Patent Abstract:
A document processing apparatus has a data exchange processor for inputting plural first structured documents, extracting contents included in the respective first structured documents, and creating second structured documents respectively corresponding to the first structured documents and having a predetermined data structure, a data unification processor for unifying the plural second structured documents into a third structured document, a layout processor for arranging plural rectangles in a predetermined area based on rectangular size information included in the third structured document, and a rendering processor for rendering the contents corresponding to the respective rectangles described in the third structured document.

Full Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates to a document processing apparatus and its control method for generating document data where contents respectively included in plural structured documents are arranged. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Distribution document data or printable document data is generated by collecting images and texts used in documents as content data forming respective layouts and layouting the collected content data. In this case, necessary various processings including data collection processing and layout processing are tightly unified as one application. Conventionally, upon determination of document layout, an operator manually determines a layout using the substance of data, otherwise, manually generates a template to output those data in a predetermined layout. 
   U.S. Pat. No. 6,934,052 discloses a technique for enlarging digital images and positioning them so as to minimize blank space on a page. 
   In a case that various processings including data collection processing and layout processing are tightly unified as one application, the processings cannot be separated. Accordingly, it is impossible to incorporate a part of those processings into a device or a device with a small capacity resource. Further, in a case where layout information is not included, the layout processing cannot be realized without an operator&#39;s work. For this reason, layout generation requires much time and trouble, which is a factor of increase in human cost. 
   Further, the layouting may be performed by generating a template to output content data in a predetermined layout and outputting the content data using the template. However, in this case, as the layouting is performed with only several predetermined patterns, it is difficult to obtain a desired result by dynamically changing the layout in correspondence with the size or the like of input various content data. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention has been proposed to solve the problems of the conventional art. 
   The feature of the present invention is to provide a document processing apparatus and its control method to generate a structured document by collecting and layouting plural structured documents each describing image and text as contents and to generate data where the structured document is rendered. 
   According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided with a document processing apparatus comprising: 
   structured document creation means for inputting plural first structured documents, extracting contents included in the plural first structured documents, and creating second structured documents respectively corresponding to the first structured documents and having a predetermined data structure; 
   unification means for unifying the second structured documents to a third structured document; 
   layout means for arranging plural areas in a predetermined area based on area information included in the third structured document; and 
   rendering means for rendering the extracted contents corresponding to the respective areas described in the third structured document. 
   Further, according to other aspect of the present invention, there is provided with a document processing method comprising: 
   a structured document creation step of inputting plural first structured documents, extracting contents included in the plural first structured documents, and creating second structured documents respectively corresponding to the first structured documents and having a predetermined data structure; 
   a unification step of unifying the second structured documents to a third structured document; 
   a layout step of arranging plural areas in a predetermined area based on area information included in the third structured document; and 
   a rendering step of rendering the extracted contents corresponding to the respective areas described in the third structured document. 
   Other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same name or similar parts throughout the figures thereof. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram showing the structural functions of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram showing processing by a data exchange processor according to the embodiment; 
       FIG. 3  depicts a view illustrating a particular example of InformationData-A and the relation between the Information-Data-A and XML data according to the present embodiment; 
       FIGS. 4A and 4B  depict a view illustrating a particular example of unification of the XML data in a data unification processor according to the present embodiment; 
       FIG. 5  is a block diagram showing processing by a layout processor according to the present embodiment; 
       FIG. 6  depicts a view illustrating a particular example of processing by a layout preparatory processor and the layout processor based on an optimization algorithm according to the present embodiment; 
       FIG. 7  is a block diagram showing processing by a rendering processor according to the present embodiment; 
       FIG. 8  depicts a view illustrating a particular example of rendering processing by the rendering processor according to the present embodiment; and 
       FIG. 9  depicts a view illustrating an example of processing by the rendering processor according to the present embodiment. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Hereinbelow, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail in accordance with the accompanying drawings. Note that the following embodiment does not limit the present invention in the scope of the claims, and further, all the combinations of characteristic features described in the embodiment are not necessarily essential to the solution of the present invention. 
   In the present embodiment, when plural structured documents having different structures and including different contents are inputted, they are respectively replaced with structured documents which can be subjected to data unification processing, and they are unified to one structured document to be subjected to layout processing and rendering processing. Then the layout processing is performed on the structured document, thereby layout information to determine the layout of the respective contents is determined. The contents are actually arranged based on the layout information, then the document is converted to file data which can be handled by an application program, and the file data is outputted. Further, when an error occurs upon layouting based on the layout information, the layout processing is performed again, and a more appropriate layout is determined. 
     FIG. 1  is a block diagram showing the structural functions of an image processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
   In  FIG. 1 , reference numeral  101  denotes a processing function unit of the image processing apparatus. XML data  102  to  104  are structured documents describing paths to image(s) and text(s) as content data. “inputA.xml”, “inputB.xml” and “inputC.xml” are XML data having different structures, respectively. 
   InformationData-A  105 , InformationData-B  106  and InformationData-C  107  are data (Data-A, Data-B and Data-C) describing data layout information of XML data accompanying the respective XML data. Each of XML data  102  to  104  and its corresponding InformationData are referred to as XML data  109 . 
   When the respective XML data  109  are inputted into an input unit  108 , processing is started. A data exchange processor  110  receives the XML data  109  and analyzes the data. At this time, the data exchange processor  110  extracts necessary data utilizing the InformationData, converts the extracted data to XML data structures analyzable by the subsequent-stage processing, and supplies the data as XML data  111  (LayoutA.xml, LayoutB.xml and LayoutC.xml) to a data unification processor  112 . The data unification processor  112  unifies plural XML data  111  to one XML data structure analyzable by the subsequent-stage processing, and supplies the data as XML data  113  (Layout.xml) to a layout processor  114 . 
   The layout processor  114  extracts necessary rectangular information from the XML data  113 , arranges the rectangular information at random in a predetermined area, and performs processing using an optimization algorithm to obtain an optimum result of layouting. The layout processor  114  describes the result in XML data  115  (LayoutResult.xml) and supplies the data to a rendering processor  116 . The rendering processor  116  extracts necessary information (paths to texts and images) from the XML data  115 , and obtains actual image data (image data body) from a actual data (data body) storage  117 . Then the rendering processor  116  draws these data in accordance with the layout determined by the layout processor  114 , and generates the result of processing as application data (PDF, SVG, XHTML or the like)  118 . The application data  118  is supplied to an output unit  119 . The output unit  119  outputs finally-completed application data  120 . 
   Next, the details of processings by the respective processors in the functional block diagram of  FIG. 1  will be described. 
     FIG. 2  is a block diagram showing the contents of processing by the data exchange processor  110  according to the embodiment.  FIG. 3  illustrates a particular example of the InformationData and the relation between the InformationData and XML data. Hereinbelow, the processing by the data exchange processor  110  will be described with reference to  FIGS. 2 and 3 . In  FIGS. 2  and  3 , the XML data “inputA.xml”  102  and InformationData-A  105  are processed. Further, the other XML data  103 ,  104  and InformationData-B  106  and InformationData-C  107  are similarly processed. 
   In  FIG. 2 , the XML data  102  and the InformationData-A  105  correspond to the XML data ( 109  in  FIG. 1 ) received from the input unit  108 . The InformationData (Data-A)  105  indicates a tag to handle data information of the XML data  102  required in the subsequent processing. Further, XML data (Ori-LayoutA.xml)  204  indicates XML data (form) as a basis of XML format data to define a basic layout of the XML data (inputA.xml)  102 . The XML data  111  indicating the layout of the XML data  102  is generated in correspondence with the format of the XML data  204 . InformationData-OriA  205  is InformationData of the XML data (Ori-LayoutA.xml)  204 . 
     FIG. 3  depicts a particular example of the Information-Data-A  105  and an example of the relation between the Information-Data-A  105  and the XML data  102  according to the present embodiment. 
   The InformationData-A  105  has four items, i.e., the 1st item “rectangular size: width”, the 2nd item “rectangular size: height”, the 3rd item “image information”, and the 4th item “text information”. A path XPATH  209  indicates tag positions of the XML data  102  to respectively handle the related item data of the InformationData-A  105 . 
   In this example, as the path of the 1st item “rectangular size: width” is “inputA/block/width”, and indicates that the item relates to an element “width” in a tag “block” of the XML data (inputA.xml)  102 . When the data is to be extracted from the XML data  102 , the extraction is made from the location, while when data is to be inserted into the XML data  102 , the data is to be inserted in the location. 
   The structures of the XML data  102  and  204  are analyzed by corresponding structure analysis processings  210  and  222 . That is, the structure analysis processing sequentially reads the structure of the XML data from root tags, and determines a tag name, a value between tags, an attribute of the tag, the value of the attribute, tag parent-child relation, tag brother relation and the like, and holds these data as table data. 
   Further, the InformationData-A  105  and the InformationData-OriA  205  are respectively analyzed by InformationData analysis processings  212  and  213 . The InformationData analysis processing obtains data extraction location and data insertion location based on the above-described XPATH  209 . InformationData comparison processing  214  determines a location of the XML data (LayoutA.xml)  204  into which data extracted from the XML data (inputA.xml)  102  is inserted, based on the results of analysis of the corresponding InformationData-A  105  and the InformationData-OriA  205 . Thus, the necessary data included in the XML data  102  (inputA.xml) are imported to the XML data  204  (Ori-LayoutA.xml) based on the result of analysis of the XML data, and by exchange processing  215  based on the InformationData analysis processing, thereby the XML data  111  (LayoutA.xml) including the necessary data is generated and outputted. The above processing is performed on the respective XML data  102  to  104  inputted to the input unit  108 . 
     FIGS. 4A and 4B  depict a view illustrating a particular example of unification of the XML data in the data unification processor  112  according to the present embodiment. 
   In  FIGS. 4A and 4B , numeral  301  to  303  denote XML data (LayoutA.xml, LayoutB.xml and LayoutC.xml) having only necessary data included in the XML data (inputA.xml, inputB.xml and inputC.xml), generated by the data exchange processor  110 . Data unification processing  304  (corresponding to the data unification processor  112  in  FIG. 1 ) inputs the XML data  301  to  303 , and generates XML data  308  (Layout.xml) (corresponding to the XML data  113  in  FIG. 1 ) having a structure analyzable to the subsequent-stage layout processor  114 , using a DOM- or SAX-utilizing programming or using XSLT. In this example, the structure in the areas  305  to  307  in the XML data  301  to  303  are inserted as an &lt;objectlist&gt; into the XML data  308  (Layout.xml). 
   In the XML data  308 , the contents  305  to  307  of the LayoutA, LayoutB and LayoutC corresponding to the XML data  301  to  303  are described in areas  309  to  311 . A description  312  corresponds to the rectangular size: width “128” included in the LayoutA; a description  313 , to the rectangular size: height “64” included in the LayoutA; a description  314 , to text information “aaaaa” included in the LayoutA; and a description  315 , to information “photoA.jpg” included in the LayoutA. Thus, the plural XML data are unified into one XML data (Layout.xml). 
     FIG. 5  is a block diagram showing processing by the layout processor  114  according to the present embodiment.  FIG. 6  illustrates a particular example of the processing by the layout processor  114 . Hereinbelow, the processing will be described with reference to  FIGS. 5 and 6 . 
   In  FIG. 5 , the XML data (Layout.xml)  113  outputted from the data unification processor  112  is the XML data unified from plural data by the data unification processor  112 . A structured document processor  403  reads the XML data  113  and extracts rectangular size information. A layout preparatory processor  404  performs processing to determine a layout of plural rectangles included in the XML data  113  based on the rectangular size information extracted by the structured document processor  403 . 
     FIG. 6  depicts a view illustrating a particular example of processing by the layout preparatory processor  404  and a layout processor  407  based on an optimization algorithm according to the present embodiment. 
   In  FIG. 6 , numeral  406  denotes a random arrangement of respective rectangles (a) to (e) in an area based on the rectangular size information extracted by the structured document processor  403 . Numeral  408  denotes the result of centering processing by respectively moving the rectangles (a) to (e) in an enlargement, reduction, leftward, rightward, upward or downward direction by layout processing using an optimization algorithm by the layout processor  407 . Thus an optimum layout where the rectangles are centered without gap and within a predetermined area, is obtained. As the optimization algorithm, Simulated Annealing or genetic algorithm may be employed. 
   Note that  FIG. 6  shows layout processing by centering, however, various layouts such as arrangement of rectangles along inside perimeter of an area and arrangement of rectangles from an upper-left position, as well as centering, can be determined and layout processing can be performed in accordance with the layout. 
   The structured document processor  409  inputs the optimum layout obtained by the layout processor  407  by the optimization algorithm, forms the data as XML data (LayoutResult.xml)  115  and outputs the data. 
     FIG. 7  is a block diagram showing processing by the rendering processor  116  according to the present embodiment. 
     FIG. 8  depicts a view illustrating a particular example of the processing by the rendering processor  116 . Further,  FIG. 9  depicts a view illustrating a particular example of rendering processing on contents within a rectangle. Next, the processing by the rendering processor  116  according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to  FIGS. 7 to 9 . 
   In  FIG. 7 , the XML data  115  outputted from the layout processor  114  corresponds to the XML data (LayoutResult.xml) describing the result of layouting. In the rendering processor  116 , a structured document processor  503  reads the input XML data  115 , and reads layout information and paths to text and image data as content data to be subjected to actual rendering, described in the XML data. A actual data (data body) acquisition unit  504  utilizes the paths to obtain image data corresponding to the respective rectangular areas from the actual data storage  117 , and obtains all the data for rendering. The rendering processor  506  performs rendering processing based on the obtained actual data (data body). 
     FIG. 8  illustrates a particular example of the rendering processing by the rendering processor  506 . As indicated with a layout result  508  from the layout result  408  obtained by the layout processor  114 , images A to E and texts (English character strings in  FIG. 8 ) are sequentially inserted into corresponding rectangles (a) to (e) by image enlargement/reduction and/or increasing/reducing text font size. Especially regarding the insertion of the image B into the rectangle (b) as indicated with numeral  510 , rendering is performed in accordance with the procedure shown in  FIG. 9 . 
     FIG. 9  illustrates an example of the processing by the rendering processor  506  according to the present embodiment. 
   Numeral  512  indicates, as a result of insertion of text having a large number of characters into a rectangle (b), a state where the text protrudes from the lower side of a rectangle (b). Numeral  513  indicates the result of insertion by changing the font size of the text to a minimum font size. Also the text which is not fit in the rectangle (b) protrudes from the lower side of the rectangle. Numeral  514  indicates the result of insertion by further reducing the image B, expanding an area to draw the text in the rectangle (b), and then again inserting the text in the minimum font size the same as that in the case of the result  513 . In the result  514 , the image B and the text are fitted in the rectangle (b). Thus, rendering regarding the rectangle (b) is completed. 
   In this manner, in the respective layouted rectangles, rendering is performed so as to arrange images and texts in a balanced manner. A file generation processor  515  ( FIG. 7 ) forms the final data resulted from the rendering as application data  120  and outputs the data. As a particular example of the application data  120 , data in the format of PDF, XHTML, SVG or the like may be employed. 
   As described above, according to the present embodiment, plural structured documents are inputted and application data where contents included in the structured documents are arranged in a desired layout can be generated. 
   Note that in the above embodiment, it may be arranged such that in a case where an unintended result is obtained from layouting by the layout processor  114 , a desired layout is obtained by repeating the layout processing by the layout processor  114  instead of repeating the entire processing as shown in  FIG. 1 . 
   Further, in the rendering processing described in the above embodiment, rendering is performed on contents as a combination of image(s) and text(s), however, the present invention is not limited to such combined contents. The rendering can be similarly performed on single content data such as image or text. 
   As described above, according to the present embodiment, in the flow of processing from collection of content data through automatic layouting to data output, as fragmented processings are individually performed, even a change of content data itself in the middle of processing does not influence layout processing. Further, as a dynamically optimized layout is determined from content data, any human task does not occur upon layout generation, and the costs can be reduced. Further, structured documents generated for various purposes can be applied to the conventional document solutions including scrap processing of newspaper and the like. 
   Other Embodiment 
   As described above, the object of the present invention can also be achieved by providing a storage medium holding software program code for performing the aforesaid processes to a system or an apparatus, reading the program code with a computer (e.g., CPU, MPU) of the system or apparatus from the storage medium, then executing the program. In this case, the program code read from the storage medium realizes the functions according to the embodiment, and the storage medium holding the program code constitutes the invention. Further, the storage medium, such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a DVD, a magnetic tape, a non-volatile type memory card, and ROM can be used for providing the program code. Further, besides aforesaid functions according to the above embodiment are realized by executing the program code which is read by a computer, the present invention includes a case where an OS (operating system) or the like working on the computer performs a part or entire actual processing in accordance with designations of the program code and realizes functions according to the above embodiment. 
   Furthermore, the present invention also includes a case where, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in a function expansion card which is inserted into the computer or in a memory provided in a function expansion unit which is connected to the computer, CPU or the like contained in the function expansion card or unit performs a part or entire process in accordance with designations of the program code and realizes functions of the above embodiment. 
   The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and various changes and modifications can be made within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, to appraise the public of the scope of the present invention, the following claims are made. 
   CLAIM OF PRIORITY 
   This patent application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-300279 filed on Oct. 14, 2004, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6