JP3910680B2 - Material allocation device prepared as digital data - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a material allocating apparatus prepared as digital data, and more particularly to an allocating apparatus suitable for performing a process of allocating a photograph of a product or a description to each page of a product catalog.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In the field of printing, with the widespread use of computers, so-called desktop publishing (Desk Top Publishing: DTP) technology is spreading rapidly, and most of the work up to plate making now operates computers while watching the display screen. It is common to do this. In the field of DTP, various materials are usually prepared in the form of digital data, and an operator performs processing for selecting a desired material and allocating it within a predetermined page. Materials prepared as digital data are various, such as photographic images, illustration images, character strings, logos, graphics, etc., and these materials are usually provided in the form of a database.
[0003]
For example, when printing a product catalog or flyer, image information such as photographs and figures related to the product to be published, and text information such as explanatory text should be prepared as digital data in the computer as individual material information. become. A product catalog, a flyer, or the like is created by appropriately assigning such material information to a desired position on the page. Since the operator only needs to perform a task of giving a predetermined allocation instruction to the computer while displaying a catalog or a flyer page on the display screen, a very efficient operation can be performed. When such assignment work is completed, if the data indicating the assignment result is output from the computer, a plate-making film can be automatically created, and if necessary, a plate can be automatically created directly. Therefore, it is possible to proceed to the printing process in a short time.
[0004]
Recently, with the spread of so-called multimedia, various media for presenting material information have been used. In other words, paper flyers and catalogs have been the mainstream in the past, but recently, electronic catalogs using CD-ROM as a medium and product explanations via the Internet have become popular. ing. Even when material information is presented through such various media, an allocation device using a computer is also used. That is, one page of the electronic catalog or a browser page on the Internet is displayed on the display screen, and individual material information is assigned to a desired position in a desired manner. As described above, when the final material presentation is performed on the display screen instead of the paper medium, not only a still image but also a moving image can be used as a kind of material information.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In general, individual material information used for creating a product catalog or flyer is provided in the form of a database. Normally, in this type of database, a group of material information related to the same product is handled as one group. For example, individual material information such as product name, price, product description, and product photo for product A is prepared as material information belonging to group A, and product name for product B as material information belonging to group B. If individual material information such as price, product description, product photo, etc. is prepared, the allocation process for each product can be performed efficiently. That is, when creating a catalog page for the product A, the operator only needs to read out the material information belonging to the group A from the database and assign the desired material information in a desired manner.
[0006]
However, when the allocation process is executed by the conventional method described above, each material information becomes independent from the original database when it is allocated at a predetermined position on the page, and the material allocated on the page. The relationship between the information and the original database is cut off. Of course, when executing DTP, there is no need for information indicating the relationship between the individual material information allocated on each page and the original database, so the material information is simply extracted from the database, There is no problem in performing the work of assigning to a predetermined position. However, once correction processing such as replacing material information is necessary for a page that has been assigned, the relationship between the material information on the page and the original database is cut off. If it is, efficient replacement work cannot be performed.
[0007]
For example, suppose that a front photo of product A is assigned to a predetermined page of a catalog, and later a request is made to replace this front photo with a side photo. In this case, in the original database, both the front and side photographs of the product A are managed as material information belonging to the group A, but the front photograph allocated on a predetermined page of the catalog is merely an image. It has only information as data. For this reason, after recognizing that the photo to be replaced is a photo of the product A, the operator must search the database again to read out the side photo of the product A belonging to the group A. Therefore, it becomes impossible to take a flexible response.
[0008]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a material allocation device prepared as digital data that can automatically search an original database from material information allocated on a page.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
  (1) In the first aspect of the present invention, allocation of a material prepared as digital data for performing a process of selecting a desired material from among a large number of materials prepared as digital data and allocating it within a predetermined page. In the device
  Material information storage means for storing individual material information to be allocated in groups for each related material information;
  An instruction input means for inputting an instruction from an operator;
  A material information reading means for extracting a specific group based on an operator's instruction from the groups in the material information storage means and reading material information belonging to the extracted group;
  In order to assign the material information read by the material information reading means within a predetermined page, group information for identifying the group to which the material information belongs is added to the individual material information, indicating the respective assignment mode And an allocation processing means for generating an allocation result including material information, allocation information, and group information,
  An assignment result storage means for storing the assignment result generated by the assignment processing means;
  Display means for displaying the allocation result;
  Provided,
  When the operator gives a replacement instruction to replace the specific material information with new material information by specifying the specific material information on the screen of the display means, the allocation processing means The group information about the allocation result to be replaced that is stored in is recognized, and the material information belonging to the recognized group is read as replacement material information by the material information reading means, and this replacement is performed. The replacement process using the material information for use is performed.
[0010]
  (2) According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the material allocation apparatus prepared as digital data according to the first aspect described above,
  A selection window for selecting material information to be assigned is provided on the screen of the display means, and the selection window display for displaying the material information belonging to one group read by the material information reading means in the selection window. Means,
Material information selection means for selecting specific material information to be allocated based on an operator's instruction from a plurality of material information displayed in the selection window;
When the operator gives a replacement instruction, replacement material information is displayed in the selection window, and the operator selects specific material information from the displayed replacement material information. When is selected, a replacement process using this specific material information is performed.
[0011]
  (3) According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the material allocation apparatus prepared as digital data according to the second aspect described above,
On the screen of the display means, both the editing window for displaying the allocation result and the selection window for selecting the material information to be allocated can be displayed, and the replacement displayed in the editing window By specifying the target material information on this editing window, the replacement material information is displayed in the selection window.
[0013]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a material allocation apparatus prepared as digital data according to an embodiment of the present invention. The main components of this apparatus are a display means 10, a processing means 20, a storage means 30, and an instruction input means 40. Each of these means is actually realized by mounting dedicated application software on a general-purpose computer and its peripheral devices. That is, the display means 10 can be realized by a general display device for a computer, the processing means 20 can be realized by installing dedicated software in a general-purpose computer main body, and the storage means 30 is a memory / magnetic recording. The instruction input means 40 can be realized by a general computer input device such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a tablet.
[0014]
On the display screen of the display means 10, at least a selection window 11 and an editing window 12 can be displayed. Here, as will be described later, the selection window 11 is a window used for selecting material information to be allocated, and the editing window 12 indicates a page on which allocation is performed, and designates an actual allocation position. It is a window that is used for work. Actually, the display means 10 has a function for displaying various windows in addition to this (for example, a window for inputting various commands to the processing means 20, etc.). Omitted. In this embodiment, an example is shown in which the selection window 11 is displayed on the left side of the display screen and the editing window 12 is displayed on the right side. However, the display position and size of both windows are arbitrary, and both windows are partially displayed. May be displayed in layers.
[0015]
The processing means 20 is a central part that executes essential processing in the product information allocating apparatus. Here, the processing means 20 will be described with attention paid to individual processing functions as four functional blocks. I will decide. That is, the processing means 20 can be grasped by dividing it into functional blocks of a material information reading means 21, a selection window display means 22, a material information selection means 23, and an assignment processing means 24. The specific functions of these means will be described later.
[0016]
Here, the storage means 30 is divided into two storage means, that is, a material information storage means 31 and an allocation result storage means 32. Of course, in an actual hardware configuration, it is not always necessary to divide into such two storage devices, as long as two storage areas can be secured by some method in order to store two types of information. In the material information storage unit 31, individual material information to be allocated is stored as a group for each related material information. In the example shown here, a database for clothing catalog creation is constructed in the material information storage means 31, and material information relating to one product is stored as one group. The allocation result storage means 32 has a function of storing the final work result of the allocation work using this allocation device. In short, “what material information is allocated in what position on which position on each page and in what manner. Information indicating “whether it has been done” is stored. Based on the data finally obtained in the allocation result storage means 32, it is possible to output a plate-making film or directly output a printing plate.
[0017]
The instruction input unit 40 is a unit that functions as a medium for transmitting an instruction from the operator to the processing unit 20 and is configured by an input device such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a tablet as described above. The operator can input various instructions related to the assignment work by operating the instruction input means 40.
[0018]
Subsequently, the function of each means constituting the processing means 20 will be described. First, the material information reading unit 21 has a function of extracting a specific group from the group in the material information storage unit 31 based on an instruction from the operator and reading the material information belonging to the extracted group. The material information belonging to one group read by the material information reading means 21 is displayed in the selection window 11 by the selection window display means 22. The material information selection unit 23 has a function of selecting specific material information to be allocated from a plurality of material information displayed in the selection window 11 based on an instruction from the operator. The material information selected by the material information selecting unit 23 is allocated in a predetermined page by the allocation processing unit 24. That is, the allocation processing unit 24 assigns allocation information (for example, material information consisting of character strings) to indicate allocation mode for the material information selected by the material information selection unit 23 based on an instruction from the operator. , Information indicating which character font is used and which character size is allocated, and if the material information is an image, it is information indicating which position is allocated at which position and at which magnification. A process of storing information obtained by adding the allocation information to the material information in the allocation result storage means 32 as an allocation result is executed.
[0019]
Next, specific processing performed in the processing means 20 will be described based on actual examples. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a group of material information registered as one group in the material information storage unit 31. The group of material information shown here is material information related to the product with the product code “ABC12345” and the product name “suit for ladies A”. Hereinafter, this group of material information is the material belonging to group A. It will be called information. Among the material information belonging to this group A, material information L1 to L5 is material information consisting of characters related to this product, and material information P1 to P3 is material information consisting of images related to this product. Specifically, the material information L1 is composed of a character string indicating the title of the product, the material information L2 is composed of a character string indicating the standard of the product, and the material information L3 is a character string indicating the description of the product. The material information L4 is composed of a character string indicating the first catch phrase of the product, and the material information L5 is composed of a character string indicating the second catch phrase of the product. The material information P1 to P3 is composed of images showing the first to third photographs of the product.
[0020]
On the other hand, FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of another group of material information similarly registered as one group in the material information storage means 31. The group of material information shown here is material information related to the product with the product code “XXX0088” and the product name “business suit for gentlemen X”. Hereinafter, this group of material information belongs to the group X. This is called material information. The configuration of individual material information belonging to the group X is the same as the configuration of individual material information belonging to the group A shown in FIG. Thus, in the material information storage means 31, a group of material information relating to one product is made into one group, and material information relating to a large number of groups, that is, a large number of products is prepared as a database.
[0021]
In the examples shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, only character strings and photographs are shown as material information. However, various logos and figures can be registered in the database as material information consisting of images. In addition, when material information is presented via a CD-ROM or the Internet, not only still images but also moving image and audio material information can be registered in the database.
[0022]
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an allocation result in which some of the material information illustrated in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3 is allocated within one page of the catalog. In this example, material information relating to two types of products is allocated within one page. That is, the individual material information assigned to the upper part of the figure is selected from the material information belonging to the group A shown in FIG. 2, and the individual material information assigned to the lower part of the figure. The material information is selected from the material information belonging to the group X shown in FIG. The assignment result as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed in the editing window 12 and the contents thereof are saved in the assignment result storage means 32.
[0023]
In order to obtain the assignment result as shown in FIG. 4, the operator may perform the following work using the assignment apparatus shown in FIG. First, in order to perform the allocation work in the upper part of FIG. 4, the material information belonging to the group A is selected from the large number of material information stored in the database in the material information storage unit 31 by the material information reading unit 21. read out. Specifically, a product code “ABC12345” for specifying group A may be input. As an input operation for specifying an arbitrary group, for example, a method of inputting a product code from a keyboard can be adopted. However, in the embodiment shown here, an input environment with better operability is provided. Yes. That is, in the apparatus of this embodiment, a list of products as shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the display screen of the display means 10, and a product code or a product name column in the list is clicked with a mouse to specify the product list. Product (specific group) can be specified. The product list as shown in FIG. 5 can be displayed in the selection window 11 or can be displayed in a separate independent window.
[0024]
In the product list shown in FIG. 5, if the product code column “ABC12345” (or the column “suit for ladies A” on the right) is clicked with the mouse, the material belonging to the group A is selected by the material information reading means 21. Information is read out and the selection window display means 22 displays a selection window 11 as shown in FIG. In the embodiment shown here, the read material information is subjected to a thinning process as necessary, and then displayed on the selection window 11. For example, the material information P1 to P3 including the image shown in FIG. 6 is not the image data read from the database in the material information storage unit 31 as it is, but is a reduced image (thinned pixel thinning process). So-called thumbnails). Further, the material information L composed of characters shown in FIG. 6 is arranged by stuffing the original material information L1 to L5 in order to reduce the dead space, and if necessary, A part of the character string may be omitted and displayed. In the first place, this selection window 11 is for selecting a material (that is, individual material information) to be allocated, so that it is sufficient if an outline of the individual material information can be transmitted to the operator. Therefore, in this embodiment, display on the selection window 11 is performed after thinning out the information amount as necessary. In particular, it is preferable that the material information of an image having a large amount of information is displayed in the selection window 11 in a so-called thumbnail format by performing a thinning process as much as possible.
[0025]
Further, in the selection window 11 shown in FIG. 6, for the material information made up of characters, the button areas B1 to B5 corresponding to the individual material information are displayed. As shown in FIG. 2, for this product, a total of five sets of “material information consisting of characters” L1 to L5 are prepared, but as described above, space is efficiently used in the selection window 11. In order to do this, the character strings constituting these five sets of material information are packed and displayed. Instead, button areas B1 to B5 respectively corresponding to the five sets of material information are displayed to facilitate the material information selection operation described later.
[0026]
Now, as shown in FIG. 6, when a plurality of material information belonging to the group A is displayed in the selection window 11, an operation of selecting specific material information from the plurality of material information is executed. That is, the material information selection unit 23 functions to select specific material information from among a plurality of material information displayed in the selection window 11 based on an instruction from the operator. In this embodiment, the operation of selecting specific material information can be performed intuitively by clicking one point in the selection window 11 with a mouse. That is, when the operator designates one point in the image area in the selection window 11 (the area where the material information P1 to P3 consisting of images is displayed), the material information selection means 23 displays an image including the designated point. It is determined that the material information consisting of is selected. For example, in FIG. 6, when one point in the material information P1 made of an image is designated, it is recognized that the material information P1 has been selected by the operator. When the operator designates one point in the button areas B1 to B5 in the selection window 11, it is determined that “material information consisting of characters” corresponding to the button area including the designated point is selected. . For example, in FIG. 6, when one point in the button area B1 is designated, it is recognized that the material information L1 has been selected by the operator. In general, since material information consisting of images can be easily recognized as a group of material information, a selection method in which the image displayed in the selection window 11 is clicked is suitable. Since the information is difficult to recognize as a group of material information, the selection method of clicking the corresponding button area as described above is suitable.
[0027]
On the other hand, the allocation mode of the selected material information is determined by the allocation processing means 24. In this embodiment, the allocation mode of material information consisting of images is determined by setting the allocation frame W by the allocation processing means 24. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a work screen for setting the allocation frame W on the display screen of the display means 10. In the example of FIG. 7, a selection window 11 (same as that shown in FIG. 6) is displayed on the left side of the screen, and an editing window 12 is displayed on the right side of the screen. (Specifically, for example, a vertex position may be specified by a mouse pointer). If the material information P3 in the selection window 11 is selected after setting the allocation frame W in this way, the material information P3 is allocated in the allocation frame W, and the allocation result is displayed in the editing window 12 as shown in FIG. Displayed in real time.
[0028]
After all, the allocation position of the material information P3 and the allocation magnification are defined by the setting of the allocation frame W, and an allocation mode is determined as to which position and at what magnification the material information P3 is allocated. That's right. When assigning material information consisting of characters, it is necessary to determine the assignment mode, such as which character font, which character size, and which position to assign. Here, these assignment modes are specified. The description about the specific operation method to do is abbreviate | omitted. In any case, as a result of the allocation work by the allocation processing means 24, predetermined allocation information (information indicating the allocation mode) is added to the material information to be allocated. Eventually, the allocation result stored in the allocation result storage means 32 is composed of information obtained by adding allocation information to the original material information.
[0029]
Thus, if the material information belonging to the group A displayed in the selection window 11 is selected one by one and assigned in a predetermined manner, the assignment result shown in the upper part of FIG. 4 is obtained. . Subsequently, by displaying the material information belonging to the group X in the selection window 11 and proceeding with the same allocation work, the allocation result of one page as shown in FIG. 4 can be finally obtained. Of course, instead of performing an operation for specifying the allocation mode for each piece of material information, a predetermined layout pattern is defined in advance, and the individual material information is automatically allocated based on this layout pattern. It is also possible to adopt such a method.
[0030]
By the way, when the assignment result as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed in the editing window 12, the assignment result corresponding to this display is stored in the assignment result storage means 32. Specifically, the allocation result stored in the allocation result storage means 32 includes material information P3 and its allocation information, material information L1 and its allocation information, material information L2 and its allocation information shown in FIG. It turns out that. As described above, the information of the allocation result constituted by the material information and the allocation information is sufficient information for the subsequent plate making process and the like by the DTP method. However, since neither the material information nor the allocation information includes information indicating the relation with the database in the material information storage means 31, a clue for searching the original database is obtained from these information. I can't.
[0031]
For example, in the assignment results shown in FIG. 4, both the “female image” assigned to the upper left and the two “male images” assigned to the lower right have only meaning as images. And the data in the allocation result storage means 32 cannot be distinguished from each other. However, on the database in the material information storage means 31, a distinction is made that the former is material information belonging to the group A and the latter is material information belonging to the group X. In other words, the information about the group that is held as the material information in the database is lost when the allocation is performed on the page.
[0032]
The basic idea of the present invention is to keep the information about the group that the individual material information has after the assignment on the page. If the information about the group is held, the work of re-searching the database can be made efficient, and in particular, the work of the correction process can be facilitated. Therefore, in the present invention, group information is added to the allocation result stored in the allocation result storage means 32. FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram showing a method of adding group information to the allocation result. As already described, for example, the operator designates the group A (product A) for the material information reading means 21 and performs the assignment work for the material information belonging to this group A using the assignment processing means 24. In this case, predetermined allocation information is added to the material information. At this time, group information for specifying the group A to which the user belongs is also added. Eventually, the allocation result stored in the allocation result storage means 32 is information including material information, allocation information, and group information, as shown in the lower part of FIG.
[0033]
For example, in the case of the assignment result shown in FIG. 4, the assignment result for the “female image” assigned to the upper left is assigned to the material information (image data) and the assignment information (shown at the position shown in the figure). Information indicating an aspect) and group information (information indicating that this material information belongs to group A). Similarly, the allocation result for the two “male images” allocated in the lower right is also composed of material information, allocation information, and group information. The group to which the information belonged in the original database can be recognized. As the group information, any information may be used as long as the group can be specified. For example, when a product code is used as group information, group information for specifying group A is expressed by a product code “ABC12345”, and group information for specifying group X is expressed by a product code “XXX0088”. Will be.
[0034]
Based on the group information included in the allocation result in the allocation result storage means 32, it is possible to automatically search the original database from the material information allocated on the page. Here, an example in which this automatic search is used for the replacement process of the material information will be shown.
[0035]
Now, let us consider a case in which sample output is performed by a color printer based on the allocation result as shown in FIG. 4 and this is presented to the customer. When a printing company receives an order from a customer, it is common for such a sample to be presented to the customer for proofreading. Here, let us consider a case where a customer requests that the “female image” assigned to the upper left of FIG. 4 is not preferable at the time of calibration, and that the image should be replaced with another image. In the conventional allocating apparatus, when there is a request for replacement of material information, the operator recognizes that the image to be replaced is group A, and instructs the material information reading means 21 to perform group A. It is necessary to give an instruction to re-search and read the material information belonging to. Specifically, the product code “ABC12345” of the image to be replaced is recognized from the assignment result shown in FIG. 4, and the product code is input from the keyboard, or the product list as shown in FIG. It is necessary to make an input for designating “Women's suit A” and give an instruction to re-search the database. However, since an enormous number of products are listed in the actual product catalog, and product codes are not always listed, the process of re-searching the database in the material information storage means 31 It will be very troublesome work.
[0036]
In the allocating device according to the present invention, as described above, group information indicating the affiliation group is added to the allocation result of the individual material information, so that such re-search can be automatically performed. That is, in the case of the above-described example, the operator gives an instruction to perform the replacement process to the allocation processing unit 24, and material information to be replaced on the editing window 12, that is, “female image” It is sufficient to perform an operation of designating “” with a mouse click or the like. By this operation, the allocation processing unit 24 recognizes that the allocation result for the “female image” is designated as a replacement target, and refers to the group information included in the allocation result as the replacement target. I do. In this example, group information indicating “group A” is recognized. Therefore, the assignment processing unit 24 gives an instruction to the material information reading unit 21 to search for material information belonging to the group A. Thus, the material information belonging to the group A is retrieved from the database in the material information storage means 31 as the replacement material information, and this replacement material information is displayed on the selection window 11 by the selection window display means 22. Will be. When the operator selects specific material information from the selection window 11 as new material information, the allocation processing unit 24 replaces the material information in the allocation result to be replaced with the new material information. I do. This completes the series of replacement processes.
[0037]
After all, the replacement process described above will be described with the viewpoint of the operator's operation as follows. First, after performing some operation input for performing replacement processing, when an operation (for example, mouse click) for designating “female image” is performed on the editing window 12, replacement material belonging to group A A selection window 11 including information as shown in FIG. 6 is automatically displayed. Therefore, for example, if material information P2 is selected as new material information from the selection window 11, the allocation result in FIG. 4 is immediately corrected to the allocation result in FIG. Similarly, in the state of FIG. 10, if further replacement processing is instructed and, for example, an operation of designating the lower “male image” is performed, replacement material information belonging to group X is now displayed. It is automatically searched and presented in the selection window 11.
[0038]
As described above, if the group information is added to the material information after the allocation process, the original database can be automatically re-searched based on the material information after the allocation process. Thus, it is possible to efficiently perform the replacement process as described above. In addition, although the example which added group information to each individual material information was shown in the conceptual diagram of FIG. 9, it is not always necessary to add individual group information to each piece of material information. In short, in the present invention, it is only necessary to identify the group to which the individual material information stored in the allocation result storage means 32 belongs. Therefore, for example, a configuration may be adopted in which common group information is associated with a plurality of pieces of material information. In the above-described embodiment, an example of an allocation device for creating a product catalog has been shown. However, the present invention is not limited to the product information allocation device, and can be applied to any material information allocation device. It is. For example, an apparatus for creating a homepage on the Internet requires a process of assigning a large number of images and characters on a screen, but the present invention is also applicable to such an apparatus.
[0039]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the material allocation device prepared as digital data according to the present invention, the original database can be automatically searched from the material information allocated on the page.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a material allocation apparatus prepared as digital data according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of material information belonging to a group A registered in the material information storage means 31 in the apparatus shown in FIG.
3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of material information belonging to a group X registered in material information storage means 31 in the apparatus shown in FIG.
4 is a diagram showing an example of an allocation result for one page by the apparatus shown in FIG. 1; FIG.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a list display of a product list used for specifying a product to be read with respect to the material information reading unit 21 in the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;
6 is a diagram showing an example of a selection window 11 displayed by selection window display means 22 in the apparatus shown in FIG.
7 is a diagram showing a state in which an operation for designating a predetermined allocation frame W in the editing window 12 is performed using the apparatus shown in FIG.
8 is a diagram illustrating a state in which an image is allocated within an allocation frame W illustrated in FIG.
FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram showing a method for adding group information to an allocation result in the present invention.
10 is a diagram showing a state in which material information replacement processing is performed on the allocation result shown in FIG. 4; FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
10. Display means
11 ... Selection window
12 ... Edit window
20: Processing means
21 ... Material information reading means
22 ... Selection window display means
23 ... Material information selection means
24. Allocation processing means
30. Storage means
31 ... Material information storage means
32. Allocation result storage means
40. Instruction input means
B1-B5 ... button area
L, L1 to L5 ... Material information consisting of characters
P1 to P3 ... Material information consisting of images
W ... Allocation frame

Claims (3)

A material allocating device that performs processing for selecting a desired material from among a large number of materials prepared as digital data and allocating it within a predetermined page,
Material information storage means for storing individual material information to be allocated in groups for each related material information;
An instruction input means for inputting an instruction from an operator;
Material information reading means for extracting a specific group based on an operator's instruction from the groups in the material information storage means and reading material information belonging to the extracted group;
A group for adding the allocation information indicating the allocation mode to the individual material information and identifying the group to which the material information is read in order to allocate the material information read by the material information reading means in a predetermined page. An allocation processing means for adding information and generating an allocation result including material information, allocation information, and group information;
An assignment result storage means for storing the assignment result generated by the assignment processing means;
Display means for displaying the allocation result;
With
When the operator gives a replacement instruction to replace the specific material information with new material information by specifying the specific material information on the screen of the display unit, the allocation processing unit stores the allocation result. Recognizing the group information about the allocation result to be replaced stored in the means, the material information belonging to the recognized group is read as material information for replacement by the material information reading means, this difference A material allocation device prepared as digital data, having a function of performing replacement processing using replacement material information. The allocation device according to claim 1,
A selection window for selecting material information to be assigned is provided on the screen of the display means, and a selection window for displaying material information belonging to one group read by the material information reading means in the selection window. Display means;
  Material information selection means for selecting specific material information to be assigned based on an operator's instruction from a plurality of material information displayed in the selection window;
  The replacement material information is displayed in the selection window when the operator gives a replacement instruction, and the operator selects a specific material from the displayed replacement material information. A material allocating apparatus prepared as digital data, characterized in that replacement processing using this specific material information is performed when information is selected. In the allocation device according to claim 2,
  On the screen of the display means, it is possible to display both an editing window for displaying the allocation result and a selection window for selecting material information to be allocated, and the replacement displayed in the editing window. A material allocating apparatus prepared as digital data, characterized in that replacement material information is displayed in a selection window by specifying target material information on the editing window.

Images