JPH0883268A - Document processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To automatically record document information, generated in various formats, in the timing of printing on the basis of changing concepts and to retrieve and display the recorded document information later altogether by the concepts. CONSTITUTION: This document processor is equipped with a printing means 5 which prints document information on a print medium, a print control information interpreting means 9 which inputs print control information, interprets the print control information, and controls the printing of the printing means 5, a print control information copying means 12 which copies the print control information inputted to the print control information interpreting means 9, and a print document holding means 4 which holds the print control information copied by the print control information copying means 12.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a device for recording and presenting documents.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional techniques include ordinary retrieval systems, version control techniques, storage reproduction techniques, event-based document retrieval techniques, and printer control techniques.

A typical search system provides a search key,
Present the hits to the user. For example, Un
With ix grep, you can specify multiple files and search for files that match the search key [Kernighan,
Brian W., and Pike, Rob (Translated by Haruhisa Ishida). "UNIX
Programming Environment ", ASCII Corporation, 198
6. ]. Also, recently, it has become possible to perform so-called "fuzzy search", which searches for information with a similar key even if it does not exactly match the search key.

The version management technology will be described. UN
IX tools include version control tools such as SCCS and RCS. With this tool, you can save versions of files in sequence and get the version you need when you need it. It is also possible to represent changes in version as a tree structure [Jun Murai,
Shoji Inoue, Hideki Sunahara, "Professional UNI
X ", ASCII Corporation, 1990. ].

Next, the memory reproduction technique will be described. Reflexible is a typical technology in this field.
CSCW [Thimbleby, Harold, Anderson, Stuart, Wit
ten, Ian H., "Reflexible CSCW: Supporting Long-term
Personal Work, "Interacting with Computers, Vol.
2, No. 3, 1990, pp. 330-336.], PEPYS [Newma
n, William M., Eldridge, Margery A., and Lamming,
Michael G., "PEPYS: Generating Autobiographies by
Automatic Tracking, "Proceedings of the Second Eur
opean Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative
Work, Bannon, L, Robinson, M., and Schmidt, K. (Ed
itors), September 25-27, 1991, Amsterdam, The Neth
erlands, pp.175-188.] and so on. Reflexi
The ble CSCW collects and presents the file update date and time of the computer. The user sees the result and recalls the action performed by the user. PEPYS
Is a technology that uses a combination of badges and other information to automatically notify whereabouts by infrared rays, and automatically records a diary to assist human memory.

[0006] As a document search technique based on an event, there is a document search method described in "Document Search Method" of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-47366 (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation). This is to save event data such as update / search of a database, and to search and reproduce a specific state of the database using the event data as a search key. This makes it possible to obtain a document that describes the details of the event.

Further, basic printer control technology is also important. For example, PostScript ™ [Ho
lzgang, David A. (Translated by Atsushi Oki). "Introduction to Postscript", Personal Media Corporation, 1988] and In
terPress (TM) [Harrington, Steven J., an
d Buckeley, Robert R. (Translated by Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.)
Interpress-Page Description Language for Electronic Publishing-, Maruzen Co., Ltd., 1989. ], Etc., defines a basic printer control language. This eliminates the need for the application to control all types of printers and allows for easy control of many types of printers.

[0008]

In general document creation, in order to express a certain concept, it is often the case that the final form is gradually made while rewriting many times. Furthermore, the concept itself changes rapidly during the expression. In such a case, it is very difficult to collectively search and present documents created based on the gradually changing concept. In addition, there are the following three problems, especially regarding recording of document information. First of all
Is a trouble for the user to record. The document information in the process of being created is changed more and more as the editing progresses, and the details are often not recorded. However, registering in a database or the like each time editing is performed is not only troublesome, but may hinder the thought itself.

The second problem is the problem of recording timing. The first problem would be solved by automatically keeping the document information in the record at regular intervals. However, the document information left there makes little sense. This is because when a document is being created, there is a certain amount of separation between thoughts, and it is impossible to interpret the meaning even if viewed later unless a record is left at that timing. A method of recording document information at the timing of printing is conceivable as a method of detecting a break in thought. When a human feels a certain amount of break during document creation, he or she often prints the document once. You print it out, make corrections as you read it, and show it to others to get comments. Considering this, it is necessary to record the main contents of the document at the timing of printing the document.

The third problem is the problem of the variety of document recording formats. Document creation work is often created using various applications depending on the phase. For example, in the early stages, the idea processor, then the word processor, and finally the layout tools. In addition, the fragmentary information in which the ideas are recorded has an important meaning. In such a case, each application has its own document format, targeting all of them, including future developed applications,
Keeping records and retrieving them is almost impossible.

Even in a normal search system, it is possible to perform a search with some ambiguity. However, when the concept itself changes, even if the change is small at one time, the final sentence often changes completely from the initial one. In such a case, it is difficult for a normal search system to grasp the transition of the concept. Also, the search system does not work efficiently in the situation where the records are not properly recorded.

In the version management system, it is possible to represent the transition of the document itself by using the version tree. However, each time the user creates a document, the operation to form the version tree and the reason thereof must be described, which makes the operation complicated. As mentioned above, such an operation may disturb the thought itself.

Among the memory reproduction techniques, Reflexible
Although e-CSCW produces a record of file changes, it is almost impossible to see the transition of a particular concept while looking at it. Furthermore, since this technique is usually based on the premise of working with a file system, the document information up to that point is erased when the file is changed. Although PEPYS automatically creates a diary, it is based on data such as human movements, and cannot grasp the transition of concepts included in a document.

The document retrieval technique by the event is for reproducing the state of the database at that time based on the history information of the event and obtaining the document information recording the details of the event. However, it is impossible to remember all the events related to a certain concept, and even if a document can be searched, it is difficult to grasp the transition of the concept based on the document.

The printer control technology eliminates the need for an application to control multiple types of printers by providing a shared printer control language. Conversely speaking, whatever type of application format is converted into a common printer control language when trying to print. Further, in a printer capable of interpreting the printer control language, it is necessary to hold the printer control language sent temporarily for the interpretation. Therefore, in such a printer, print instructions from any application are temporarily held in a common form. However, this is only a temporary holding for printing, and is discarded when printing is completed.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to automatically leave document information created in various formats in a record at the timing of printing based on the concept of transition. Then, it is an object to search and present the document information left in the record collectively for each concept later.

[0017]

A first document processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a printing means 5 for printing information on a medium such as paper, a print control information interpreting means for interpreting print control information and controlling the printing means 5. 9, print document holding means 4 for recording print control information, print control information duplicating means 12 for duplicating the print control information sent to the print control information interpreting means 9, and print control duplicated by the print control information duplicating means 12. The recording means 8 records information in the print document holding means 4.

The second document processing apparatus of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first document processing apparatus, holds a condition instructing means 1 for inputting a condition for retrieving a document, and a condition input by the condition instructing means 1. Search condition holding means 2, document search means 3 for searching the document information stored in the print document holding means 4 according to the search conditions held in the search condition holding means 2,
The document search unit 3 includes a search result holding unit 7 that holds the search result, and a document presenting unit 10 that presents the search result stored in the search result holding unit 7.

[0019]

In the first document processing apparatus, the print control information interpreting means 9 receives the print control information, controls the printing means 5, and prints the information described in the print control information on a medium such as paper. . The print control information duplicating means 12 receives and duplicates the print control information sent to the print control information interpreting means 9. One of them is the print control information interpreting means 9
To the recording means 8. The recording means 8 is
This information is stored in the print document holding means 4. This makes it possible to save the print control information sent to the print control information interpretation means 9.

The second document processing device has the following actions in addition to the actions of the first document processing device. The user
A condition for searching is specified from the condition specifying unit 1. The specified search condition is stored in the search condition holding means 2. The document search unit 3 searches the past print document stored in the print document storage unit 4 in accordance with the conditions stored in the search condition storage unit 2 in some cases including ambiguity, and the search result storage unit 7 Save to. Then, the information stored in the search result holding unit 7 is presented to the document presenting unit 10. As a result, the document information stored in the print document holding unit 4 can be searched.

[0021]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The features of the present invention will be specifically described below based on embodiments with reference to the drawings.

(Overall Structure) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall structure of a document management apparatus for carrying out the present invention.

This apparatus has a printing means 5 for printing information on a medium such as paper and a printing control information interpreting means 9 for receiving the printing control information and controlling the printing means 5 as the most basic structure. In addition to this device, a document operation unit (1)
14-1 to document operation means (N) 14-N perform editing and other operations of the document, and are stored in the operation document holding means (1) 15-1 to operation document holding means (N) 15-N. Be present. The print control information interpreting means 9 converts the document information stored in the operation document holding means 15 into print control information and sends it through the network 13.

The print control information duplicating means 12 receives and duplicates the print control information sent to the print control information interpreting means 9. One of them is the print control information interpreting means 9
To the extraction means 11. Extraction means 11
Then, a part of the print control information sent from the print control information duplicating means 12 to the recording means 8 is extracted and then sent to the recording means 8. As a result, a part of the print control information that is considered to be necessary later, for example, a main part such as a part for printing character information is extracted and sent to the recording means 8. The recording means 8 is the print document holding means 4
Save this information to. By storing in this way, the amount of information to be stored is reduced, so that the recording area and other computer resources can be effectively utilized.

The user designates a condition for searching from the condition designating means 1. In this embodiment, it is assumed that a specific sentence in the document currently being created is designated. The specified search condition is stored in the search condition holding means 2. The document search unit 3 searches the past print document stored in the print document storage unit 4 in accordance with the conditions stored in the search condition storage unit 2 in some cases including ambiguity, and the search result storage unit 7 Save to. The search condition replacement means 6 uses the search results stored in the search result holding means 7 to
The search conditions stored in the search condition holding means 2 are replaced. In this way, until there are no documents to retrieve,
Repeat the search. Since the document search means 3 performs a search including ambiguity, the search condition gradually changes as the search is repeated in accordance with the transition of the search result.
In this way, the search result holding unit 7 stores the document information searched based on the gradually changing search condition. The information stored in the search result holding means 7 is
It is presented to the document presenting means 10.

(Printing and Recording of Document) FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a process of printing a document and extracting and recording only the desired one of the results. In the following, a process of extracting and recording only character information from the information to be printed will be described as an example.

The user operates the document operation means (1) 14-1.
From one of the document operation means (N) 14-N, an instruction is issued to print the document information stored in the operation document holding means (1) 15-1 to the operation document holding means (N) 15-N (Step S2a). Operation document holding means 15
Is stored in a format specified for each application. FIG. 3 is an example of a format for each application. Document operation means 14
Converts this format into common print control information. For example, FIG. 4 shows the Interpress format [Harrington, Steven J., and Buckeley, Robert.
R. (Translated by Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.) “Interpress-Page Description Language for Electronic Publishing”, Maruzen Co., Ltd., 198
This is an example of conversion to [Reference] (step S2b). And this converted format is the network 1
Then, the print information is sent to the print information duplicating means 12 through step 3 (step S2c). The print information duplicating means 12 duplicates the transmitted print control information, sends one to the print control information interpreting means 9, and sends the other to the extracting means 11 (step S2d). The print control information interpreting means 9, which receives the print control information, interprets the control information and develops it as image information (step S2e). The printing unit 5 prints the result on a medium such as paper (step S2f). On the other hand, the extraction unit 11 that has received the print control information sequentially reads the control commands included in the print control information (step S2).
g). Then, it is determined whether or not the read command includes the target information. Here, since the process of extracting the character information is described as an example, it is determined here whether the command is to print characters (step S2h). If it was the desired command,
The information contained therein is stored in the print document holding means 4. Taking the print control information of FIG. 4 as an example, “Strin
The target character string portion of the command including the command "g" is extracted and recorded (step S2i). The above process is repeated until all commands are determined. Thus, in the example of FIG. 4, from the range displayed in the figure,
"A new combination of words creates the creation of culture.", "To that end, we return to the origin of human beings and relate the formation and evolution of the" heart. " , And are extracted. Of course, in the actual document, all the characters output to the printer are extracted (step S2j). Then, the extracted information is sequentially stored in the print document holding means 4 as an ID. In this manner, the print date and time is added, and thus, only the character information of the printed information is stored as shown in Fig. 5 (step S2k).
Although the print control language ss has been described as an example, PostS
script [Holzgang, David A. (Translated by Atsushi Ohki).
"Introduction to Postscript", Personal Media Co., Ltd., 1988], the same processing is performed by extracting a character string enclosed by "(" and ")" instead of extracting the command "String". realizable. Further, even if it is other print control language or information other than the character string, the same process as that in which the printer interprets the language may be performed. The target information can be extracted.
For example, not only a character string but also an image can be extracted and saved. InterPress again
For example, MAKEPIXEL from the command
An image can be extracted by extracting the pit string preceding the ARRAY command.

(Preparation for Presentation of Concept Transition of Printed Document) A process for extracting the transition of a concept included in a document printed in the past by searching the document information stored in the print document holding means 4 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing this processing. In addition, a series of documents expressing a concept to be transitioned will be referred to as concept transition data hereinafter.

First, search conditions are set. here,
The search key is the sentence "Visualize scientific data ...". The condition input from the condition instruction means 1 is
It is stored in the search condition holding means 2 in the form of "initial state" in FIG. 7 (step S6a). The document search unit 3 searches the document data stored in the print document storage unit 4 using the exact match search condition among the conditions stored in the search condition storage unit 2 (step S6b). If there is a document that matches the search condition (step S6c), the result is stored in the search result holding means 7 in the form of FIG. Here, a table in which a number, a search condition, data as to which part of the document matches the search condition, a document ID, and the like are stored is stored. During the period in which the searched document was created, the concept expressed by the search key specified first did not change at least in the form of the sentence (step S6d). Then, in order to grasp the transition of the concept before that, the processing target is first limited to the data older than the retrieved document data. This period limitation is performed in the "period limitation" part of the table of FIG. 7 (step S6e). Next, the search condition is relaxed in order to find a part that describes a similar concept, though not exactly the same in the form of the sentence, from the previously limited period. The search condition is relaxed in the "condition relaxation" part of the table of FIG. Here, the search condition is relaxed by the method of searching if most of the main words in the document are included. In this example,
Although the search conditions were relaxed on the basis that the main word was included, the search conditions were relaxed by using a thesaurus, grammatical analysis, and semantic analysis, etc., so that a search including ambiguity can be performed. If so, any one may be used (step S6f). Then, by using this condition, the period limited by step S6e is searched (step S6g). If there is a document that meets the conditions (step S6h), the result is recorded in the form of FIG. 8 (step S6i), and the search target period is again limited to the data older than the searched document data. (Step S6j). And
The search matching part included in the oldest document among the searched documents is extracted, and the extracted part is registered as a new condition. In the example of FIG. 7, the "condition replacement" portion expresses the state of the search condition after the conditions have been replaced by extraction. By this, the concept transition contained in the document at this time can be obtained as a starting point (step S).
6k). The above process is repeated until there are no more search targets (step S61).

(Presentation of Concept Transition of Printed Document) Next, a process of presenting a concept transition included in information printed in the past will be described. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing this process. Further, FIG. 10 is a display obtained as a result of this processing.

First, the time range to be displayed is determined and displayed from the first and last document creation dates and times of the concept transition data stored in the search result holding means 7 in the form of FIG. Figure 10
The time axis displayed by the upper straight line is displayed (step S10a). Then, the conceptual transition data are sequentially selected one by one (one line in the example of FIG. 8) (step S10b). A document icon is arranged on the screen based on the document creation date and time of the selected data. Figure 10
Then, icons in the form of documents are arranged in a horizontal row (step S10c). Then, the document name is simultaneously displayed at the position of the icon (step S10d). Furthermore, Document I
The print document holding means 4 is searched from D to obtain the document length. Next, an image representing the approximate position of the part that meets the conditions is displayed by superimposing it on the icon from the search matching position data of the concept transition data and the document length. The gray portion on the icon in FIG. 10 represents the condition conforming position (step S10).
e). If the concept transition data is not the first selection (step S10f), the icons are combined and the type of straight line expressing whether or not the condition is relaxed is selected. This is performed by comparing the search condition of the currently selected concept transition data with the search condition of the immediately preceding data (step S10g). Then, the space between the icons is displayed based on the line type determined here. In the example of FIG. 10, when the condition relaxation is not performed, it is represented by a solid line, and when it is performed, it is represented by a dotted line (step S10h). The above processing from step S10b to step S10h is repeated until all the concept transition data are displayed (step S10i). Through the above processing, the concept transition data included in the printed information can be displayed on the document presenting means 10 in an easy-to-understand manner. As a result, it is possible to easily understand how the concept indicated in the condition has changed while tracing back the document printed in the past, starting from the given condition.

[0032]

According to the present invention, the document information created in various formats can be automatically recorded in the recording at the timing of printing. Furthermore, the document information created based on the concept of transition can be searched and presented collectively.

As a result, the transition of the concept expressed in the document can be collectively grasped as a series of document information separated at natural timing of printing. This is very effective in the case where the concept is gradually refined while repeating various trial and error.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment for realizing a document processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a process of extracting and recording print control information.

FIG. 3 is an example of an application format possessed by each document operating means.

FIG. 4 is an example of common print control information.

FIG. 5 is an example of information stored in a print document holding unit.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a preparation process for presenting a concept transition.

FIG. 7 is an example of information stored in a search condition holding unit.

FIG. 8 is an example of information stored in a search result holding unit.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a concept transition included in a print document.

FIG. 10 is an example in which concept transitions included in a print document are presented.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 condition instruction means 2 search condition holding means 3 document search means 4 printed document holding means 5 printing means 6 search condition replacing means 7 search result holding means 8 recording means 9 print control information interpreting means 10 document presenting means 11 extracting means 12 printing Control information duplicating means 13 Network 14-1 to 14-N
Document operation means 15, 15-1 to 15-N Operation document holding means

Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location 9288-5L 590 E

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A printing means for printing document information on a print medium, a print control information interpreting means for inputting print control information, interpreting the print control information, and controlling printing by the printing means, and the print control information interpreting means. A document processing apparatus, comprising: print control information duplicating means for duplicating the print control information input to the means; and print document holding means for holding the print control information duplicated by the print control information duplicating means. . 2. The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a condition designating unit that designates a condition for searching print control information, a search condition storing unit that stores the search condition designated by the condition designating unit, and the search. Search means for searching the print control information held in the print document holding means based on the search condition held in the condition holding means; search result holding means for holding the result searched by the search means; A document processing apparatus comprising: a search result presenting unit that presents the search result held in the search result holding unit.