by the non-compliant application B will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12. 12A shows the concept of a compound document,
(B) of the figure shows the window for document creation, and (c) of the figure shows the data content of the compound document. First, when a document is created by a non-compliant application, another window is opened and the document is created by the non-compliant application B in advance. That is, when the operator inputs an instruction to select the non-compliant application B from the input unit 1, the management unit 2 causes the application driving unit 8 to start the application B (step S3).
0), The document creation by the non-compliant application B is executed. In this example, as shown in FIG. 12B, it is assumed that a new document including the character string “hij” is created in the display area 33 (for example, the window corresponding to the non-compliant application B).

Then, the printing function of the application B causes the document data conversion unit 9 as the output destination to execute document printing (step S31). As a result, the document data conversion unit 9 converts this print data into standardized document data that can be displayed and output without depending on the application B (step S32), and this standardized document data is managed by the management unit 2.
Send to. Further, the document data conversion unit 9 extracts additional information such as a document name and an application name from the print data (step S33) and sends them to the management unit 2 as well. Upon receiving these data, the management unit 2 sets the newly created document area 32 in the area 30 and newly creates the document content information 24 and the individual content information 25 regarding this document (step S34).

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12C, the document content information 24 has an upper left corner in which the position and size of the area 32 of the new document created in the area 30 is designated by the operator. Coordinates (0, 100) and width and height (1
00, 100), and the pointer to the individual content information 25 is set in the record B. The standardized document data 26 of the individual content information 25 is bitmap data of the character string "hij". The attribute data 27 created by the information management application 11 based on the above-mentioned additional information is the current date and time (August 3, 1994) as the creation date and time of the document.
1 day) and the keyword is the name B of the document creation application as a default value.

The document data of the application-specific data 28 is the file name B of the created document, and the application identification information is the identifier B of the application B.
ID. That is, in the present embodiment, for a document created by the non-compliant application B, the application document data is separately stored so as to have a strong relationship with the application B so that the subsequent editing process can be performed quickly. Only the file name B is described in the application-specific data 28.

Next, the management unit 2 causes the above document content information 2
4 and standardized document data 2 included in individual content information 25
6, attribute data 27, application-specific data 28
Is additionally stored in the data storage unit 3 (step S35).
That is, as shown in FIG. 12C, one line of information about the newly created document is added to the table of the document content information 24, and the individual content information 25 corresponding to this with the pointer is newly created. It

Then, the management unit 2 outputs the above information to the output unit 6
Then, the output unit 6 updates the document content displayed on the screen of the display device 4 by the standardized document data 26 and ends the process (step S36). That is, on the screen of the display device 4, as shown in FIG. 12A, the document “abc” created by the corresponding application A and the document “hij created by the non-compatible application B in one area 30. A compound document containing "and" is displayed.

Next, a process for editing a document by the non-compliant application B will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14. Note that FIG. 14A shows the concept of a compound document,
The data content is shown in FIG. Although the document editing process can be performed subsequent to the above-described document creating process, the case where the document creating application B performs the document editing from the state where it is not currently activated will be described below.

First, the operator selects the frame of the area 32 by clicking the mouse of the input unit 1 (step S4).
0), when the editing instruction of the in-frame information is input by menu selection or the like, the management unit 2 causes the data storage unit 3 to input the document content information 24 and the individual content information 2 regarding the area 32 shown in FIG.
5 is read and this is sent to the application driver 8. The application drive unit 8 identifies the non-compliant application B from the document creation application storage unit 7 based on the application identification information BID included in the individual content information 25 (step S41), activates the application B, and the document content information 24 and The individual content information 25 is delivered (step S42).

As a result, the document creation application B enters the editing state in the frame of the area 32, and when the operator is notified by the keyboard input or the like that the editing process is completed (step S43), the management section 2 concerned. It is determined whether the document data is output by the document data conversion unit 9 as the output destination by the print function of the application B (step S44). As a result, when the print processing is performed, the document data conversion unit 9 converts the print data into standardized document data that can be output for display without depending on the application B (step S45), and converts the standardized document data. Send to the management unit 2. Further, the document data conversion unit 9 extracts additional information from the print data (step S
45), these are also sent to the management unit 2.

Upon receipt of these data, the management unit 2 creates the document content information 24 and the individual content information 25 regarding the edited document, and overwrites and updates the data stored in the data storage unit 3 (step S47, S48). In the present embodiment, as shown in (a) of FIG. 14, the document editing process is performed by the non-compliant application B, and the character string of "efg" is added to the area 32. As shown in b), the standardized document data 26 is "hij
The application document data 28 has the same file name as the file name B, but the file data that is the substance of the data is "hij e".
It becomes code data of "fg".

Next, the management unit 2 outputs the above information to the output unit 6
Then, the output unit 6 updates the document content displayed on the screen of the display device 4 by the standardized document data 26 and ends the process (step S49). That is, as shown in FIG. 14A, the document “hij” in the compound document is displayed on the screen of the display device 4 as the document “hij ef”.
The display is updated to g ".

If the printing process is not performed in the above determination (step S44), the management unit 2 displays a warning message "Print data cannot be created" on the screen of the display device 4 via the output unit 6. (Step S50),
Further, a message "Ask about whether standardized data needs to be created" for displaying the edited document contents on the screen is displayed (step S51). As a result,
When the operator inputs an instruction to "create standardized data", the processing from step S42 is performed again so that the operator can quickly edit the document again. On the other hand, if there is no instruction input from such an operator and it is determined that it is not necessary to create standardized data, the document editing process is terminated.

Next, the processing for editing the attribute data 27 of each document forming the compound document will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the editing process of the attribute data 27 is performed by the management unit 2 using the information management application 11, and even if the document is created by the non-compliant application B, it is regarded as the document created by the compatible application A. It can be processed by the same procedure. Hereinafter, the attribute data 27 regarding the document created by the non-compliant application B will be described as an example.

First, the operator selects the frame of the area 32 by clicking the mouse of the input section 1 (step S6).
0), when an attribute setting instruction is input by menu selection or the like, the management unit 2 reads the individual content information 25 regarding the area 32 from the data storage unit 3, and the attribute data 27
Is read (step S61). Next, based on the read attribute data 27, the management unit 2 causes the output unit 6 to display an attribute setting sheet on the screen of the display device 4, and causes the operator to edit the attribute data on this sheet (step S62). ).

This attribute setting sheet describes each item and its contents included in the attribute data 27, and the operator can arbitrarily change the contents of these items by keyboard input or the like. However, in this embodiment, the attribute relating to the creation date and time of the document is set so that it cannot be changed, and the contents of the keyword items that can be changed can be arbitrarily changed. Here, the content of the keyword item of the attribute data 27 shown in FIG. 14 is changed from the application name “B” to the word “patent information”.

When the attribute setting sheet is closed by the operator's operation after making the above changes, the management unit 2 overwrites the contents described in the attribute setting sheet and the data storage unit 3
Then, the process ends (step S63). Therefore, the keyword of the attribute data 27 regarding the area 32 stored in the data storage unit 3 is changed to "patent information".

Next, the processing when a search is performed using the attribute data 27 will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, a compound document including a document in which the keywords of the attribute data 27 match is searched, and the search and edit process is performed by the management unit 2 using the search application 12. The search application 12 shares data with the information management application 11, and the search application 12 can read and process not only the attribute data 27 but also the document attribute information 23 and a part of the document content information 24. .

First, when the operator inputs the selection of the search application 12 by selecting the menu of the input unit 1 or the like, the management unit 2 reads the search application 12 from the unique application storage unit 10 and activates it. Then, based on the search application 12, the management unit 2 displays the search condition setting sheet on the screen of the display device 4 via the output unit 6, and causes the operator to set the keyword on this sheet (step S70). .
In this embodiment, the keyword "patent information" is set as the search condition and the search condition setting sheet is closed.

When the search conditions are set in this way, the management unit 2 once initializes the set of search results to be empty (step S
71), the document information stored in the data storage unit 3 (see FIG.
Read). The document information is information for each compound document stored in the data storage unit 3, and the management unit 2 temporarily retrieves the first compound document (that is, the first document information) from among several compound documents. (Step S
72). Next, the first constituent document (that is, the one in the top row of the table of the document content information 24) of the compound document to be searched is once set as the content to be searched (step S73).

Then, the management unit 2 checks the attribute data 27 of the document content information 24 to be searched and determines whether the content of the keyword item matches "patent information" (step S74). As a result, if they match, the management unit 2
Reads out the document name of the compound document including the document of the attribute data 27 from the document attribute information and adds it to the search result set (step S75). On the other hand, if they do not match,
The constituent document in the next row of the table of the document content information 24 is set as a search target (step S76), and it is determined whether the constituent document actually exists (step S77).

As a result, when the next constituent document actually exists, it is processed in the same manner as described above whether the document has the same keyword in the attribute data 27 (step S).
74). On the other hand, if the next constituent document does not actually exist, there are no more documents to be searched in the compound document currently being searched, so the management unit 2 is stored in the data storage unit 3. The next compound document is set as the search target (step S78).

Next, the management unit 2 reads from the data storage unit 3 to determine whether or not the compound document actually exists (step S79). If the next compound document actually exists, the above step is performed. The processing after S73 is repeated. On the other hand, when the next compound document does not actually exist, the search is completed for all target compound documents, so the management unit 2 displays the result set on the screen of the display device 4 via the output unit 6. Then, the process ends (step S80). That is, on the screen of the display device 4, the document names are displayed as a list in the compound document including the keyword “patent information”.

As described above, since the attribute data 27 is related to the standardized document data 25 and the application document data 28, but is independent from the standardized document data 25 and the application document data 28, the standardized document data 25 and the application document data 28 are used to retrieve a document from actual data. The desired document can be searched without the need. Further, since the attribute data 27 does not depend on the document creation application that created the document, it can be handled by the basic applications 11 and 12 of the document processing apparatus. Therefore, the search processing described above uses the same document information and other data. It can be widely executed in the document processing apparatus.

In the present invention, the attribute data 27
It is also possible to use the document creator, the editor of the document, the date and time of the editing process, a typical value such as a numerical value written in the document content, the character color of the document content, the position of the document in the compound document, and the like. In addition, the present invention can be used for the document management and the like in addition to the document search for the attribute data 27. Further, for example, if the numerical value described in the document content is described in the attribute data 27, the numerical value is aggregated by this numerical value. Processing etc. can also be performed.
Further, in the present invention, the standardized document data 26 may be print standard format data such as Postscript (registered trademark) or display standard format data such as Windows (registered trademark).

Further, the application document data 28 may be formed in the file name format of the document data or in the actual data format regardless of the compatible or non-compatible document creation application. Although various kinds of information are displayed on the screen of the display device 4 in the above-described embodiment, the information may be printed and displayed by the printer device 5 in the present invention. Further, the present invention can of course be applied to a general document that is not a compound document, and even when it is applied to such a general document, the same operational effect as described in the above embodiment can be obtained.

[0063]

As described above in detail, according to the document processing apparatus of the present invention, the attribute of the created document is independent of the application data and the standardized data and does not depend on the document creation application that created the document. Since the data is held, the document content search processing and management processing can be realized without using the application data or the standardized data, and the document search processing and management processing can be realized only with the attribute data. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the dependency on the application and realize a versatile and quick document processing. Further, since the standardized data and the application data are held for each constituent document, it is not necessary to process these document data for retrieval or the like in a compound document composed of a large number of document data. Is especially noticeable.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a document processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a compound document.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing a data structure of document information.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a configuration of document content information.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing a relationship between a created document and data contents.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of document creation by a compatible application.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing a relationship between a created document and data contents.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of document editing by a compatible application.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram showing a relationship between a created document and data contents.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a frame selection process.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of document creation by a non-compliant application.

FIG. 12 is a conceptual diagram showing a relationship between a created document and data contents.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of document editing by a non-compliant application.

FIG. 14 is a conceptual diagram showing a relationship between a created document and data contents.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of an attribute data editing process.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a search process.

[Explanation of symbols]

A, B ... Document creation application, 2 ... Management unit, 3 ... Data storage unit, 7 ... Document creation application storage unit, 11 ... Information management application, 20, 30 ... Composite Documents, 21, 22, 3
1, 32 ... Document, 26 ... Standardized document data,
27 ... Attribute data, 28 ... Application document data,

Front Page Continuation (72) Inventor Matsumoto Ten 32-1 Sakado, Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture KSP P & D Business Park Building Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A document created by a document creation application program has application data that depends on the application program and standardized data that does not depend on the application program, and the standardized data is used without using the application program. A document processing apparatus for outputting the document; a storage unit for holding the application data and the standardized data; an attribute data creation unit for creating attribute information of the document as data independent of the application program; A document processing apparatus comprising: a management unit that writes attribute data as independent data in the storage unit in association with the application data and the standardized data. 2. With respect to a compound document including one document created by one document creation application program and another document created by another document creation application program, data of each document is stored in the application program. In a document processing device that holds dependent application data and standardized data that does not depend on the application program, and outputs the compound document with the standardized data without using the application program, the application data for each document and the standardization Storage means for holding the data, attribute data creating means for creating the attribute information of each document as data independent of the application program, and application of the corresponding document as the created attribute data as independent data. A document processing device comprising: management means for writing in the storage means in association with the application data and the standardized data.