Device and method for layout of a structured document using multi-column areas

A document layout processing device wherein a layout structure is generated corresponding to a logical structure of a document, the document comprising a plurality of document elements, the document layout processing device comprising:

• logical structure holding means for holding hierarchical logical structure of document elements constituting a document to be laid out;
• document content holding means for holding a document content of each of the document elements of the document to be laid out;
• page format holding means for holding a page format having a plurality of columns;
• layout directive holding means for holding layout directive information which includes first information indicative of whether the content of each document element of the document to be laid out is laid out within a first frame structure which corresponds to each column of the page format held in the page format holding means or within a second frame structure which extends a plurality of columns of the page format, second information indicative of the number of columns over which the second frame structure extends, and third information indicative of whether the second frame structure is a reflective frame structure where the content of the document element to be laid out within the first frame structure is reflected by the second frame structure or a jump-over frame structure where the content is jumped over the second frame structure in the process of laying out the content with the first frame structure;
• layout structure generating means for generating, in response to a page request and based on a page object corresponding to the page and the page format held in the page format holding means, frame objects, the number of which corresponds to the number of columns corresponding to the first frame structure that are directly subordinate of the page object, adding a first attribute data indicative of a column number to the frame objects, generating a frame object corresponding to the second frame structure based on the layout directive information held in the layout directive holding means, and generating a layout structure corresponding to the page by adding a second attribute data including the first information and the second information to the frame object;
• layout structure holding means for holding the layout structure generated by the layout structure generating means;
• content layout means for laying out a content of the document element to be laid out held in the document content holding means within a frame object corresponding to the first frame structure of the layout structure or a frame object corresponding to the second frame structure, for each of the document elements while referring to the layout directive information;
• identification means for identifying as to whether a frame object of the layout structure held in the layout structure holding means corresponds to the second frame structure based on attribute information of the frame object;
• and
• layout structure arranging means for, when the identification means identifies that the frame object corresponds to the second frame structure, determining a layout position of the frame object on the page corresponding to a document element which appears immediately before a document element which appears immediately before a document element which is to be laid out within the second frame structure.

A method of generating a layout structure of a document having a plurality of columns in accordance with a logical structure of the document, comprising:

• a first step of indicating as to whether a document content corresponding to each of the components of the logical structure of the document is to be laid out within a single column or within a multi-column area which extends to two columns or more of the plurality of columns;
• a second step of laying out the document content within a single column when the first step indicates that the document content is to be laid out within a single column;
• a third step of generating a multi-column area and laying out the document content within the multi-column area when the first step indicates that the document content is to be laid out within a multi-column area;
• and
• a fourth step of determining a position of the multi-column area generated by the third step while referring to a component of the logical structure, which component corresponds to a document component in the logical structure which has already been laid out.

A method of laying out a document including a first document element which is to be laid out to a first frame structure corresponding to each column of a page and a second document element which is to be laid out to a second frame structure which extends to a plurality of columns, comprising:

• a first step of generating a first frame structure corresponding to each column of a page;
• a second step of identifying whether a document content to be laid out belongs to the first document element or the second document element;
• a third step of laying out the document content in accordance with the first frame structure when the document content is identified as belonging to the first document element;
• a fourth step of generating a second frame structure extending to a plurality of columns and retrieving a document element to be subsequently laid out from said second document element which has already been laid out by the generation of the second frame structure, when the document content is identified as belonging to the second document element;
• a fifth step of setting an available area to which the retrieved document element which is to be subsequently laid out can be laid out onto a page in connection with the second frame structure generated by the fourth step;
• and
• a sixth step of changing the available area which is set by the fifth step by moving the second frame structure which is generated by the fourth step so as to determine a multi-column area to which the retrieved document element to be subsequently laid out can be subsequently laid out.