JPH10235823A - Document composing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize the automatic change of the setting of a composition region so as to perform an attractive composition processing by a method wherein a data processor for perform the composition processing consists of setting means of document composing information, of the information on composition size, of composition data, of composition regulations and the like, a processing work controlling means and the like. SOLUTION: A data processor 1 consists of a display processing means 1A, a processing work controlling means 1B, a document composing information setting means 1C on the constitution of a series of documents and a composition size setting means 1D for setting and holding the maximum size among composition sizes to be able to employ. In addition, the data processor consists of a composition data setting means 1E for setting and holding the composition data of a composition region for starting a composition, a composition regulation setting means 1F for setting and holding the composition regulations of the composition region for starting the composition, a composition arithmetic processing means 1G for arithmetic processing the composition data of the setting means 1E in accordance with the composition regulations held here and a storing means 1H for storing various composition data, the composition regulations, a composition processing result and the like.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document typesetting apparatus, and more particularly, to an apparatus suitable for typesetting documents having partially different contents, such as a direct mail and a device instruction manual. Things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Usually, typesetting in printed matter, that is,
Combining letters, figures, tables, photos, etc. according to the design, arranging them in a predetermined manner, and specifying the size etc. to make the composition,
Few of them are unified by one typesetting / formatting rule, and many are composed of a plurality of areas with different typesetting / typesetting rules.

[0003] Since the data amount in each area is usually not constant for each document, each area is set according to the data amount, and the typesetting / formatting is performed according to the position of the area.
You have to set the formatting rules, which is a daunting task.

If this operation is not performed, for example, as in the case of direct mail, the contents of the text and the attached charts and images are different for each destination customer, and the amount of the text and the size of the charts and images are also different. In such a case, inconveniences such as being unable to fit in a certain area or having an excessively large margin occur.

[0005] Therefore, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-304148.
As disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication, a document typesetting device has been proposed in which an operator changes the setting of an area while viewing the typesetting result.

[0006]

However, in this known document typesetting apparatus, the operator changes the setting of the area while viewing the typesetting result. In the case where the number is large and it is necessary to change the setting of the area for each copy, a large amount of work is required for the change and there is a disadvantage that the reduction of the work load cannot be sufficiently satisfied. Was.

In addition, in a case where only a part (for example, the name of a customer) in a sentence common to all destinations must be changed for each message, the part is set in a blank area, and
In that area, typesetting and formatting rules had to be set separately for typesetting, so when the company name was quite long, a correspondingly large area had to be secured. On the other hand, when the length is longer, there is a drawback that the projections overlap, and when the length is shorter, the blank space is too conspicuous and the appearance is poor.

The present invention has been made in view of the above drawbacks, and can automatically change the setting of the typesetting area, so that it can be displayed without causing unnatural blanks or overlaps. An object of the present invention is to provide a document typesetting apparatus which can perform typesetting well and is suitable for typesetting documents having different contents partially, such as direct mail.

[0009]

According to the present invention, a predetermined typesetting process is performed on each of a plurality of typesetting areas in a basic area of a typesetting object in order to achieve the above object. In a document typesetting apparatus provided with a data processing apparatus, the data processing apparatus is provided with at least a document typesetting information setting unit for setting information relating to a configuration of a series of documents, a basic area, a typesetting size subjected to typesetting according to fixed data, and A typesetting size setting means for setting information relating to typesetting data that changes in accordance with typesetting data and typesetting rules constituting the variable data; a typesetting data setting means for storing typesetting data to be typeset in each typesetting region; A typesetting rule setting means for setting a corresponding typesetting rule;
It is composed of a typesetting operation processing means for performing typesetting processing on typesetting data in accordance with a typesetting rule, and a processing operation control means for controlling a series of document typesetting operations to be executed correctly.

It is preferable that the processing work control means has a function of performing typesetting processing on a text in which variable data and fixed data are mixed.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The case where the direct mail typesetting shown in FIG. 2 is performed by the document typesetting apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described below. This is a common typesetting area for customers, but it does not need to be text,
It may be a chart or image, or a combination thereof.

In the case of a sentence, a typesetting operation process (hereinafter, referred to as a typesetting process) is performed based on character data and a character typesetting format / character typesetting rule (hereinafter, referred to as a character typesetting rule). Note that the character typesetting refers to the number of lines in one page, the number of characters in one line, the font, the font, the character size, and the like. Also,
The typesetting rules refer to predetermined rules for processing methods such as when symbols and punctuation appear at the beginning and end of a line or when Western characters are mixed in Japanese, and how to attach ruby (furigana).

[0013] In the case of a chart, the table is formatted according to table data and a table format / table formatting rule (hereinafter referred to as a table formatting rule). Usually, an image is created and edited by another device in advance, and an image stored as image data in a storage unit is pasted at a set position.

In the following description, character data
Table data and image data are collectively referred to as typesetting data.
The typesetting rules and table typesetting rules are collectively referred to as typesetting rules, the typesetting arithmetic processing of sentences, figures, tables, and images is collectively referred to as typesetting processing. Further, such information common to all customers is referred to as fixed data.

The typesetting area A2 is a typesetting area composed of sentences having different contents for each customer. The typographic rules may be common, but may differ individually. In the latter case, it is necessary to clarify the correspondence by attaching the same identification code to the character data and the character composition rule.
In either case, the size of the result of the typesetting processing (hereinafter, referred to as the typesetting size) differs individually depending on the amount of character data, the difference in character typesetting rules, and the like.

The typesetting area A3 is a typesetting area composed of charts having different contents for each customer. Table formatting rules may be common, but may differ individually. In the latter case, it is necessary to clarify the correspondence by attaching the same identification code to the table data and the table formatting rule. In any case, the size of the typesetting process differs individually depending on the amount of table data, differences in table formatting rules, and the like.

The typesetting area A4 is a typesetting area composed of images having different contents for each customer. Normally, an image created and edited by another device in advance and stored as image data in a storage unit is pasted at a set position.
In many cases, the drawing size of the image, that is, the typesetting size is individually different.

Note that these typesetting data and typesetting rules that differ for each customer, such as the typesetting areas A2, A3, and A4, are hereinafter referred to as fluctuation data. Similarly, the typesetting area A5 is fixed data, the typesetting area A6 is text variation data, the typesetting area A
Numeral 7 denotes variation data of a chart, and a typesetting area A8 denotes a typesetting area composed of variation data of an image.

The arrangement order of the typesetting area common to all customers and the typesetting area composed of sentences, charts, images, and the like different for each customer is determined in advance. The arrangement order is not limited to the arrangement order in the Y-axis direction (front-back direction) such as A1 → A2 → A3 in FIG.
The arrangement order in the X-axis direction (lateral direction) such as A3 and A4 may be used. Moreover, the mixture may be sufficient. However, its absolute position changes individually. If a certain area is always reserved for each, if there is a difference in the typesetting processing results, unnatural margins or overlaps occur, and the appearance becomes poor.

The gaps between the adjacent forme sizes are set in advance. In addition, a maximum area A0 (area indicated by a dotted line; hereinafter, referred to as a basic area) that can be drawn is set in advance, and any typesetting size is not allowed to exceed this. The above items are not limited to a single page, but may be a multi-page document.
The typesetting start position P0 at the head of each page is set in advance.

On the other hand, the document typesetting device is a computer (C
PU) and an interactive input device 2 such as a keyboard and a mouse.
And a magnetic medium, an optical disk, and a LAN (Local A
The input device 3 includes a display device 4 and a printing device 5 that prints the typesetting processing result.

The data processing device 1 includes a display processing unit 1A, a processing work control unit 1B, a document type information setting unit 1C, a type size setting unit 1D, a type setting data setting unit 1E, a type setting rule setting unit. 1F, typesetting operation processing means 1G, and storage means 1H.

The document formatting information setting means 1C is for setting and retaining information relating to the configuration of a series of documents, and determines which formatting is to be performed in what order and arrangement, and which customer has Information such as whether or not the data corresponds is set.

Further, the forme size setting means 1D sets and holds the maximum possible size of the forme size, which is the forme processing result of each unit. It should be noted that the typesetting size may be included in the typesetting processing result, including the preset front, rear, left, and right margins.
In addition, a gap between adjacent forme sizes is set in advance, and a basic area is set for each document or each page. In principle, all forme sizes are not allowed to exceed the size.

The typesetting data setting means 1E holds and sets typesetting data of a typesetting area from which typesetting is to be started. In the case of a sentence, it is character data, and in the case of a chart, it is tabular data. Normally, image data is created and edited in advance and stored in the storage unit 1H, and since the amount of data is very large, the image data is directly transferred from the storage unit 1H by specifying a drawing position and drawn.

The typesetting rule setting means 1F sets and holds the typesetting rule of the typesetting area from which the typesetting is to be started.
In the case of text, it is the letter composition rule, and in the case of figures and tables, the table composition rule. Since these must correctly correspond to the typesetting data, they can be identified by giving them the same code.

The typesetting arithmetic processing means 1G performs typesetting arithmetic processing on the typesetting data set and held in the typesetting data setting means 1E according to the typesetting rules held in the typesetting rule setting means 1F.

In this typesetting operation, there is a case where the data is immediately developed into bitmap data and drawn at a predetermined position.
In some cases, only calculation of character positions and the like is stopped, and when necessary, the data is expanded into bitmap data in accordance with the recording density of the printing apparatus 5, for example.

The storage unit 1H stores and stores various typesetting data, typesetting rules, typesetting processing results, and the like necessary for typesetting processing. In addition, the display processing means 1A can perform various typesetting data, typesetting rules, typesetting processing results,
Alternatively, control information or the like is displayed. Further, the processing operation control means 1B has a function of controlling a series of document typesetting processing operations to be executed correctly.

Next, the interactive input device 2 is used by an operator to input and set typesetting information and control information as needed, that is, interactive manual operation is performed to create data necessary for typesetting. It is used to give instructions to the data processing device to check the progress of the typesetting work and the typesetting result. A keyboard, mouse, Japanese FEP
(Front End Processor) or the like.

The input device 3 is for inputting various kinds of fixed data, variable data, etc., created in advance by other devices (not shown) to the data processing device 1, and includes a magnetic medium, an optical disk and a LAN. (Local Area N
network, any means that can be connected in terms of hardware. These data can be taken into the data processing unit 1 each time it is necessary for the typesetting process. However, usually, these data are input to the data processing device 1 in advance and stored in the storage unit 1H.

At this time, the fixed data and the variable data are given different identification codes so as to be distinguished from each other, or the data format is changed. Further, the fluctuation data is coded so as to be able to judge which customers correspond to each other, and when the fluctuation data becomes large, it is good to collectively form a database like a customer list and form a database. .

The display device 4 displays various typesetting data,
This is for displaying a typesetting rule, a typesetting processing result, control information, and the like, and a CRT, a liquid crystal display, or the like is used. Further, the printing device 5 is for printing out the typesetting processing result and the like. It is not always necessary to directly output the typesetting processing result to the printing device 5;
Or an external storage device (not shown).

Next, the typesetting processing mode will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 3. When creating a document for the customer X01, the order and arrangement of the typesetting are determined in advance.

In FIG. 2, the typesetting area A1 is fixed data K1 common to all customers, the typesetting area A2 is a sentence L01-1 unique to each customer, and the typesetting area A3 is a chart M01-1 unique to each customer. The typesetting area A4 is an image N01-1 unique to each customer, the typesetting area A5 is other fixed data K2 common to all customers, the typesetting area A6 is another text L01-2 unique to each customer, and typesetting. The area A7 is determined to be another chart M01-2 unique to each customer, and the typesetting area A8 is determined to be another image N01-2 unique to each customer. Note that information necessary for editing a series of documents (for example, information as shown in Table 1) is set and held in the document type information setting unit 1C.

[0036]

[Table 1] In addition, the typesetting start position P0 at the head of each page of the document is also predetermined. The start position P1 of the first typesetting area A1 is P0. Note that P1 defines the start position of the typesetting area A1, and from which position in the typesetting area A1 the drawing is actually started is defined in an individual typesetting rule. The maximum value of the typesetting sizes of the typesetting areas A1, A2, A3,... And the gap between adjacent typesetting areas are also predetermined.

A basic area A0 (shown by a dotted line) is also set so that the print does not run off the paper. Information on the basic area, the typesetting size, and the gap between the typesetting areas is set and held in the typesetting size setting means 1D.

Although figures and tables are not allowed to protrude from the basic area A0, in the case of a sentence, when character data is left, it is permitted to format the next page from the first typesetting start position P0. In some cases.

Customer X who first creates direct mail
Set 01. Starting from the first typesetting start position P1 (= P0), fixed data K1 composed of typesetting data and typesetting rules are fetched from the storage unit 1H for the typesetting area A1 where typesetting processing is first performed, and the typesetting data setting unit 1 respectively.
After setting E and the typesetting rule setting means 1F, the typesetting arithmetic processing means 1G executes the typesetting processing. Since the typesetting size of the typesetting area A1 is determined, it is determined whether or not the typesetting area A1 is within the range set in the typesetting size setting unit 1D in advance.
B checks.

Further, it is checked whether or not the area exceeds the basic area A0. If the range is exceeded, an alarm is issued and the operation is temporarily stopped. The operator confirms the result of the typesetting process on the display device 4, changes and corrects the typesetting data and the typesetting rules as necessary, causes the typesetting process to be executed again, and confirms that the result is within the range. Alternatively, it is also possible to record that there is a problem in the document of the customer, skip the typesetting process of the customer, and proceed to create the document of the next customer.

After the typesetting process for all the customers is completed, the operator can change and correct the document of the customer who has a problem while viewing the display device 4. If there is no problem with the typesetting size of the typesetting area A1, it is checked whether or not there is something to be typeset next. In this case, since there is the next typesetting area A2, the typesetting start position P2 of the typesetting area A2 is set with a gap d1 set in advance.

Next, data corresponding to the typesetting area A2 is fetched from the storage means 1H, and the typesetting data setting means 1E,
It is set in the typesetting rule setting means 1F. In this case, customer X
01 is the variation data L01-1 of the text corresponding to 01, which is composed of character data and the corresponding character composition rule.

When the typesetting process is performed, the typesetting size of the typesetting area A2 is determined, and it is checked whether the typesetting size is within a preset range. The processing in the case where the range is exceeded is the same as in the case of the typesetting area A1. If there is no problem with the typesetting size of the typesetting area A2, it is checked whether or not the typesetting area A2 is left to be typeset next. In this case, since there is the next typesetting area A3, the typesetting start position P3 of the typesetting area A3 is set with a gap d2 set in advance.

Hereinafter, in the same procedure, the typesetting areas A4, A5,
A6,... Are performed. However, as for the gap d4, the distance from the larger one of the typesetting areas A3 and A4 is taken. If all the typesetting processes are completed and the typesetting size is not a problem, the document of the customer X01 is completed, and the typesetting process result is output to the printing device 5 and printed. Note that the typesetting processing result may be temporarily stored in the storage unit 1H or an external storage device (not shown).

When the work related to the customer X01 is completed, the processing work control means 1B checks whether there are any customers for whom a document is to be created. If it remains, the typesetting process is executed for the next customer X02 in the same manner as customer X01, and the document is completed. In this way, we create all customer documents,
Finalize. Note that the operator can confirm the typesetting processing result on the display device 4 at any time or by specifying a customer name.

As described above, one embodiment has been described. In the present invention, the data processing apparatus 1 has at least a document type information setting unit 1C for setting information relating to the configuration of a series of documents, a basic area, and fixed data. A typesetting size setting means 1D for setting information relating to the typesetting size that has undergone the typesetting process and the typesetting data that changes in accordance with the typesetting rules and the typesetting data that constitutes the variation data, and stores the typesetting data to be typeset in each typesetting region. A typesetting data setting unit 1E, a typesetting rule setting unit 1F for setting a typesetting rule corresponding to the typesetting data, a typesetting arithmetic processing unit for typesetting the typesetting data in accordance with the typesetting rule, and a series of document typesetting operations are performed correctly. And the processing operation control means 1B for controlling the operation.

Further, with respect to the typesetting object, a typesetting area A1, in which all data is composed of fixed data K1, K2.
A5 and all data are fluctuation data L01-1, M01
Although the direct mail forming the typesetting areas A2, A3, etc. composed of -1, etc. has been described, there is also a direct mail forming the typesetting area in which the variable data is mixed in the character data of the fixed data. For example, a sentence example such as a greeting sentence is common, but a customer name, an address, and the like in the middle of the sentence may change for each customer.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show such a typesetting area. In both figures, the portion represented by Δ is the character data of the fixed data, the portion represented by ◎ in the middle thereof is the character data of the variation data V1, the portion represented by ☆ is the character data of the variation data V2, The portion represented by the symbol represents the character data of the variation data V3, and the portion represented by ● represents the character data of the variation data V4.

In the fixed data characters, corresponding codes are set in advance at positions where the variable data V1 to V4 are inserted. When these codes appear during the typesetting process, the processing operation control means 1B calls the corresponding variable data from the storage means 1H, inserts it into the corresponding position of the fixed data, and continues the typesetting process again.

FIG. 5 shows the result of the typesetting process when the length of the variation data in FIG. 4 changes individually.
A good-looking typesetting process is performed without an unnatural blank portion or overlap at the boundary between the fixed data and the variable data. It should be noted that the total number of rows may naturally change depending on the length of the fluctuation data. That is, the typesetting size changes according to the content of the fluctuation data.

It is also possible to change the typesetting rule of the variable data part. For example, changing the character size, typeface, character pitch, etc. of the variation data part, or making it italic,
It can also be underlined.

At the time of transition to the typesetting processing of the variable data, the processing work control means 1B simultaneously reads the character data of the corresponding variable data and the character typesetting rule from the storage means 1H, and sets the typesetting data setting means 1E and the typesetting rule setting means 1F.
To execute the typesetting process. When the variable data portion is completed, the typesetting data following the fixed data and the typesetting rule are set again, and the typesetting process is executed.

The variable data portion is not necessarily limited to character data. Image data such as a logo mark may be used. The fixed data typesetting data is shifted backward by an amount corresponding to the width of the image data, and the image data is inserted. However, in the case of image data, line feed cannot be performed in the middle like character data. The flushing process or the flushing process is performed depending on the amount of the data protruding from the end of the line. The amount by which the amount of protrusion is changed is set in advance. In addition, the operator may perform the processing as appropriate while viewing the typesetting processing result.

The typesetting object is not limited to the direct mail, but may be any other object such as a device instruction manual.

[0055]

As described above, according to the present invention, the setting of the typesetting area can be automatically changed, and the typesetting process can be performed with good appearance without generating unnatural blanks or overlaps. For example, it is possible to obtain a document typesetting device suitable for typesetting documents having partially different contents, such as direct mail. In addition, it is possible to satisfactorily perform a typesetting process on a text in which fixed data and variable data are mixed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a configuration of a document typesetting device.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a typesetting area of direct mail.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of typesetting.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a typesetting area in which fixed data and variable data are mixed.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another typesetting area in which fixed data and variable data are mixed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 data processing device 1A display processing means 1B processing work control means 1C document typesetting information setting means 1D typesetting size setting means 1E typesetting data setting means 1F typesetting rule setting means 1G typesetting arithmetic processing means 1H storage means 2 interactive input device 3 input device 4 display device 5 printing device A0 basic area A1 to A8 typesetting area

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI G09G 5/00 555 G06F 15/62 321D

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A document typesetting device comprising a data processing device for performing a predetermined typesetting process on each of a plurality of typesetting regions in a basic region of a typesetting object, wherein the data processing device is at least related to a configuration of a series of documents. Document formatting information setting means for setting information, and formatting area setting means for setting information relating to a formatting area that has been formatted according to a basic area, fixed data, and changing according to formatting data and formatting rules that constitute variable data And a formatting data setting means for storing formatting data to be formatted in each formatting area, a formatting rule setting means for setting formatting rules corresponding to the formatting data, and a formatting operation processing for formatting the formatting data according to the formatting rules Means and processing work control means for controlling a series of document typesetting operations to be executed correctly. Book typesetting device. 2. The document typesetting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing operation control means has a function of performing typesetting processing on a text in which variable data and fixed data are mixed.