Patent EA-000271-B1 (EA)
Title: Method and apparatus for processing a table
Inventor: TAKANO KATSUJI
IPC: G06Q10/10
Filed: 1996-10-21
Abstract: 1. A method for processing table data in a form of a table consisting of a plurality of cells, said method comprising the steps of: storing data including image data in a storing device so as to respectively correspond to cells of the table data; discriminating whether data in a designated cell of the table data to be processed is numerical data, character data or image data; if the data in the designated cell is discriminated as image data, producing an image based on the image data stored in the storing device in correspondence with the designated cell; and outputting the produced image to an output region of the designated cell. 2. A method for calculating table data in a form of a table consisting of a plurality of cells, said method comprising the steps of: storing data in a storing device so as to respectively correspond to cells on the table; setting a table calculation formula, using cells to which image data correspond as variables, in a cell other than the cells in which the data are input; when executing a calculation based on the table calculation formula, reading image data which correspond to the cells corresponding to variables included in the table calculation formula; image-processing the read image data based on the table calculation formula; and outputting the image-processed image data to an output region of the cell in which the table calculation formula is set. 3. A table processing apparatus for processing table data in a form of a table consisting of a plurality of cells, said apparatus comprising: first storing means for storing image data with image file names; second storing means for successively storing data input so as to respectively correspond to cells; designating means for designating image definition data including an image file name to a designated cell in which image data is to be output; first reading means for reading from the first storing means the image data having the image file name designated by the designating means; writing means for writing the image data read by the first reading means along with the image definition data into a storage region of the second storing means which corresponds to the designated cell; first discriminating means for, every time a cell in the table is designated, discriminating a data content in the second storing means which corresponds to the designated cell; second reading means for reading image data along with image definition data, when the first discriminating means discriminate that the data in the designated cell is image data and the image data is stored in the second storing means; image editing means for editing the read image data based on the image definition data read along with the image data; and first outputting means for outputting data edited by the image editing means to an output region of the designated cell. 4. The table processing apparatus according to Claim 3, further comprising third reading means for reading image data from the first storing means with the file name stored in the second storing means as the image definition data corresponding to the designated cell, when the first discriminating means discriminate that the designated cell is an image cell and image data is not stored in the storage region of the second storing means which corresponds to the designated cell. 5. The table processing apparatus according to Claim 3, further comprising: second discriminating means for discriminating whether image modifying data is added to data corresponding to the designated cell in the second storing means; image modifying means for, when the second discriminating means discriminate that image modifying data is added to the data of the designated cell, image-modifying the image data edited by the image editing means based on the image modifying data; and second outputting means for outputting the image data modified by the image modifying means to the output region of the designated cell.