JP2000057154A - Structured document storage and retrieval device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To provide an environment for efficiently generating, storing, managing and using structured documents. SOLUTION: Electronic document data expressing a logical document structure is divided into individual elements, and is composed of only text data among an application dependent structured document individual element 203 and an application dependent structured document individual element 203. The three types of text-format structured document individual element 206 and display data individual element 208 which is a display image are generated, stored, managed, and stored, and the text-format structured document individual element 206 is searched. Is a structured document storage and retrieval device that displays, as a search result, a display data individual element 208 and an application-dependent format structured document individual element 203 corresponding to each individual element corresponding to.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention classifies a structured document created by a user using a document template of application software for creating a document (for example, a word processor) into individual elements constituting the structured document. The three types of data are linked: a structured document that depends on the application software that created the document, a structured document that is a text format that is a database storage format, and display data that corresponds to individual elements. The present invention relates to an apparatus that efficiently generates, stores, and manages a document, and realizes high-quality display of a corresponding portion of a document that meets a user's search request at a level equivalent to a printed matter.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, structured documents have been created using an editor dedicated to structured documents. As means for solving this problem, there is JP-A-8-221399 "Structured document creation method and apparatus". According to this device, the original text created by the user using the temporary tag and each document type are referred to by referring to the correspondence between the temporary tag representing the document logical structure defined by the user and the plurality of document logical structure definitions prepared in advance. The degree of matching with the definition is obtained, the document type definitions are displayed in the order of the matching degree, the user is requested to select the document type definition, and the temporary tag in the original text is converted to the document type according to the selected document type definition. This is to convert the text including the conversion result into information representing the document logical structure based on the definition, to analyze the text including the conversion result by a parser that performs parsing based on the document type definition, and to verify the consistency of the conversion result.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. Hei 6-301721 "Document Database Searching Method" and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 5-225240 "Document Database Apparatus" have been known as apparatuses for solving the problem that documents can be handled only in units of documents. is there. According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 6-301721, a full-text database search method that enables the specification of a search request sentence including the logical structure information of a document and the display of a search result is performed. Creates a database including structural information indicating the logical structure of the component, a component identifier for identifying the component, and text information following the component identifier, searches the database, and searches for a text that is a search result. Displaying information. According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-225240, it is possible to extract a part of the document content from the structured document stored in the document database and to perform the allocation process of the extracted content.

[0004]

In a device employing the conventional document generation, storage and display method described above, a structured document is efficiently generated and stored for a user. It has not been possible to provide search results with high quality image quality at the same level as printed matter.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-221399, a document is created with an editor that handles only text. However, in the current situation where applications capable of performing work on an editing screen that can obtain the same image as a print result are widely used, This is a major disadvantage for document writers. In addition, since the user has to perform the work of attaching a temporary tag, additional work is increased. Also, referring to the correspondence relationship between the original text and the document logical structure definition prepared in advance, the degree of coincidence is obtained, the document type definitions are displayed in order of the degree of coincidence, and the user is allowed to select one of them. May be mistaken.

In the method disclosed in JP-A-6-301721 and the apparatus described in JP-A-5-225240, only text is displayed as a search result based on a part of a stored structured document. I have. Further, there is no means for a user to generate and reuse a structured document.

As described above, generation of a conventional structured document,
It has been impossible for a device employing the storage and display method to efficiently generate, store and manage users, and to provide high-quality search results at the same level as printed materials. In the conventional structured document management system, the document attributes written in the document at the time of accumulation need to be separately input again, there is no means for the user to generate and reuse the structured document, There were problems such as the fact that high-quality display at the same level as printed matter was impossible as a search result.

The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, provides an effective structured document creation environment for a user, analyzes the document structure of a generated document, and analyzes each component. Classify into application-dependent structured document individual elements, generate text-structured structured document individual elements and display data individual elements from these application-dependent structured structured document individual elements, accumulate these three types of data formats, and link It is intended to receive a user's search request and provide a display of high quality image quality at the same level as a printed matter as a search result.

[0009]

A structured document storage and retrieval apparatus according to the present invention includes: a storage unit for storing a document structure definition in which each component constituting a structured document to be created is defined in advance; And a document creation unit that creates a document based on the components defined in the document creation unit, and converts the document created by the document creation unit into an individual element that is a document portion corresponding to the component defined in the document structure definition. , An individual element generation unit that generates data in a plurality of formats for the individual elements classified by the individual element classification unit, and a plurality of formats generated by the individual element generation unit A data storage unit that stores the data of each format in association with the individual elements, a data storage unit that is a storage area in which the data storage unit stores a plurality of types of data, and a data storage unit that stores the data. Characterized by comprising a search management unit to retrieve the stored in the storage unit data.

The document creation section has application software for creating a document. The application software creates an application-dependent format structured document according to a data storage format of the application software, and the individual element classification section. Generates an application-dependent format structured document individual element by classifying the application-dependent format structured document, and the data storage unit
At least the application-dependent format structured document individual element, the text format structured document individual element obtained by converting the application dependent format structured document individual element to a text format, and display data individual used when outputting a search result. It has a storage area for storing a plurality of types of data including any of the elements.

The search management section includes a search section for searching data stored in the data storage section, and a search result output for outputting at least one of the data in the plurality of formats to the data searched for by the search section. And a unit.

The individual element generator converts the application-dependent structured document individual element into text format data, which is the data format of the structured document, and generates the structured document individual element. It is characterized in that display data to be used for display is generated in correspondence with a formal structured document individual element.

Each of the individual elements has an identification name for identifying the individual element, and the data storage processing section stores the data in the plurality of formats in association with the identification name.

The application software has a macro language, and creates a document template for creating a structured document based on the document structure definition using the macro language. It is characterized in that an application-dependent structured document is created by creating a document.

The search result output section has application software for creating an application-dependent format structured document, and outputs a display data individual element.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 An example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, the format of a structured document represented by text is SG
ML (Standard Generalized M
arkup Language). Therefore,
The concept corresponding to the document structure definition is the SGML DTD (Do
document type definition).

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a processing flow of the entire structured document storage and retrieval apparatus. The document creation unit 101 is, specifically, document editing application software (word processor). The document creation unit 101 has an input restriction function and a style-added function indicating the names of the components of the document. The input restriction function realizes creation of a structured document by reading the document structure definition 102 defined in advance by the SGML DTD and restricting usable styles.
The style indicates attributes such as whether the character string is a chapter, a section, or a title. The style-added function is a function for changing a document input at the time of document creation to a usable style. This function is created with the macro language attached to the document editing application software. The document creation unit 101 creates a structured document in a format depending on application software for creating a document. A document in this format is defined as an application-dependent structured document. FIG. 8 shows a specific example of the application-dependent format structured document 201.

Each component constituting the application-dependent structured document is classified by a style. More specifically, it is determined by an attribute such as whether a character string is a chapter, a section, or a title. It is possible to classify. The application-dependent structured document is classified and divided into components (103). The document of each of the divided constituent elements is set as an application-dependent format structured document individual element (104). Specifically, the application-dependent format structured document individual element is obtained by dividing the document into components such as a chapter and a section. FIG. 9 shows an application-dependent format structured document individual element 20 based on the application-dependent format structured document 201 shown in FIG.
3 is generated.

Next, based on the application-dependent structured document individual element, a text structured document individual element (FIG. 1) which is an individual element expressed in the SGML format.
0), display data individual elements which are display data (FIG. 1)
1) is generated (105). The text-format structured document individual element and the display data individual element are stored in one-to-one correspondence with the application-dependent structured document individual element. FIG. 10 shows a case where a text-format structured document individual element 206 is generated based on the application-dependent structured document individual element 203 shown in FIG. FIG. 11 shows a case where a display data individual element 208 is generated based on the application-dependent format structured document individual element 203 shown in FIG.

The search unit receives the search request and outputs a search result (109). Based on the search request received from the user, search for the text-format structured document individual elements stored in the database, and display the application-dependent structured document individual elements corresponding to the search results for reuse and display Individual data elements for display are returned to the user as display data. The above is the overall processing flow of the present apparatus.

Next, the configuration of each part of the apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. The structured document storage and retrieval apparatus includes a document creating unit 1 for creating an application-dependent structured document 201 by application software for creating a document.
01, an individual element classifying unit 202 for classifying the application-dependent structured document 201 created by the document creating unit 101 into individual elements which are document parts corresponding to the components,
An individual element generation unit 220 that generates a plurality of data formats for the individual elements classified by the individual element classification unit 202, and stores the data of the multiple formats generated by the individual element generation unit 220 in association with each individual element Data storage processing unit 20
9, a data storage unit 230 for storing data, and a search management unit 303 for searching for data.

The data storage unit 230 includes a storage management unit 211
, A document individual element storage unit 212, and a search result display data storage unit 213. The search management unit 303, as shown in FIG.
2, a search unit 304, and a search result output unit 305. Further, the individual element generation unit 220
As shown in FIG. 2, it comprises a structured document individual element generation unit 205 and a display data individual element generation unit 207.

Next, the operation of each component will be described. First, the operation of the document creation unit 101 will be described with reference to FIG. The document creation unit 101 creates an application-dependent structured document using application software (such as a word processor).

The document creator creates a document structure definition 102 in advance that defines the structure of the document to be created. Next, the document creator creates a document template based on the document structure definition 102 using application software. The document template is created by a macro program that is a function attached to the application software, and has an input restriction function and a style-added function, so that a document according to the document structure definition 102 can be created. It is. Since the document template incorporates a macro program, it has an input restriction function according to the document structure and a style-added function indicating the names of the components that constitute the document. These functions are provided for each document template. A document is created using a document template according to an input restriction function and a style-added function. Note that a plurality of application software can be used as the application software for document creation as long as the application satisfies the above functions.

As a specific example, a case where an application-dependent structured document 201 shown in FIG. 8 is created will be described. In this specific example, FIG. 4 shows an example of the operation in the case of a document which starts with a document title at the beginning of the document, and then has an author name, a chapter title, a chapter paragraph, a section title, and a section paragraph. This will be described with reference to FIG. The document creation unit 101 has a document structure storage area in accordance with the DTD for storing the order of each element constituting a document for each document template. When a user starts editing a document and opens the target document template, the macro program embedded in the document template operates, searches for the first component from the document configuration storage area, and responds to that component. The first style to be set is set (401). In the case of the present embodiment, since the first component is the document title, the document title is set in the style. The user inputs a document title, and inputs a line feed code indicating the end of the input from the keyboard. When the input completion of the document title is notified to the application software by the line feed code, the macro program sets the author name as the next component in the document title in the style (402). Next, the user enters the author name,
When the user inputs a line feed code and notifies the application software that the input of the document title has been completed, the macro program sets the chapter title in the style. Similarly, the macro program attached to the document template determines that the input of the line feed key has been completed for the current style, and sets the next component in the document structure storage area to the style. When setting a style, if multiple of the following components are applicable (4
05), a selection screen is presented, and the user is caused to select a document component name corresponding to a character string described below, and the selected component is set as a style (406, 407). When the document editing is completed, the creation of the application-dependent format structured document 201 shown in FIG. 8 is completed.

As described above, by creating a document using a document template prepared in advance according to the characteristics of the document to be created, the document has a logical structure, and becomes the original form of a structured document represented by text. Can create application-dependent structured documents.

Next, the operation of the individual element classification unit 202 will be described with reference to FIG. In the individual element classification unit 202, the application-dependent format structured document individual element 20
3 is generated. In this specific example, based on the application-dependent format structured document 201 shown in FIG. 8, the application-dependent format structured document individual element 203 shown in FIG.
Is generated. An application-dependent format structured document 201 that is divided for each component of the document is defined as an application-dependent format structured document individual element. Individual elements are classified based on the style recorded in the application-dependent format structured document (501). When classifying into individual elements, the attributes of the individual elements are recorded in the document individual element type storage area 210. Specifically, document attribute part individual elements that affect the entire document such as the document title and author, and document individual parts that indicate each part such as chapter title, chapter paragraph, section title, section paragraph, etc. Which element the element belongs to is recorded in the document individual element type storage area 210 (502, 503).

Next, the operation of the individual element generation unit 220 will be described with reference to FIG. The structured document individual element generation unit 205 converts the application-dependent format structured document individual element 203 generated by the individual element classification unit 202 into a text format structured document individual element composed of text, which is a storage format of SGML, based on the style. Generate 206.
When the text-structured structured document individual element 206 is generated, a tag indicating the document structure used in the structured document 102 is used. For the tag to be used, the tag name corresponding to the style is found and found from the document structure definition. The style-tag correspondence storage area is created by reading a style-tag definition file in which correspondence between styles and tags has been created for each document template in advance at the time of startup. FIG. 10 shows a text-format structured document individual element 206 generated based on the application-dependent format structured document individual element 203 shown in FIG.

The display data individual element generation unit 207 converts the application-dependent format structured document individual element 203 into a display image to generate a display data individual element 208. The generated display data individual element 208 includes:
In addition to the text included in the application-dependent format structured document 201, all pasted objects such as tables and figures are included as display data. An application-dependent format structured document individual element 203 shown in FIG.
The display data individual element 208 generated based on the
It is shown in FIG.

The operation of the data accumulation processing unit 209 will be described.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The data accumulation processing unit 209 accumulates data in a plurality of formats in the data accumulation unit 230. In the present embodiment, a text-format structured document individual element 206 is stored in the data storage unit 230 as search data for the purpose of reusing the searched document. The application-dependent structured document individual element 203 corresponding to the text structured document individual element 206 is stored in the data storage unit 230 for displaying the search result. The display data individual element 208 corresponding to the text structured document individual element 206 is used as the display data as the data storage unit 23.
Store to 0.

The data storage unit 230 includes a storage management unit 211
And a document individual element storage unit 212 and a search result display data storage unit 213 as constituent elements. Storage management unit 2
Reference numeral 11 denotes a two-dimensional table in which an identifier for uniquely determining each individual element and a correspondence to the document attribute part individual element of the structured document are stored. First, the two-dimensional table is structured using the identification name generated by the user in advance by the identification name generation unit 204 as a key, based on the recorded contents of the document individual element type storage area 210 and corresponding to the document attribute partial individual element. Generated by extracting only document individual elements. This two-dimensional table is shown in the accumulation management unit 211 of FIG. Storage management unit 21
One identification name 211a is an identification name for uniquely determining each individual element generated by the individual element classification unit 202 generated by the identification name generation unit 204. In the example of FIG. 6, the document title 211b and the creator 211c are listed as information of the document attribute part of the structured document individual element.

Further, the storage management unit 211 records the actual storage positions of the application-dependent format structured document individual element 203 and the display data individual element 208. This will be described with reference to FIGS. Data accumulation processing unit 209
When the application-dependent structured document 203 and the display data individual element 208 to be stored are received, they are stored in the search result display data storage unit 213 and at the same time, their storage positions are stored in the display data storage position included in the storage management unit 211. 211d and the application-dependent format structured document individual element storage location 211e. The document individual element storage unit 212 accumulates text format structured document individual elements 206. When storing, the identifier 211
"a" is added to the head of each text format structured document individual element (212a). Note that each identifier 212a is the same identifier as the identifier 211a corresponding to each text-format structured document individual element.

The data of the text-format structured document individual element 206 is stored in the storage management unit 211 and the document individual element storage unit 21.
FIG. 12 shows a specific example of storing the data in No. 2. FIG. 12 shows the document name “aaaa” (206a) and the document name “bbbb” (2
06b) is an example of two documents. The storage management unit 211 stores the data of the document attribute portion. In FIG. 12, the document title and the author name are shown. Further, the document individual element storage unit 212 stores the data part of the chapter to which the identification name 212a is added. Although not shown in FIG. 12,
As for the data part of the clause, the data part of the clause with the identifier added thereto is stored in the document individual element storage unit 212.

The search result display data storage unit 213 stores the application-dependent format structured document individual element 203 and the display data individual element storage unit 208. This part is stored in each data format. The position where each individual element is stored is recorded in the accumulation management unit 211.

Next, the operation of the search management unit 303 will be described with reference to FIG. The search is performed by linking the three types of accumulated data. First, the search unit 304 receives a search request. Each search key input section of the search screen is provided with an input frame in which a document attribute portion and a document individual element input portion are independent. A flag indicating one of the types is attached to the input search key according to the input input frame and transmitted to the search unit 304. The search unit 304 searches for the type of the search key based on the sent flag, whether the search key is a document attribute part such as a document title or an author name, a document individual element such as a chapter / section. The key type determination unit 302 makes the determination.

The determination result is sent to the search unit 304, and when a search request for a document attribute such as a document title and an author name is first made as a search key, it is a document attribute. Display search results from a table. At this time, the identification name is obtained by searching the storage management unit 211. On the basis of the identification name, the text-format structured document individual element 206 such as a chapter or a section stored in the document individual element storage unit 212 is extracted, and the temporary storage area 3
08. Next, when a document individual element is designated as a search key for a narrow-down search, the document individual element stored in the temporary storage area 308 is searched. Hereinafter, a similar search is performed.

Next, when a search request corresponding to a text-structured structured document individual element 206 such as a chapter or a section is first received as a search key, the document-structured document individual element 206 is received. The corresponding text-format structured document individual element 206 is taken out and stored in the temporary storage area 308. At that time, take out the distinguished name,
The corresponding document attribute is specified from the storage management unit 211. Hereinafter, a similar search is performed. The text-structured structured document individual element 206 searches for the full text in the text format.

Next, the operation of the search result output unit 305 will be described with reference to FIG. The search result output unit 305 extracts and outputs an application-dependent format structured document individual element and a display data individual element. From the search result display data storage unit 213 in accordance with the storage position of the application-dependent format structured document individual element and the storage position of the display data individual element recorded on the storage management unit 211 based on the search result of the search unit 304. Extract individual elements of each data format and output to users as search results. that time,
The application-dependent format structured document individual element is displayed as display data for the purpose of reuse such as editing after retrieval. If a document individual element is included as a search key, only the relevant portion of the document that has been found in the search is displayed. If the search key is only the document attribute, it is necessary to display the entire text, so all document individual elements are extracted and the entire document is displayed as a search result.

Embodiment 2 Embodiment 1 above. Then
The data storage unit 230 includes a storage management unit 211, a document individual element storage unit 212, and a search result display data storage unit 21.
However, even in this configuration, data in a plurality of formats including the application-dependent structured document individual element 203, the text format structured document individual element 206, and the display data Other forms may be used as long as they are stored in association with each element. For example, the data storage unit 230 is replaced with the storage management unit 211.
The document individual element storage unit 212 may be configured to store all of the data in the plurality of formats in the document individual element storage unit 212.

Embodiment 3 Embodiment 1 above. Then
The search result output unit 305 has described an example in which the search result is displayed. However, the search result can be processed and output to a facsimile. It is also possible to process the file into a predetermined file and transfer it to a designated location using a communication network. Furthermore, in the above case, it is also conceivable to store the data in a data format according to the output format in advance.

[0041]

According to the structured document storage and retrieval apparatus of the present invention, data of a created document can be stored and used in a plurality of formats for each individual element.

Further, according to the present invention, a search result can be obtained and output as data in a plurality of formats.

Further, according to the present invention, all the documents in the text format can be searched, and the retrieved and obtained documents can be used by using the application program which has created the documents. Can be displayed.

According to the present invention, data of a plurality of formats can be generated for each individual element and stored.

According to the present invention, regardless of the retrieval key of the document attribute and the document individual element,
A plurality of data can be searched in association with each other.

According to the present invention, a macro of an application program for document creation can be used.

According to the present invention, it is possible to output a search result corresponding to a plurality of data formats and reuse a document obtained by searching. Therefore, the application-dependent format structured document individual element 203 enables a structured document to be generated using a word processor instead of a dedicated editor, and it is not necessary to re-input the attribute portion of the document when storing the document. . Furthermore, the display data individual element 208 can present not only text but also high-quality search results at the same level as printed matter including figures, tables, and images. Also, the text-structured structured document individual element 206 can be reused as a document presented and created as a search result. In this manner, general document management from document creation to storage, search, display, and reuse can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a process flowchart showing a process of a structured document storage and retrieval device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a system configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flow of a search process of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of creating an application-dependent format structured document according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of generating an application-dependent format structured document individual element according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing details of data accumulation processing of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing details of data accumulation processing of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a specific example of an application-dependent format structured document according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a specific example of an application-dependent format structured document individual element of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a specific example of a text format structured document individual element of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a specific example of a display data individual element of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a specific example of details of data accumulation processing of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 document creation unit, 102 document structure definition, 201
Application-dependent format structured document, 202 individual element classifier, 203 application-dependent format structured document individual element, 204 identifier generation unit, 205 structured document individual element generator, 206 text format structured document individual element, 206a, 206b Specific example of text format structured document individual element, 207 display data individual element generation unit, 208 display data individual element, 209 data storage processing unit, 210 document individual element type storage area, 211
Storage management unit, 211a, 211b, 211c, 211
d, 211e Components of the storage management unit, 212 document individual element storage unit, 212a identification name added to the head of text format structured document individual element, 213 search result display data storage unit, 220 individual element generation unit, 230 Data storage unit, 302 search key type determination unit, 304 search unit, 305 search result output unit, 308 temporary storage area.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A storage unit for storing a document structure definition in which each component constituting a structured document to be created is defined in advance, and a document creation for creating a document based on the component defined in the document structure definition And an individual element division unit for dividing the document created by the document creation unit into individual elements which are document parts corresponding to the components defined in the document structure definition. An individual element generation unit that generates data in a plurality of formats for the individual elements that have been set; and a data storage processing unit that stores the data in the plurality of formats generated by the individual element generation unit in association with the individual elements. A data storage unit that is a storage area in which the data storage processing unit stores data in a plurality of formats; and a search management unit that searches for data stored in the data storage unit by the data storage processing unit. A structured document storage and retrieval device characterized by the following. 2. The document creation section has application software for creating a document. The application software creates an application-dependent format structured document according to a data storage format of the application software. The classifying unit classifies the application-dependent format structured document to generate an application-dependent format structured document individual element. The data storage unit includes at least the application-dependent format structured document individual element and the application-dependent format. A storage area for storing data in a plurality of formats including one of a text-format structured document individual element obtained by converting a structured document individual element into a text format and a display data individual element used for outputting a search result. The structuring according to claim 1, characterized by having Document storage and retrieval device. 3. The search management unit includes: a search unit configured to search for data stored in the data storage unit; and a search unit configured to output at least one of the plurality of types of data from the data searched by the search unit. 3. The structured document storage and retrieval device according to claim 1, further comprising a result output unit. 4. The individual element generating unit converts the application-dependent structured document individual element into text format data, which is the data format of the structured document, and generates the structured document individual element. 3. The structured document storage and retrieval device according to claim 2, wherein display data to be used for display is generated in association with the application-dependent format structured document individual element. 5. Each of the individual elements has an identification name for identifying the individual element, and the data storage processing section stores the data in the plurality of formats in association with the identification name. 3. The structured document storage and retrieval device according to claim 2. 6. The application software,
Having a macro language, and using the above macro language,
A document template for creating a structured document is created based on the document structure definition, and the document creating unit creates an application-dependent structured document by creating a document according to the document template. 3. The structured document storage and retrieval device according to claim 2, wherein: 7. The structured document storage according to claim 2, wherein the search result output unit has application software for creating an application-dependent format structured document, and outputs a display data individual element. Search device.