Article layout device for automatically making layout of multi-column documents
First Claim
1. An article layout device for automatically making a layout of articles onto a multi-column document comprising:
- layout means for generating multiple layout candidates for said articles, each layout candidate being generated by continually searching for an unused sole column or compound column from a column group list and arranging said articles sequentially onto said unused sole column or unused compound column until all columns from the column group list have been used or all of said articles having a size that will fit within said unused sole column or unused compound column have been arranged;
article priority output means for outputting a priority of each of said articles;
layout result evaluation means for giving an evaluation value to each layout candidate based on the entry priorities of the articles that have been arranged on said each layout candidate; and
best layout result retrieval means for selecting a layout candidate having the best evaluation value as the layout for said articles.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An article layout device comprises a layout execute section which virtually sets rectangular columns on an area where documents are arranged and searches for an unused sole column or compound column until the columns are filled with articles or all articles are completely arranged to attain a layout result on articles which can be arranged; an article entry priority output section which outputs the entry priority of each article to be entered, as required; a layout result evaluation section which gives an evaluation value based on the entry priority of the article to each of a plurality of layout results determined by the layout execute section; and a best layout result retrieval section which selects the layout result having the best evaluation value given by the layout result evaluation section among the plurality of layout results determined by the layout execute section.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An article layout device for automatically making a layout of articles onto a multi-column document comprising:
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layout means for generating multiple layout candidates for said articles, each layout candidate being generated by continually searching for an unused sole column or compound column from a column group list and arranging said articles sequentially onto said unused sole column or unused compound column until all columns from the column group list have been used or all of said articles having a size that will fit within said unused sole column or unused compound column have been arranged; article priority output means for outputting a priority of each of said articles; layout result evaluation means for giving an evaluation value to each layout candidate based on the entry priorities of the articles that have been arranged on said each layout candidate; and best layout result retrieval means for selecting a layout candidate having the best evaluation value as the layout for said articles. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An article layout device for automatically making a layout of articles onto a multi-column document comprising:
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column split information generating means for producing a column structure; column processing order generating means for producing a column processing order; article processing order generating means for producing an article processing order; layout means for generating multiple layout candidates for said articles in accordance with the column structure, the article processing order, and the column processing order, at least one of the column structure, the article processing order, and the column processing order being different from for each layout candidate; article priority output means for outputting a priority of each of said articles; layout result evaluation means for giving the evaluation value to each layout candidate based on the entry priorities of the articles that have been arranged on said each layout candidate; and best layout result retrieval means for selecting a layout candidate having the best evaluation value as the layout for said articles. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. A method of automatically laying out a plurality of articles on a multicolumn document area, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) assigning a priority to each of said articles; (b) dividing the document area into a plurality of columns in accordance with a column structure; (c) producing a column group list using the plurality of columns in accordance with a column processing order, wherein each entry in the column group list is either a sole column or a compound column; (d) generating a layout candidate by arranging said articles sequentially onto an unused sole column or unused compound column from the column group list in accordance with an article processing order until all of said articles having a size that will fit within the unused sole column or unused compound column have been arranged; (e) generating at least one more layout candidate by repeating at least one of steps (b), (c), and (d) using a different column structure, a different column processing order, or a different article processing order; (f) evaluating each layout candidate based on the priority of the articles that were arranged on said document area to produce an evaluation result for the layout candidate; and (g) selecting a best layout based on the evaluation results of the layout candidates. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification