Patent ID: 7596746

Claim:
An information processing method for assigning variable data input from a data source to partial display areas contained in a template so as to determine the size of each of the partial display areas based on the assigned variable data, the information processing method comprising: a preliminary search step of determining a difference between specified data and stored data for each of a plurality of stored data, wherein the stored data is stored in the data source; a first extracting step of extracting stored data to be laid out from the plurality of stored data based on the difference determined in the preliminary search step and a designated first extracting condition; a layout step of determining a plurality of first layouts for the each of the extracted stored data by assigning each of the stored data extracted in the first extracting step to the partial display areas of the template, and determining a single second layout for the specified data by assigning the specified data to the partial display areas of the template; a layout comparison step of determining a layout difference between the plurality of first layouts and the single second layout determined in the layout step; a second extracting step of extracting, from the plurality of first layouts, the first layout to be output based on the layout difference determined in the layout comparison step and a designated second extracting condition; and an output control step of outputting the first layout extracted in the second extracting step.