Automated extraction and doubly linked reference marks for partialized document contents and version control

• US 5,991,782 A
• Filed: 12/16/1997
• Issued: 11/23/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Hirashima, Akira, Sakaguchi, Yukio, Miyagawa, Junichi, Uro, Yukio, Shinka, Makoto, Hosono, Yoshinori, Haraguchi, Tetsuharu, Kobayashi, Akiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph H.
• Application Number:
  US08/991,880
• Time in Patent Office: 707 Days
• Field of Search: 707/513, 707/514, 707/515, 707/517, 707/530, 707/511, 707/522
• US Class Current: 715/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting

Abstract

When a content to be partialized is specified to a document, the document creation supporting system records the content of the part in a file separated from the document together with a part holding mark, adds a part reference mark at the position where the part is specified in the document and deletes the content of the part from the document in order to be able to readily confirm the consistency of the part and version number when the document is updated and to be able to confirm contents of documents among a plurality of documents.

Claims

1. A document creation supporting system for partializing at least a portion of contents described in a document, comprising:

specifying means for specifying a part of contents of the document;

recording means for recording the part in a file separated from the document together with a part holding mark having a title indicating that the part is being held, a document name of the document referencing the part and an identifier corresponding to a type of the part;

adding means for adding to the file holding the part, at a position before and after contents of the part, a part holding mark having a title indicating that the part is being held, a document name of the document referencing the part and an identifier corresponding to a type of the part, and at a position in the file where the part of the document is specified, a part reference mark having a title indicating that the part is to be referenced, a file name and a file format of the file in which the contents of the part are stored, and a version number information of the part;

inserting means for inserting into the document, at a position where the part is referenced, a part reference mark having a title indicating that the part is to be referenced, a name of the file holding the content of the part, a file format of the file holding the part, the identifier corresponding to the type of the part and the version number information of the part; and

deleting means for deleting the part from the document.

2. The document creation supporting system according to claim 1 having display means for displaying the content of the part without displaying the part reference mark after reading the file or document having the part when the document referencing the part is displayed.

3. The document creation supporting system according to claim 1 having:

keeping means for keeping the file or document having the part under a version number management when the content of the part is modified in the document referencing the part; and

updating means for updating the part version number information within the part reference mark existing in other documents referencing the original version number of the part when the part version number information within the part reference mark is updated.

4. The document creation supporting system according to claim 1 comprising:

selecting means for selecting, when a content of the part is modified in a document referencing the part, whether information within the part holding mark existing within the file or document having the part should be updated or not;

updating means, used when updating, for keeping the file or document having the part under the version number control and updating the version number information within the part reference mark as well as updating the part version information number within the part reference mark existing in the other document referencing the original version number of the part; and

deleting means for keeping the file or document having the part under the version number control and updating the version number information within the part reference mark as well as deleting the part holding document name.

5. The document creation supporting system according to claim 1 having updating means for updating the part version number information within the part reference mark in all documents referencing the part when the content of the part is modified in the file or document having the part.

6. The document creation supporting system according to claim 1 comprising:

selecting means for allowing, when the content of the part is modified in the file or document having the part, to select whether contents of the documents referencing the part should be updated or not per each document;

updating means for updating the part version number information within the part reference mark when updating; and

deleting means for deleting the corresponding document name from part reference document names within the part holding mark existing in the document having the modified part without updating the part version number information within the part reference mark when not updating.

7. The document creation supporting system according to claim 1 comprising mark adding means for adding, when an element described in one document and an element described in another document are described in a related manner, a succeeding original mark having a title indicating that the element is related to the other document, identifier and file name of the other document before and after the element within one document and a succeeding destination mark having a title indicating that the element is succeeded from the other document, identifier and file name of one document before and after the element within the other document.

8. The document creation supporting system for partializing at least a portion of contents described in a document, comprising:

specifying means for specifying a part of a content in the document;

adding means for adding, at a position before and after the part, a part holding mark having a title indicating that the part is being held, a document name of a document referencing the Part and an identifier corresponding to a type of the part;

inserting means for inserting, at a position where the part is referenced in another document, a part reference mark having a title indicating that the part is to be referenced, a name of the document holding the part, a file format of the document holding the part, the identifier corresponding to the type of the part and a version number information of the part; and

process control mark adding means for adding, when a plurality of documents are prepared sequentially along a predetermined flow and when content of an element which should be described in one document in the flow cannot be described a process control mark having a name indicating that the description of the element is reserved, identifier and information indicating a time or operation by which the description of the element has to be completed, before and after the element.

9. A document creation supporting apparatus for designing a document displayed on a screen using a central control unit, comprising:

display means for displaying a screen for showing a configuration of a document to be designed by a user;

document name analyzing means for inputting input data of document names input by the user within frames on the screen by an input device and for analyzing the document names from the input data;

document name registering means for registering the document names analyzed by said document name analyzing means in a memory;

position analyzing means for analyzing positions of the frames surrounding the document names described on the screen and specified by said input data input to the screen and a position of a link line input to connect the two frames by other input data;

position registering means for registering the positions of the frames analyzed by said position analyzing means by correlating with the corresponding document names in a temporary holding memory;

link symbol generating means for reading the two document names corresponding to the position of the link line analyzed by said position analyzing means from the data held in the memory via a registered information input device to generate a link symbol which corresponds to the two document names; and

link symbol registering means for registering the link symbol generated by said link symbol generating means in a memory by correlating with the two document names.

10. A document creation supporting system, comprising:

display means for displaying a screen for showing a configuration of a document to be designed by a user;

document name analyzing means for inputting input data of document names input by the user within frames on the screen by an input device and for analyzing the document names from the input data;

document name registering means for registering the document names analyzed by said document name analyzing means in a memory;

position analyzing means for analyzing positions of the frames surrounding the document names described on the screen and specified by the input data and a position of a link line input to connect the two frames by other input data;

position registering means for registering the positions of the frames analyzed by said position analyzing means by correlating with the corresponding document names in a temporary holding memory;

link symbol generating means for reading the two document names corresponding to the position of the link line analyzed by said position analyzing means from the data held in the memory via a registered information input device to generate a link symbol which corresponds to the two document names;

link symbol registering means for registering the link symbol generated by said link symbol generating means in a memory by correlating with the two document names;

display means for displaying held data of said document names read from said memory on a screen to specify a desired document name;

position analyzing means for inputting input data of the desired document name specified by the user on the screen from the input device and for analyzing a position of a frame surrounding the specified document name from said input data and the data held in the memory read via said registered information input device;

document determining means including a document name determining section for determining the document name specified based on the analyzed result of said position analyzing means;

display means for hierarchically displaying document element names of the document name determined by said document determining means;

input means for inputting input data of the document element names described in a hierarchical manner input by the user to the screen and line data connecting between the document element names;

type definition converting means for analyzing the hierarchical description of the document element names and the line data connecting the document element names input by said input device by a structure analyzing device to convert to a document type definition; and

type definition creating means including type definition registering means for registering the document type definition converted by said type definition converting means in a temporary holding memory.

11. The document creation supporting system according to claim 10, comprising:

display means for reading the data held in said memory by the registered information input device to display a screen by which the user specifies a link line;

relation determining means including link determining means for inputting input data input by the user by specifying the link line on the screen by said input device, for analyzing a position of the specified link line based on said input data and the data held in said memory and read via the registered information input device and for determining the specified link line;

display means for reading a document type definition of a document which corresponds to the link line symbol determined by said relation determining means from the data held in said memory by the registered information input to display as a screen by which the user specifies inter-document related range;

temporary registering means for inputting input data input by the user for specifying the inter-document related range by the input device to temporarily register in a memory;

input means for displaying related screens showing types of document relationships of a plurality of screens and for inputting input data which corresponds to said related screen to input an inter-document relationship;

range analyzing means for reading data from the type definition data memory holding the document type definition data and from the relation data holding memory holding the inter-document related range via said registered information input device to analyze inter-document related range between the screens;

link definition converting means for creating a link definition from the result analyzed by said range analyzing means and from the input data which corresponds to the screen; and

link definition creating means including link definition registering means for registering the link definition converted by said link definition converting means in a temporary holding memory;

wherein a portion of the document type definition which corresponds to the related range between two documents being kept in correspondence with the input type of the inter-document relationship.

12. The document creation supporting system according to claim 11 comprising:

registered information input means for inputting data held in the memories;

document determining means for outputting the determined document name;

display means for reading a document entity which corresponds to the document name determined by said document determining means from the memory via said registered information input device to display on the screen and for reading the document name correlated by the link definition with the document name determined by said document determining means from data held in the memory via said registered information input device to display on the screen;

input means for inputting input data in the selection of the document entity converted by the user corresponding to the screen and data of the document name at the conversion destination of the document entity selected by the user corresponding to the screen;

relation analyzing means for analyzing a converted portion of data input by said input device and each data of the link definition read from the memory via the registered information input device;

relation converting means for converting the document entity selected by the user on the screen into a relational document to create a new document; and

document registering means for registering the relational document created by said relation converting means in a memory;

wherein said document entity being converted into a format determined by another document type definition by specifying a relational document name related to the document name to which said document entity belongs.

13. The document creation supporting system according to claim 12 comprising:

document determining means for inputting the data held in the memory via said registered information input device to implement various processing to output the determined document name;

display means for displaying a screen which corresponds to the document name determined by said document determining means;

input means for inputting input data for disposing document elements when the document is referenced corresponding to said screen;

reference format definition converting means for analyzing a structure of the input data which corresponds to the screen input by said input device by structure analyzing means to convert into a reference format definition; and

reference format definition registering means for registering the reference format definition converted by said reference format definition converting means into a memory;

wherein the information on the disposition of document element names being converted into and stored as the reference format definition following to a predetermined rule by disposing the document element names in the document type definition by adjusting with the relative position when displaying or outputting by a printer.

14. The document creation supporting system according to claim 13 comprising:

document determining means for inputting the data held in said memory by said registered information input device to perform various processing to output a determined document name;

display means for reading the document entity which corresponds to the document name determined by said document determining means from said memory via said registered information input device to display as a screen and reading the reference format definition which corresponds to the document name determined by said document determining means from said memory via said registered information input device to display as a screen;

input means for inputting input data of names of the document entity which the user references to the screen and for inputting data of reference format definition which corresponds to the document entity selected by the user to the screen; and

document output means for analyzing the reference format by reference format analyzing means from the data held in said memory read via said registered information input device and for converting the document entity into the reference format to output a document converted to the reference format by said reference format converting means;

wherein said document entity being converted into the reference format to be output by specifying the reference format definition which corresponds to the document name to which said document entity belongs.

15. A document creation supporting system, comprising:

original version input processing means for inputting original version documents and graphics;

original version storage means for storing the documents and graphics used by said original version input processing means;

edit version input processing means for inputting edit version documents and graphics;

edit version storage means for storing the documents and graphics used by said edit version input processing means;

overlap processing means for processing, by overlapping, two outputs including graphics of said original version input processing means and edit version input processing means;

display means for displaying original version documents and said edit version documents simultaneously;

command input means for inputting commands in correspondence to the overlap state of said display means; and

edit version editing means for controlling said edit version input processing means based on the commands.

16. The document creation supporting system according to claim 15 comprising at least one function among the following functions as a method for differentiating the original version and edit version displayed by said display means:

a function for differentiating displayed colors of the original version, edit version and overlapped portion of the original version and edit version;

a function for differentiating lines of the original version and edit version documents;

a function for displaying by moving only the edit version or original version from a position where the original version and edit version are overlapped;

a function for displaying by alternately flashing the original version and edit version;

a function for differentiating luminances of the original version, edit version and overlapped portion of the original version and edit version;

a function for differentiating typefaces of the original version and edit version;

or

a function for differentiating types of lines of the original version, edit version and overlapped portion of the original version and edit version.

17. A document creation supporting system for of document names input by the user within frames on the screen by an input device and for analyzing the document names from the input data;

document name registering means for registering the document names analyzed by said document name analyzing means in a memory;

position analyzing means for analyzing positions of the frames surrounding the document names described on the screen and specified by said input data input to the screen and a position of a link line input to connect the two frames by other input data;

position registering means for registering the positions of the frames analyzed by said position analyzing means by correlating with the corresponding document names in a temporary holding memory;

link symbol generating means for reading the two document names corresponding to the position of the link line analyzed by said position analyzing means from the data held in the memory via a registered information input device to generate a link symbol which corresponds to the two document names;

link symbol registering means for registering the link symbol generated by said link symbol generating means in a memory by correlating with the two document names;

display means for displaying held data of said document names read from said memory on a screen to specify a desired document name;

said position analyzing means for inputting input data of the desired document name specified by the user on the screen from the input device and for analyzing a position of a frame surrounding the specified document name from said input data and the data held in the memory read via said registered information partializing at least a portion of contents described in a document, comprising;

specifying means for specifying a part of a content in the document;

adding means for adding, at a position before and after the part, a part holding mark having a title indicating that the part is being held, a document name of a document referencing the part and an identifier corresponding to a type of the part;

inserting means for inserting, at a position where the part is referenced in another document, a part reference mark having a title indicating that the part is to be referenced, a name of a document holding the part, a file format of the document holding the part, the identifier corresponding to the type of the part and a version number information of the part; and

process control mark adding means for adding, when a plurality of documents are prepared sequentially along a predetermined flow and when a content of an element which should be described in one document in the flow cannot be described, a process control mark having a name indicating that the description of the element is reserved, identifier and information indicating a time or operation by which the description of the element has to be completed, before and after the element.

18. A document creation supporting apparatus for designing a document displayed on a screen using a central control unit, comprising:

display means for displaying a screen for showing a configuration of a document to be designed by a user;

document name analyzing means for inputting input data input device;

document determining means including a document name determining section for determining the document name specified based on the analyzed result of said position analyzing means;

display means for hierarchically displaying document element names of the document name determined by said document determining means;

input means for inputting input data of the document element names described in a hierarchical manner input by the user to the screen and line data connecting between the document element names;

type definition converting means for analyzing the hierarchical description of the document element names and the line data connecting the document element names input by said input device by a structure analyzing device to convert to a document type definition; and

type definition creating means including type definition registering means for registering the document type definition converted by said type definition converting means in a temporary holding memory.

19. The document creation supporting system according to claim 18, further comprising:

display means for reading the data held in said memory by the registered information input device to display a screen by which the user specifies a link line;

relation determining means including link determining means for inputting input data input by the user by specifying the link line on the screen by said input device, for analyzing a position of the specified link line based on said input data and the data held in said memory and read via the registered information input device and for determining the specified link line;

display means for reading a document type definition of a document which corresponds to the link line symbol determined by said relation determining means from the data held in said memory by the registered information input to display as a screen by which the user specifies inter-document related range;

temporary registering means for inputting input data input by the user for specifying the inter-document related range by the input device to temporarily register in a memory;

input means for displaying related screens showing types of document relationships of a plurality of screens and for inputting input data which corresponds to said related screen to input an inter-document relationship;

range analyzing means for reading data from the type definition data memory holding the document type definition data and from the relation data holding memory holding the inter-document related range via said registered information input device to analyze inter-document related range between the screens;

link definition converting means for creating a link definition from the result analyzed by said range analyzing means and from the input data which corresponds to the screen; and

link definition creating means including link definition registering means for registering the link definition converted by said link definition converting means in a temporary holding memory;

wherein a portion of the document type definition which corresponds to the related range between two documents being kept in correspondence with the input type of the inter-document relationship.

20. The document creation supporting system according to claim 19, further comprising:

registered information input means for inputting data held in the memories;

document determining means for outputting the determined document name;

display means for reading a document entity which corresponds to the document name determined by said document determining means from the memory via said registered information input device to display on the screen and for reading the document name correlated by the link definition with the document name determined by said document determining means from data held in the memory via said registered information input device to display on the screen;

input means for inputting input data in the selection of the document entity converted by the user corresponding to the screen and data of the document name at the conversion destination of the document entity selected by the user corresponding to the screen;

relation analyzing means for analyzing a converted portion of data input by said input device and each data of the link definition read from the memory via the registered information input device;

relation converting means for converting the document entity selected by the user on the screen into a relational document to create a new document; and

document registering means for registering the relational document created by said relation converting means in a memory;

wherein said document entity being converted into a format determined by another document type definition by specifying a relational document name related to the document name to which said document entity belongs.

21. The document creation supporting system according to claim 20, further comprising:

document determining means for inputting the data held in the memory via said registered information input device to implement various processing to output the determined document name;

display means for displaying a screen which corresponds to the document name determined by said document determining means;

input means for inputting input data for disposing document elements when the document is referenced corresponding to said screen;

reference format definition converting means for analyzing a structure of the input data which corresponds to the screen input by said input device by structure analyzing means to convert into a reference format definition; and

reference format definition registering means for registering the reference format definition converted by said reference format definition converting means into a memory;

wherein the information on the disposition of document element names being converted into and stored as the reference format definition following to a predetermined rule by disposing the document element names in the document type definition by adjusting with the relative position when displaying or outputting by a printer.

22. The document creation supporting system according to claim 21, further comprising:

document determining means for inputting the data held in said memory by said registered information input device to perform various processing to output a determined document name;

display means for reading the document entity which corresponds to the document name determined by said document determining means from said memory via said registered information input device to display as a screen and reading the reference format definition which corresponds to the document name determined by said document determining means from said memory via said registered information input device to display as a screen;

input means for inputting input data of names of the document entity which the user references to the screen and for inputting data of reference format definition which corresponds to the document entity selected by the user to the screen; and

document output means for analyzing the reference format by reference format analyzing means from the data held in said memory read via said registered information input device and for converting the document entity into the reference format to output a document converted to the reference format by said reference format converting means;

wherein said document entity being converted into the reference format to be output by specifying the reference format definition which corresponds to the document name to which said document entity belongs.