INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD, AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM

• US 20080120536A1
• Filed: 10/18/2007
• Published: 05/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Osaka, Hitoshi
• Granted Patent: US 8,370,738 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/244
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/114 Pagination
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/24 involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]

Abstract

Automatic layout processing includes determining an area size based on a vertical size of sub-templates aligned in a row direction and a horizontal size of sub-templates aligned in a column direction, and locating each sub-template in a corresponding area.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus configured to store a template having a flow area where extraction conditions to extract contents data from a database is set and determine a layout by using the flow area including sub-templates in which extracted content data can be located, the information processing apparatus comprising:

an acquiring unit configured to acquire content data satisfying the extraction conditions from the database;

a first determination unit configured to determine an area size of each cell area constituting the flow area based on a vertical sub-template size in each row and a horizontal sub-template size in each column, wherein content data acquired by the acquiring unit are inserted in a plurality of sub-templates, the vertical sub-template size in each row is selected from a plurality of sub-templates aligned in a row direction representing a horizontal direction, and the horizontal sub-template size in each column is selected from a plurality of sub-templates aligned in a column direction representing a vertical direction; and

a locating unit configured to determine a size of each sub-template so that the sub-templates are included in the cell areas having the area size determined by the first determination unit, and insert the content data in the sub-templates.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first determination unit equalizes a horizontal size of each cell area aligned in the column direction representing a vertical direction and equalizes a vertical size of each cell area aligned in the row direction representing the horizontal direction.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first determination unit extracts a sub-template having a maximum vertical size from the plurality of sub-templates aligned in the row direction, determines a vertical size of a cell area in each row based on the extracted vertical sub-template size in each row and a vertical size of the flow area, extracts a sub-template having a maximum horizontal size from the plurality of sub-templates aligned in each column, determines a horizontal size of a cell area in each column based on the extracted horizontal sub-template size in each column and a horizontal size of the flow area, and the first determination unit determines the area size of each cell area based on the determined vertical and horizontal sizes.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the locating unit changes the size of each sub-template so that the sub-template is included in a corresponding cell area having the area size determined by the first determination unit and locates the sub-templates in the cell areas.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when arbitrary sub-templates are located in arbitrary areas, the locating unit changes a size of each arbitrary sub-template so that a size of each arbitrary sub-template accords with a size of a corresponding arbitrary area and locates the arbitrary sub-templates in the arbitrary areas.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein when the locating unit changes the size of each arbitrary sub-template so that the size of each arbitrary sub-template accords with the size of a corresponding arbitrary area, the locating unit changes the size of the sub-template without holding its aspect ratio and changes the size of the sub-template while holding an aspect ratio of image data of a partial area for the image data included in the sub-template.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a determination unit configured to determine whether a layout of a record including plural content data obtained by the acquiring unit requires two or more cell areas, wherein when the determination unit determines that the layout requires two or more cells, the locating unit locates a sub-template using a required number of plural cell areas.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second determination unit configured to determine a size of a partial area of the sub-template according to a required size of the content data to be located in the partial area, wherein the second determination unit determines a size of a sub-template according to the determined size of the partial area.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a dividing unit configured to divide the flow area into a plurality of cell areas with reference to the area size determined by the first determination unit.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a third determination unit configured to determine sub-templates in which content data obtained by the acquiring unit is located, wherein the locating unit locates similar sub-templates in a same row or a same column when the sub-templates determined by the third determination unit have a plurality of types.

11. A method for an information processing apparatus configured to store a template having a flow area where extraction conditions to extract contents data from a database is set and determine a layout by using the flow area including sub-templates in which extracted content data can be located, the method comprising:

obtaining content data satisfying the extraction conditions from the database;

determining an area size of each cell area constituting the flow area based on a vertical sub-template size in each row and a horizontal sub-template size in each column, wherein obtained content data are inserted in a plurality of sub-templates, the vertical sub-template size in each row is selected from a plurality of sub-templates aligned in a row direction representing a horizontal direction, and the horizontal sub-template size in each column is selected from a plurality of sub-templates aligned in a column direction representing a vertical direction;

determining a size of each sub-template so that the sub-templates are included in the cell areas having the determined area size; and

inserting the content data in the sub-templates.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising equalizing a horizontal size of each cell area aligned in the vertical column direction and equalizing a vertical size of each cell area aligned in the horizontal row direction.

13. The method according to claim 11, further comprising extracting a sub-template having a maximum vertical size from the plurality of sub-templates aligned in the row direction, determining a vertical size of a cell area in each row based on the extracted vertical sub-template size in each row and a vertical size of the flow area, extracting a sub-template having a maximum horizontal size from the plurality of sub-templates aligned in each column, determining a horizontal size of a cell area in each column based on the extracted horizontal sub-template size in each column and a horizontal size of the flow area, and determining the area size of each cell area based on the determined vertical and horizontal sizes.

14. The method according to claim 11, further comprising changing the size of each sub-template so that the sub-template is included in a corresponding cell area having the determined area size and locating the sub-templates in the cell areas.

15. The method according to claim 11, further comprising changing a size of each arbitrary sub-template when arbitrary sub-templates are located in arbitrary areas so that a size of each arbitrary sub-template accords with a size of a corresponding arbitrary area, and locating the arbitrary sub-templates in the arbitrary areas.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein when the size of each arbitrary sub-template is changed so that the size of each arbitrary sub-template accords with the size of a corresponding arbitrary area, further comprising changing the size of the sub-template without holding an aspect ratio and changing the size of the sub-template while holding an aspect ratio of the partial area for image data included in the sub-template.

17. The method according to claim 11, further comprising determining whether a layout of a record including plural content data requires two or more cell areas, and locating a sub-template using a required number of plural cell areas when it is determined that the layout requires two or more cells.

18. The method according to claim 11, further comprising determining a size of a partial area of the sub-template according to a required size of the content data to be located in the partial area, and determining a size of a sub-template according to the determined size of the partial area.

19. The method according to claim 11, further comprising dividing the flow area into a plurality of cell areas with reference to the determined area size of each cell area.

20. The method according to claim 11, further comprising determining sub-templates in which the obtained content data is located, and locating similar sub-templates in a same row or a same column when the sub-templates have a plurality of types.

21. A computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions for controlling an information processing apparatus configured to store a template having a flow area where an extraction conditions to extract contents data from a database is set and determine a layout by using the flow area including sub-templates in which extracted content data can be located, the medium comprising:

computer-executable instructions for obtaining content data satisfying the extraction conditions from the database;

computer-executable instructions for determining an area size of each cell area constituting the flow area based on a vertical sub-template size in each row and a horizontal sub-template size in each column, wherein obtained content data are inserted in a plurality of sub-templates, the vertical sub-template size in each row is selected from a plurality of sub-templates aligned in a row direction representing a horizontal direction, and the horizontal sub-template size in each column is selected from a plurality of sub-templates aligned in a column direction representing a vertical direction;

computer-executable instructions for determining a size of each sub-template so that the sub-templates are included in the cell areas having the determined area size; and

computer-executable instructions for inserting the content data in the sub-templates.

22. The computer-readable medium according to claim 21, further comprising computer-executable instructions for equalizing a horizontal size of each cell area aligned in the vertical column direction and equalizing a vertical size of each cell area aligned in the horizontal row direction.

23. The computer-readable medium according to claim 21, further comprising computer-executable instructions for extracting a sub-template having a maximum vertical size from the plurality of sub-templates aligned in the row direction, determining a vertical size of a cell area in each row based on the extracted vertical sub-template size in each row and a vertical size of the flow area, extracting a sub-template having a maximum horizontal size from the plurality of sub-templates aligned in each column, determining a horizontal size of a cell area in each column based on the extracted horizontal sub-template size in each column and a horizontal size of the flow area, and determining the area size of each cell area based on the determined vertical and horizontal sizes.

24. The computer-readable medium according to claim 21, further comprising computer-executable instructions for changing the size of each sub-template so that the sub-template is included in a corresponding cell area having the determined area size and locating the sub-templates in the cell areas.

25. The computer-readable medium according to claim 21, further comprising computer-executable instructions for changing a size of each arbitrary sub-template when arbitrary sub-templates are located in arbitrary areas so that a size of each arbitrary sub-template accords with a size of a corresponding arbitrary area and locating the arbitrary sub-templates in the arbitrary areas.

26. The computer-readable medium according to claim 25, wherein when the size of each arbitrary sub-template is changed so that the size of each arbitrary sub-template accords with the size of a corresponding arbitrary area, further comprising computer-executable instructions for changing the size of the sub-template without holding an aspect ratio, and changing the size of the sub-template while holding an aspect ratio of the partial area for image data included in the sub-template.

27. The computer-readable medium according to claim 21, further comprising computer-executable instructions for determining whether a layout of a record including plural content data requires two or more cell areas, and locating a sub-template using a required number of plural cell areas when it is determined that the layout requires two or more cells.

28. The computer-readable medium according to claim 21, further comprising computer-executable instructions for determining a size of a partial area of the sub-template according to a required size of the content data to be located in the partial area, and determining a size of a sub-template according to the determined size of the partial area.

29. The computer-readable medium according to claim 21, further comprising computer-executable instructions for dividing the flow area into a plurality of cell areas with reference to the determined area size of each cell area.

30. The computer-readable medium according to claim 21, further comprising computer-executable instructions for determining sub-templates in which the obtained content data is located, and locating similar sub-templates in a same row or a same column when the sub-templates have a plurality of types.