Document evaluation device, document evaluation method, and program

Abstract

To provide a document evaluation device capable of determining a highly readable line space, a document evaluation method, and a program.SOLUTION: A user terminal that is a document evaluation device includes: an acquisition unit for acquiring information on a character size (for example, a height of a character) in a direction orthogonal to an arrangement direction of characters in a character string of a document and information on the number of characters or a width of one line of the character string; and a determination unit for determining a recommended line spacing recommended for the character string based on the character size and the number of characters or the width.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a document evaluation apparatus, a document evaluation method, and a program.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, a readability evaluation method has been proposed that determines whether factors such as character height, character width, character spacing, line spacing, number of characters per line, and character color, which are readability factors of a sentence, are within a recommended range and outputs the result (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

[0003] Also, a printer controller has been proposed that calculates values of character size, line spacing, and character spacing in order to fit a document within a page of a printing paper size under the condition that the relationship between the character size, line spacing, and character spacing of text data received by the printer is unique (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] As factors that affect the readability of a sentence, there are three: "character height", "number of characters per line", and "line spacing". For example, as an example of ensuring an easy-to-read line spacing for humans, there is a certification standard by the Universal Communication Design Association (UCDA) that "when using horizontal writing, ensure a line spacing of 1.5 lines or more and compose within 45 characters per line".

[0006] While standards for formatting and layout to create human-readable text have been devised in the past, line spacing has traditionally been set to a fixed value according to predetermined standards, ultimately requiring revision and adjustment by skilled individuals. As a result, determining line spacing is time-consuming in document creation, leading to variations in document layout depending on the document creator.

[0007] By the way, if the line spacing is too wide when there are few characters per line, it becomes difficult to grasp the coherence of the text as a single unit. Also, line spacing is the arrangement spacing of each line, which is the sum of the character height and the gap between each line, and is expressed as 1.5 lines (150%) based on the character height. Thus, it can be said that the desirable value of line spacing should be determined by the character height and the number of characters per line.

[0008] The object of the present invention is to provide a document evaluation device, a document evaluation method, and a program that can determine line spacing that is highly readable. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] In one embodiment, the document evaluation device includes an acquisition unit that acquires information on the character size in a direction orthogonal to the character arrangement direction in a string of characters in a document, and the number of characters or width of a line of the string; and a determination unit that determines the recommended line spacing for the string based on the character size and the number of characters or width. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to the above embodiment, it is possible to determine line spacing that is highly readable. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0011] [Figure 1] This is a configuration diagram showing a user terminal in one embodiment. [Figure 2] This is an explanatory diagram showing a string in one embodiment where each line has 13 characters and the line spacing is 1.5 lines (a) and 2.0 lines (b). [Figure 3]This is an explanatory diagram showing a string in one embodiment where each line has 30 characters and the line spacing is 1.5 lines (a) and 2.0 lines (b). [Figure 4] This is an explanatory diagram showing a string in one embodiment where each line has 43 characters and the line spacing is 1.5 lines (a) and 2.0 lines (b). [Figure 5] This is a flowchart illustrating a document evaluation method in one embodiment. [Figure 6] This figure shows an example of a display screen in one embodiment. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0012] Hereinafter, a document evaluation device, a document evaluation method, and a program according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, using an example of the document evaluation device as user terminal 1.

[0013] Figure 1 is a configuration diagram showing user terminal 1.

[0014] As shown in Figure 1, the user terminal 1 comprises a control unit 10, a storage unit 20, an input unit 30, a display unit 40, and an interface unit 50. The user terminal 1 is an example of a document evaluation device. The user terminal 1 may be a stationary terminal such as a desktop computer, or a portable terminal such as a tablet, smartphone, or laptop computer.

[0015] The control unit 10 includes, for example, a processor (e.g., CPU: Central Processing Unit) that functions as an arithmetic processing unit that controls the operation of the entire user terminal 1. This processor functions as an acquisition unit 11, a determination unit 12, a judgment unit 13, and a notification unit 14 by reading and executing a predetermined program from the storage unit 20 or recording medium. The acquisition unit 11, the determination unit 12, the judgment unit 13, and the notification unit 14 may be arranged as independent units (e.g., processors).

[0016] As shown in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b), the acquisition unit 11 acquires information on the height of characters in the character string of a document, the number of characters per line of the character string, and the line spacing of the character string. For example, the acquisition unit 11 acquires information from text data extracted from an image data such as a text file stored in the storage unit 20, a PDF file stored in the storage unit 20, a document creation application during document creation, a print job (text data included in the print job) transmitted to an image forming apparatus, and the like.

[0017] Note that the height of a character is an example of the character size in a direction orthogonal to the character arrangement direction. When the characters are written vertically (the character arrangement direction is vertical), the character size is the horizontal size. Further, when there are a plurality of characters with different heights (character sizes) in one line, for example, the height of the character with the largest height or the average value of the character heights may be acquired.

[0018] Alternatively, the acquisition unit 11 may acquire the width of one line of the character string (the overall length of one line in the character arrangement direction) instead of the number of characters per line of the character string.

[0019] The line spacing is the array interval between each line, which is the sum of the character height and the gap between each line, and is expressed as 1.5 lines (150%) based on the character height as shown in FIG. 2(a), or is expressed as 2.0 lines (200%) based on the character height as shown in FIG. 2(b).

[0020] The determination unit 12 determines the recommended line spacing for the character string based on the height of the characters (character size) and the number of characters per line. For example, as shown in FIGS. 2(a) and (b), when the number of characters per line is as small as 13 characters, in the case of a line spacing of 2.0 lines shown in FIG. 2(b) where the line spacing is wider than in the case of a line spacing of 1.5 lines shown in FIG. 2(a), it becomes difficult to grasp the coherence of one line. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3(b), when the number of characters per line is 30 characters, the difficulty of grasping is reduced even if the line spacing is 2.0 lines, and as shown in FIG. 4(b), when the number of characters per line is 43 characters, it can be said that the difficulty of grasping is further reduced even if the line spacing is 2.0 lines. Therefore, although it will be described in detail later, the determination unit 12 determines the recommended line spacing to be 1.5 lines (see FIG. 2(a)) when the number of characters per line is 13 characters, determines the recommended line spacing to be 1.82 lines when the number of characters per line is 30 characters, and determines the recommended line spacing to be 2.0 lines (see FIG. 4(b)) when the number of characters per line is 43 characters.

[0021] Note that the determination unit 12 may determine the recommended line spacing as a range rather than a single value. Also, when the height and number of characters are different for each line, the determination unit 12 may determine the recommended line spacing based on the height and number of characters of the line located above the line spacing. However, when the height and number of characters are different for each line, the determination unit 12 may also determine the recommended line spacing based on the height and number of characters of the line located below the line spacing, or the average value of the height of the characters of the line located above the line spacing and the height of the characters of the line located below the line spacing (or the average value of the heights of the characters of a plurality of lines located at a line spacing less than or equal to a specified value), and the average value of the number of characters of the line located above the line spacing and the number of characters of the line located below the line spacing (or the average value of the heights of the characters of a plurality of lines located at a line spacing less than or equal to a specified value).

[0022] The determination unit 13 determines whether the line spacing obtained by the acquisition unit 11 satisfies the criteria corresponding to the recommended line spacing determined by the decision unit 12. For example, as an example of the criteria corresponding to the recommended line spacing, if the recommended line spacing is a single value, the determination unit 13 may determine whether the line spacing is greater than or equal to the recommended line spacing, or whether it is within a specified range before or after the value of the recommended line spacing. Alternatively, as an example of the criteria corresponding to the recommended line spacing, if the recommended line spacing is a range, the determination unit 13 may determine whether the line spacing is within the range of the recommended line spacing.

[0023] The notification unit 14 notifies the user of the recommended line spacing determined by the determination unit 12. The notification unit 14 may also notify the user of the determination result of the judgment unit 13, which determines whether the line spacing acquired by the acquisition unit 11 meets the criteria corresponding to the recommended line spacing. For example, the notification unit 14 notifies the user by controlling the display of the display unit 40. However, the notification unit 14 may also notify the user by controlling the display of a display unit of a device other than the user terminal 1, or by outputting audio from an audio output unit (not shown).

[0024] The storage unit 20 includes, for example, a ROM (Read Only Memory), which is a read-only semiconductor memory in which a predetermined control program is pre-recorded, and a RAM (Random Access Memory), which is a semiconductor memory that can be written to and read at any time and used as a working memory area as needed when the processor executes various control programs, as well as a hard disk drive.

[0025] The input unit 30 is, for example, a keyboard device, a mouse device, a touch panel, etc., and accepts various operation information input from the user.

[0026] The display unit 40 is a display that shows various information. A display with a touch panel can function as both the input unit 30 and the display unit 40.

[0027] The interface unit 50 exchanges various types of information with other devices. For example, the interface unit 50 transmits a print job corresponding to document data created on the user terminal 1 to an image forming apparatus connected wirelessly or via a wired connection.

[0028] Figure 5 is a flowchart illustrating the document evaluation method in this embodiment.

[0029] The process shown in Figure 5 is performed by the control unit 10 (acquisition unit 11, determination unit 12, judgment unit 13, and notification unit 14) when, for example, a document evaluation operation is performed on imported document data in a document evaluation application, a document evaluation operation is performed on document data being created in a document creation application, or a document evaluation operation is performed on document data to be printed in a printer driver. The control unit 10 may perform the process shown in Figure 5, for example, line by line, page by page of document data, or area by area within a page (for example, for multiple lines separated by a specified line spacing or less). Note that explanations that overlap with the above explanation will be omitted.

[0030] First, the acquisition unit 11 acquires the character height of the text string in the document, the number of characters per line of the text string in the document, and the line spacing (step S1).

[0031] The determination unit 12 first determines the number of characters in a line acquired by the acquisition unit 11 (step S2).

[0032] If the number of characters per line is 14 or less, the determination unit 12 determines the recommended line spacing to be "character height × 1.5", i.e., 1.5 lines (step S3).

[0033] If the number of characters per line is between 15 and 39, the determination unit 12 determines the recommended line spacing as "character height × (1.5 + (number of characters - 14) × 0.02)" (step S4). That is, if the number of characters per line is 15, the determination unit 12 determines the recommended line spacing as 1.52 lines, if it is 16, it is 1.54 lines, ..., if it is 38, it is 1.98 lines, and if it is 39, it is 2.0 lines.

[0034] If the number of characters per line is between 40 and 45, the determination unit 12 determines a recommended line spacing of "character height × 2.0", i.e., 2.0 lines (step S5).

[0035] Note that the recommended line spacing determination method in steps S3 to S5 described above is merely an example, and the calculation formula, maximum value, minimum value, etc., may be changed according to user settings. However, it is preferable that the line spacing be increased as the number of characters per line increases (the width of the line increases) within a predetermined line spacing range (e.g., 1.5 lines to 2.0 lines).

[0036] If the number of characters per line is 46 or more, the determination unit 12 does not determine the recommended line spacing, and the notification unit 14 controls the display of the display unit 40 to display, for example, "There are too many characters per line," thereby notifying the user that the number of characters per line exceeds the specified number (in this case, 45 characters) (step S6).

[0037] As described above, once the determination unit 12 has determined the recommended line spacing (steps S3 to S5), the judgment unit 13 determines whether the line spacing obtained by the acquisition unit 11 (obtained line spacing) is greater than or equal to the recommended line spacing determined by the determination unit 12 (line spacing ≥ recommended line spacing) (an example of a criterion corresponding to the recommended line spacing) (step S7).

[0038] If the line spacing is greater than or equal to the recommended line spacing (Step S7: YES), the control unit 10 terminates the process shown in Figure 5.

[0039] If the line spacing is less than the recommended line spacing (Step S7: NO), the notification unit 14 controls the display of the display unit 40 to display, for example, "The line spacing is too narrow" and "The recommended line spacing is [recommended line spacing]" to notify the user that the line spacing does not meet the criteria corresponding to the recommended line spacing (an example of a judgment result) and to inform the user of the recommended line spacing (Step S8). After that, the control unit 10 terminates the process shown in Figure 5.

[0040] Next, referring to Figure 6, we will explain an example of a display that notifies that the line spacing does not meet the criteria corresponding to the recommended line spacing, such as the "Line spacing is too narrow" display in step S8 of Figure 5.

[0041] The display screen 41 shown in Figure 6 is, for example, the display screen of a document evaluation application displayed on the display unit 40. The document data display unit 41a displays a predetermined area of ​​the document data acquired from the storage unit 20. The application button 41b is an operation button for starting the evaluation of evaluation items such as font size, line spacing, and number of characters per line. When pressed, for line spacing, the recommended line spacing determination process (steps S3-S5) and judgment process (step S7) shown in Figure 5 above are performed, and the evaluation result (judgment result) is displayed on the result display unit 41c. In this result display unit 41c, areas that do not meet the criteria for the selected item (line spacing in the example of Figure 6) are displayed on the document data display unit 41a with highlighted frames 41d (seven shown in Figure 6). Although not shown, when a highlighted frame 41d is selected, the notification unit 14 should display the recommended value (recommended line spacing, etc.) for the selected area.

[0042] In the embodiment described above, the user terminal 1, which is an example of a document evaluation device, includes an acquisition unit 11 that acquires information on the character size (e.g., character height) in a direction orthogonal to the character arrangement direction in the string of characters of the document, and information on the number of characters or width of one line of the string of characters, and a determination unit 12 that determines the recommended line spacing for the string of characters based on the character size and the number of characters or width.

[0043] From another perspective, a document evaluation method performed by a computer (e.g., the processor of the control unit 10) includes obtaining information on the character size (e.g., character height) in a direction orthogonal to the character arrangement direction in the string of characters in the document, and information on the number of characters or width of one line of the string (step S1), and determining the recommended line spacing for the string based on the character size and the number of characters or width (steps S2 to S5).

[0044] From another perspective, the program obtains information on the character size (e.g., character height) in a direction orthogonal to the character arrangement direction in the document string, and information on the number of characters or width of a line of the string (step S1), and causes the computer (e.g., the processor of the control unit 10) to perform a process (steps S2 to S5) to determine the recommended line spacing for the string based on the character size and the number of characters or width.

[0045] In these user terminals 1 (document evaluation device), document evaluation method, and program, the recommended line spacing is determined based on the font size and the number of characters or width of a line. For example, if the number of characters per line is relatively small (or the width of a line is relatively short), the recommended line spacing can be narrowed to make it easier to grasp the unit of text in a line, or if the number of characters per line is relatively large (or the width of a line is relatively long), the recommended line spacing can be widened. This makes it possible to improve readability by ensuring that each character is easy to recognize and that the eye movement distance does not stress the reader, without requiring revision and adjustment by experts. Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to determine a line spacing that is highly readable.

[0046] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the user terminal 1 further includes a notification unit 14 that notifies the user of the recommended line spacing determined by the determination unit 12. In other words, the document evaluation method further includes notifying the user of the recommended line spacing (step S8). In other words, the program causes the computer to further perform the process of notifying the user of the recommended line spacing (step S8).

[0047] This allows users to recognize the recommended line spacing for better readability, and for example, to readjust the line spacing.

[0048] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the user terminal 1's acquisition unit 11 acquires information about the spacing between lines of a string, and the user terminal 1 further includes a determination unit 13 that determines whether the spacing between lines acquired by the acquisition unit 11 satisfies the criteria corresponding to the recommended spacing determined by the determination unit 12. In other words, the document evaluation method further includes acquiring information about the spacing between lines of a string (step S1) and determining whether it satisfies the criteria corresponding to the determined recommended spacing (step S7). In other words, the program further causes the computer to acquire information about the spacing between lines of a string (step S1) and determine whether it satisfies the criteria corresponding to the determined recommended spacing (step S7).

[0049] This makes it possible to identify sections in a document where the line spacing is set to be unreadable.

[0050] It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and the components can be modified and implemented in practice without departing from the spirit of the invention. Furthermore, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining the multiple components disclosed in the embodiments described above. For example, all the components shown in the embodiments may be combined as appropriate. It goes without saying that various modifications and applications are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention. The invention described in the original claims of this application is listed below.

[0051] [Note 1] An acquisition unit that acquires information on the character size in a direction perpendicular to the character arrangement direction in a document string, and information on the number of characters or width of one line of the string, A determination unit that determines the recommended line spacing for the string based on the character size and the number of characters or width. A document evaluation device characterized by comprising the following features.

[0052] [Note 2] The document evaluation apparatus according to Appendix 1, further comprising a notification unit that notifies the user of the recommended line spacing determined by the determination unit.

[0053] [Note 3] The acquisition unit acquires information between lines of the string, The document evaluation apparatus further includes a determination unit that determines whether the line spacing acquired by the acquisition unit satisfies the criteria corresponding to the recommended line spacing determined by the determination unit. A document evaluation device as described in Appendix 1 or 2, characterized by the above.

[0054] [Note 4] The system obtains information on the character size in the direction perpendicular to the character arrangement direction in the document string, and information on the number of characters or width of one line of the string. Based on the aforementioned character size and the number of characters or width, the recommended line spacing for the string is determined. A computer-based document evaluation method, including the following.

[0055] [Note 5] The system obtains information on the character size in the direction perpendicular to the character arrangement direction in the document string, and information on the number of characters or width of one line of the string. Based on the aforementioned character size and the number of characters or width, the recommended line spacing for the string is determined. A program that instructs a computer to perform a process. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0056] 1 User terminal 10 Control Unit 11 Acquisition Department 12. Decision Section 13 Judgment section 14 Hochi Department 20 Memory section 30 Input section 40 Display section 41 Display screen 41a Document data display section 41b Application button 41c Result display section 41d Highlighted Frame 50 Interface section

Claims

1. An acquisition unit that acquires information on the character size in a direction perpendicular to the character arrangement direction in a string of characters in a document, and information on the number of characters or width of one line of the string, A determination unit that determines the recommended line spacing for the string based on the character size and the number of characters or width, A notification unit that notifies the user of the recommended line spacing determined by the determination unit through the display control of the display unit. A document evaluation device comprising, The acquisition unit acquires information between lines of the string, The document evaluation device further includes a determination unit that determines whether the line spacing acquired by the acquisition unit satisfies the criteria corresponding to the recommended line spacing determined by the determination unit. The notification unit displays, using a highlighting frame, the locations where the line spacing does not meet the criteria on the document data display section of the display screen of the display unit. A document evaluation device characterized by the following features.

2. To obtain information on the character size in the direction perpendicular to the character arrangement direction in the string of characters in the document, and information on the number of characters or width of one line of the string, Based on the aforementioned character size and the number of characters or width, the recommended line spacing for the string is determined, A computer-based document evaluation method, comprising notifying the user of the determined recommended line spacing by display control of a display unit, The acquisition of the above means acquiring the information between lines of the string, The document evaluation method further includes determining whether the obtained line spacing satisfies the criteria corresponding to the determined recommended line spacing. The notification mentioned above involves highlighting the areas where the line spacing does not meet the criteria with a highlighted frame on the document data display section of the display screen of the display unit. A document evaluation method characterized by the following:

3. A process for obtaining information on the character size in a string of characters in a document, in a direction orthogonal to the character arrangement direction, and information on the number of characters or width of one line of the string, A process to determine the recommended line spacing for the string based on the aforementioned character size and the aforementioned number of characters or width, A program that causes a computer to perform the process of notifying the user of the determined recommended line spacing by display control of the display unit, The aforementioned acquisition process acquires information between lines of the string, The program then causes the computer to perform a process to determine whether the acquired line spacing meets the criteria corresponding to the determined recommended line spacing. The notification process involves highlighting the locations where the line spacing does not meet the criteria using a highlighted frame on the document data display section of the display screen of the display unit. A program characterized by the following features.

Images