Work support device and work support method

Abstract

To provide a work support device and method that can accurately generate circuit connection information over a plurality of pages from drawing data consisting of line and character data.SOLUTION: A work support device comprises: a line and point detection unit which obtains drawing data described with lines and points and detects the lines and points from the drawing data; a drawing symbol detection unit which detects drawing symbols constituting a circuit; a wiring detection unit which detects wiring connecting between drawing symbols from information on the lines and points; a character detection unit which detects characters; a circuit connection information generation unit which extracts contact information of the drawing symbols and the wiring on the drawing data and generates circuit connection information based on coordinate data of the drawing symbols and the wiring included in the same page of the drawing data; and a terminal component detection unit which detects wiring at least one end is not in contact with a second drawing symbol or a first drawing symbol as a terminal component from the circuit connection information generated by the circuit connection information generation unit to generate circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the drawing data.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to computer technology for supporting on-site work performed by workers. [Background Art]

[0002] In Japan, population decline caused by the increase in average life expectancy and the decline in birth rate, along with the decrease in the working population accompanying the declining birthrate and aging population, have become social issues. Under such circumstances, to compensate for the decrease in the working population, improving work efficiency by automating simple manual work using machines is cited as a solution. However, in industries that include skilled work, high on-site skills are required to perform complex tasks, so simple automation is difficult to achieve. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a framework for efficiently performing skilled work with a limited labor force. One example of such a framework is creating a manual containing skilled know-how from work data of skilled engineers, which allows anyone to perform skilled work regardless of their skill level.

[0003] An example of skilled work is work using circuit diagrams (hereinafter referred to as "drawing work"). In drawing work, a drawing describing electrical connection information between components constituting a circuit (hereinafter referred to as "circuit connection information") is used to check the conduction state and sequence operation of the circuit, and the corresponding position on the drawing (that is, the corresponding connection information) is overwritten by handwritten marking. To create a manual including the know-how of skilled engineers for drawing work, it is necessary to use wearable terminals such as electronic paper and tablets, acquire handwritten input by the worker as time-series data, and analyze the time-series handwritten data. Specifically, the work order obtained by collating the handwritten data on the drawing with the circuit connection information on the drawing is analyzed. Here, the term "circuit connection information" specifically means connection information of drawing symbols, which represent each component constituting the circuit with symbols on the drawing, and wiring that indicates connections between the components.

[0004] Data describing circuit connection information can be found in CAD (Computer-Aided Design) drawings, but wearable devices used by workers in the field often lack the processing power to display CAD drawings. Therefore, when displaying drawing data on a wearable device, the CAD drawing data is converted to a data format that the device can display, such as PDF (Portable Document Format) drawing data. However, during the conversion from CAD to PDF, the circuit portion is converted into lines and text data in the PDF drawing data, resulting in the loss of circuit connection information. Consequently, when performing drawing work using such PDF drawing data and analyzing handwritten data, it is necessary to generate circuit connection information from the drawing data composed of lines and text data.

[0005] As circuits become larger, it becomes difficult to describe all circuit connection information on a single page. Therefore, circuits are often divided, and the continuation of the circuit is described in a separate area on the same page or on another page. As a result, circuit connection information is described across "multiple pages, including at least the same page (hereinafter simply referred to as "multiple pages")." Therefore, when generating circuit connection information from drawing data, a challenge is to accurately generate multi-page circuit connection information according to the designer's intentions, even when there are interrupted circuits.

[0006] Patent Document 1 addresses the problem of "accurately generating structural data from paper drawings of structures" and discloses a technique that uses two Neural Networks (NNs) to generate connection information for representing structures. In this document, an image of the drawing is input to the first NN, and according to the probability output by the NN, the coordinates of points representing the column or beam centers of the structure and the coordinates of lines representing columns or beams connecting the points are recognized. Point and line data is input to the second NN, and the NN outputs the probability of two points connecting the start and end points of a line, and the coordinates of the two points with the highest probability are reset. By using two NNs, even if the first NN recognizes points and lines at distant positions and there is a break, the second NN resets the coordinates, thereby describing a technique that generates connection information for points and lines. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0007] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-187541 [Overview of the Initiative] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0008] The technology described in Patent Document 1 utilizes a neural network (NN) to detect drawing components and generate connection information between drawing components that indicate breaks. Therefore, when the technology described in Patent Document 1 is applied to the drawing work described above, connection information is generated based on probabilities output by the NN, making it highly likely that incorrect connection information will be generated when patterns not trained in the NN are input. If incorrect connection information is generated, the work sequence cannot be correctly analyzed when compared with handwritten data.

[0009] In view of the above problems, the present invention aims to provide a technology that can accurately generate multi-page circuit connection information from drawing data consisting of line and character data. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] The work support device according to the present invention comprises a line and point detection unit, a drawing symbol detection unit, a wiring detection unit, a character detection unit, a circuit connection information generation unit, and a terminal component detection unit. The line and point detection unit acquires drawing data that describes circuits showing the connection relationships of equipment using characters, lines, and points, and detects lines and points from the drawing data. The drawing symbol detection unit detects drawing symbols that constitute the circuit. The wiring detection unit detects wiring connecting drawing symbols from the line and point information. The character detection unit detects characters. The circuit connection information generation unit generates circuit connection information by extracting contact information between drawing symbols and wiring on the drawing data based on the coordinate data of drawing symbols and wiring contained within the same page of the drawing data. The terminal component detection unit generates circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the drawing data, and detects wiring or the first drawing symbol whose at least one end is not in contact with a second drawing symbol as terminal components from the circuit connection information generated by the circuit connection information generation unit.

[0011] Further details regarding the problems disclosed in this application, and their solutions, will be made clear in the section on embodiments for carrying out the invention and in the drawings. [Effects of the Invention]

[0012] According to the present invention, circuit connection information spanning multiple pages can be accurately generated from drawing data consisting of line and text data. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0013] [Figure 1] This is a functional block diagram of the work support device according to the first embodiment. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the work support device according to the first embodiment. [Figure 3A] This figure shows an example of an end component. [Figure 3B] This figure shows an example of an end component. [Figure 4A] This figure shows an example of output data from the drawing component detection unit 103. [Figure 4B]It is a diagram showing an example of output data from the drawing component detection unit 103. [Figure 4C] It is a diagram showing an example of output data from the drawing component detection unit 103. [Figure 5] It is a diagram showing an example of output data from the circuit connection information generation unit 108. [Figure 6A] It is a diagram showing an example of drawing data after terminal component detection performed by the terminal component detection unit 109. [Figure 6B] It is a diagram showing an example of drawing data after terminal component detection performed by the terminal component detection unit 109. [Figure 7] It is a flowchart for explaining the terminal wiring detection method of the terminal component detection unit 109. [Figure 8A] It is a diagram for explaining the method of associating terminal wirings with wiring names by the terminal component name assignment unit 110. [Figure 8B] It is a diagram for explaining the method of associating terminal wirings with wiring names by the terminal component name assignment unit 110. [Figure 8C] It is a diagram for explaining the method of associating terminal wirings with wiring names by the terminal component name assignment unit 110. [Figure 9] It is a flowchart for explaining the method of generating connection information of terminal components by the terminal component connection information generation unit 111. [Figure 10A] It is a diagram showing an example of output data from the terminal component connection information generation unit 111. [Figure 10B] It is a diagram showing an example of output data from the terminal component connection information generation unit 111. [Figure 11A] It is a diagram showing an example of work analysis performed by the work analysis unit 113. [Figure 11B] It is a diagram showing an example of work analysis performed by the work analysis unit 113. [Figure 11C] It is a diagram showing an example of work analysis performed by the work analysis unit 113. [Figure 12] It is a functional block diagram of the work support device according to the second embodiment. [Figure 13] It is a flowchart showing the operation of the work support device according to the second embodiment. [Figure 14A] It is a diagram showing an example of a link symbol. [Figure 14B] The figure shows an example of a link symbol. [Figure 15A] This diagram explains the advantages of using link symbols. [Figure 15B] This diagram explains the advantages of using link symbols. [Figure 15C] This diagram explains the advantages of using link symbols. [Figure 16] This is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the link symbol detection unit 1200. [Figure 17] This is a flowchart illustrating the method of grouping sheet links by the link symbol detection unit 1200. [Figure 18] This diagram illustrates how to register sheet links that exist within the table of the link symbol detection unit 1200. [Figure 19A] This diagram illustrates the coordinate acquisition link detection step of the link symbol detection unit 1200. [Figure 19B] This diagram illustrates the coordinate acquisition link detection step of the link symbol detection unit 1200. [Figure 20A] This diagram illustrates how the terminal component and link symbol are connected by the terminal component link symbol connection information generation unit 1201. [Figure 20B] This diagram illustrates how the terminal component and link symbol are connected by the terminal component link symbol connection information generation unit 1201. [Figure 21] This is a functional block diagram of the work support device according to the third embodiment. [Figure 22] This is a flowchart showing the operation of the work support device according to the third embodiment. [Figure 23A] This figure shows a specific example of hyperlink assignment by the hyperlink assignment unit 2100. [Figure 23B] This figure shows a specific example of hyperlink assignment by the hyperlink assignment unit 2100. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0014] In the following explanation, "interface device" may refer to one or more interface devices. These one or more interface devices may be at least one of the following: • One or more I / O (Input / Output) interface devices. An I / O (Input / Output) interface device is an interface device to at least one of the following: an I / O device and a remote display computer. The I / O interface device to the display computer may be a communication interface device. The at least one I / O device may be either a user interface device, such as an input device like a keyboard and a pointing device, or an output device like a display device. • One or more communication interface devices. One or more communication interface devices may be one or more identical communication interface devices (e.g., one or more NICs (Network Interface Cards)) or two or more different communication interface devices (e.g., a NIC and an HBA (Host Bus Adapter)).

[0015] Furthermore, in the following explanation, "memory" refers to one or more memory devices, which are examples of one or more storage devices, and may typically be main memory devices. At least one memory device in memory may be a volatile memory device or a non-volatile memory device.

[0016] Furthermore, in the following explanation, "persistent storage device" may refer to one or more persistent storage devices, which are examples of one or more storage devices. Persistent storage devices are typically non-volatile storage devices (e.g., auxiliary storage devices), and specifically may be, for example, HDDs (Hard Disk Drives), SSDs (Solid State Drives), NVME (Non-Volatile Memory Express) drives, or SCMs (Storage Class Memory).

[0017] Furthermore, in the following explanation, "storage device" may refer to at least memory, including both memory and persistent storage.

[0018] Furthermore, in the following explanation, "processor" may refer to one or more processor devices. At least one processor device may typically be a microprocessor device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), but may also be other types of processor devices such as a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). At least one processor device may be single-core or multi-core. At least one processor device may be a processor core. At least one processor device may be a broad-sense processor device such as a circuit that is a collection of gate arrays defined by a hardware description language that performs some or all of the processing (e.g., FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device), or ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit)).

[0019] Furthermore, in the following explanation, functions may be described using the expression "yyy section," but a function may be implemented by the execution of one or more computer programs by a processor, by one or more hardware circuits (e.g., FPGA or ASIC), or by a combination thereof. When a function is implemented by the execution of a program by a processor, the defined processing is carried out using memory and / or interface devices as appropriate, so the function may be at least a part of the processor. Processing described with a function as the subject may be processing performed by the processor or a device having that processor. Programs may be installed from program source. Program source may be, for example, a program distribution computer or a computer-readable recording medium (e.g., a non-temporary recording medium). The description of each function is an example, and multiple functions may be combined into one function, or one function may be divided into multiple functions.

[0020] Furthermore, in the following explanation, the process may be described using "program" as the subject, but the process described using "program" as the subject may also be a process performed by a processor or a device having such a processor. Also, two or more programs may be implemented as a single program, or one program may be implemented as two or more programs.

[0021] Furthermore, in the following explanation, the term "xxx table" may be used to describe information from which an output is obtained for a given input. This information can be a table of any structure, or it can be a neural network that generates an output for a given input, or a learning model such as a genetic algorithm or random forest. Therefore, "xxx table" can be referred to as "xxx information." Also, in the following explanation, the structure of each table is just an example; one table may be divided into two or more tables, or all or part of two or more tables may be combined into one table.

[0022] Furthermore, in the following description, the "work support device" may be a device or system composed of one or more physical computers, or a system implemented on a group of physical computing resources (e.g., a cloud infrastructure) (e.g., a cloud computing system). The "displaying" of display information by the work support device may mean displaying the information on a display device owned by a computer, or the computer may transmit the display information to a display computer (in the latter case, the display information is displayed by the display computer).

[0023] Several embodiments are described below.

[0024] In the following explanation, redundant explanations may be omitted by assigning a common code to identical or similar components.

[0025] Furthermore, when multiple elements with the same or similar function exist, different subscripts may be assigned to the same symbol in order to distinguish between them. On the other hand, when there is no need to distinguish between the multiple elements, the subscript may be omitted in the explanation.

[0026] <First Embodiment> The first embodiment utilizes the names of components present around drawing components to accurately detect end components, which are drawing components indicating a break in the data, and generates connection information for these end components, thereby generating circuit connection information that spans multiple pages. The first embodiment will be described in detail below.

[0027] Figure 1 is a functional block diagram of a work support device 100a according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The work support device 100a illustrated in Figure 1 is connected to a terminal 101 used by a worker, who is a user of the work support device 100a, via an appropriate communication network such as the internet or a dedicated line, enabling data communication between them. Examples of terminals 101 include wearable devices such as e-paper devices and tablets. When a user writes on the screen of terminal 101 using an electronic pen or the like, the terminal 101 records the handwriting as time-series data.

[0028] In Figure 1, only one terminal 101 is shown, but it is also possible to have hundreds of terminals 101a, 101b, 101c...101n to send and receive data. Also, in Figure 1, the work support device 100, data storage unit 112, and terminal 101 are shown to be spatially connected by wires, but they may each be in different spatial locations and communicate wirelessly via a network using a data base station 115 or the like.

[0029] (Configuration of work support device 100a) Next, an example of the configuration of the work support device 100a according to this embodiment will be described. The work support device 100a is implemented by a computer device or server device having the configurations described below.

[0030] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 1, the work support device 100a is connected to the data base station 115 via an appropriate communication network such as the Internet or a dedicated line, enabling mutual data communication. The work support device 100a, terminal 101, and data base station 115 are connected to the communication network via wired connections using well-known communication equipment (not shown), but they may also be connected wirelessly.

[0031] The work support device 100a is implemented by a single general-purpose computer. The following description assumes that the work support device 100a is implemented by a single general-purpose computer comprising one or more processors, one or more memory devices, one or more interface devices, and wired or wireless communication lines connecting them.

[0032] In other words, the work support device 100a includes a storage device consisting of a persistent storage device and memory, an interface device, and a processor connected thereto.

[0033] A persistent memory device is an auxiliary storage device consisting of non-volatile memory elements such as flash memory. Specific examples of persistent memory devices include SSDs (Solid State Drives) and HDDs (Hard Disk Drives). A persistent memory device stores at least a program. The program is a computer program that implements the functions necessary for the work support device 100a.

[0034] When a program is executed by the processor, various processes are performed to support the task (details below).

[0035] The program may also be installed from its source code. The source code may be, for example, a program distribution computer or a computer-readable recording medium. Furthermore, the program may consist of device drivers, an operating system, various application programs located at a higher layer, and libraries that provide common functions to these programs. Additionally, two or more programs may be implemented as a single program, or one program may be implemented as two or more programs.

[0036] Furthermore, the persistent memory device controls the data storage unit 112, which will be described later, by storing various types of data.

[0037] Memory is a main memory device consisting mainly of volatile memory elements such as RAM (Random Access Memory). Memory temporarily holds data representing various information read from persistent storage devices, as well as various data acquired from terminal 101 and data base station 115.

[0038] The processor is a processor device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and various coprocessors. This processor controls the work support device 100a itself by calling and executing programs from memory, and also manages the control unit that performs various processing such as arithmetic processing and judgment processing.

[0039] The interface device includes a communication interface device that connects to a communication network and communicates with terminal 101 and data base station 115, and an I / O interface device.

[0040] Next, an example of a functional block provided by the work support device 100a according to this embodiment will be described. Note that the blocks described below represent functional blocks, not hardware-based configurations.

[0041] The work support device 100a is comprised of the following functional blocks: a drawing component detection unit 103 that detects drawing components from drawing data 102 composed of line and character data; a circuit connection information generation unit 108 that generates circuit connection information from the detected drawing components; an end component detection unit 109 that detects end components, which are drawing components indicating a break, from the generated circuit connection information; an end component naming unit 110 that associates a component name with the detected end component and assigns a name to it; an end component connection information generation unit 111 that identifies the connection destination of the named end component, generates connection information for the end component, and generates connection information between the circuit connection information associated with the end component; a data storage unit 112 that stores the drawing data 102 containing the circuit connection information generated from the end component connection information and the data after work analysis; a work analysis unit 113 that analyzes the circuit connection information and work sequence performed by comparing the position coordinates of the handwritten data on the screen of the terminal 101 with the generated circuit connection information; a communication unit 114 that sends and receives data with the terminal 101; a control unit (not shown); and a user interface unit (not shown).

[0042] Here, drawing components refer to things like wiring, drawing symbols, and text. Wiring is the conductor that connects drawing symbols included in the circuit within the drawing data. Drawing symbols are symbols that represent the components that make up a circuit using symbols on the drawing data (for example, electrical symbols specified in JIS C 0617). Text is located around the wiring and drawing symbols included in drawing data 102 and indicates supplementary information such as names and attributes. Circuit connection information indicates the connection information between wiring and drawing symbols. Details will be described later. End components refer to wiring or drawing symbols whose endpoints, at least one end of which is included in the end components, are not connected to other drawing symbols. Details will be described later.

[0043] The drawing component detection unit 103 consists of a line and point detection unit 104 that detects lines and points from the drawing data 102 and outputs line and point data, a character detection unit 105 that detects characters and outputs character data, a wiring detection unit 106 that detects wiring from the line and point data and outputs wiring data, and a drawing symbol detection unit 107 that detects drawing symbols and outputs drawing symbol data. Details of each output data will be described later.

[0044] The data storage unit 112 is configured using a storage device consisting of, for example, a persistent storage device and memory, and stores a program that supplies various processing instructions to the control unit, and data representing various information used in the processing executed by the control unit. The control unit can perform various processing tasks to support operations by reading and writing this information to the storage unit.

[0045] The communication unit 114 is responsible for processing communication with other devices such as terminals 101 and data base stations 115, which takes place via the Internet (an example of a communication network). The communication unit 114 is configured using, for example, a NIC (Network Interface Card) or an HBA (Host Bus Adapter).

[0046] The control unit performs various data processing based on user input detected by the user interface unit, data acquired by the communication unit 114, and programs and data stored in the data storage unit 112. The control unit also functions as an interface to the user interface unit, the communication unit 114, and the data storage unit 112.

[0047] The control unit is configured using a processor and can realize each of the above-mentioned functional blocks by executing a predetermined program. Alternatively, the control unit may be configured using logic circuits such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) instead of a processor. Furthermore, the control unit may be configured using a combination of a processor and logic circuits.

[0048] The user interface unit receives input from the user and is responsible for processing related to the user interface, such as displaying images and outputting sound. The user interface unit has functional blocks for input and output. The input unit detects various operations from the user. The input unit is configured using, for example, a keyboard, pointing device, or touch panel. The output unit performs tasks such as displaying various screens on a display device and outputting sound. The output unit is configured using, for example, a liquid crystal display or touchscreen.

[0049] In other words, each component of the work support device 100a is realized by hardware including a processor, memory and persistent storage devices, wired or wireless communication lines and interface devices connecting them, and software stored in the memory devices that supplies processing instructions to the arithmetic unit.

[0050] In this embodiment, the functions of the work support device 100a have been described as being integrated and implemented by a single computer device. However, these functions may be implemented by multiple interconnected computer devices or server devices. Furthermore, the work support device 100a may consist of a general-purpose computer device such as a laptop PC and a web browser installed thereon, or it may consist of a web server and various portable devices.

[0051] Furthermore, the descriptions of each function are merely examples, and multiple functions may be combined into one function, or one function may be divided into multiple functions. The above describes the configuration of the work support device 100a.

[0052] (Operation of work support device 100a) Next, the operation of the work support device 100a according to the first embodiment will be explained using the flowchart shown in Figure 2. When drawing data 102, which consists of line and character data, is input, wiring, drawing symbols and characters are detected (step S200), and circuit connection information, which is connection information between wiring and drawing symbols, is generated (step S201). From the generated circuit connection information, terminal components that are not connected to a drawing symbol at least at one end are detected (step S202), and names are assigned to the detected terminal components by associating them with the names of components present around the terminal components (step S203). Since each drawing component present in the drawing data 102 is uniquely assigned a name, the connection destination of the terminal component is uniquely identified by searching for a drawing component with the same name, and connection information for the terminal component is generated to generate circuit connection information spanning multiple pages (step S204). The drawing data 102 containing the generated circuit connection information is registered in the data storage unit 112 (step S205), transmitted to the terminal 101 via the communication unit 114, and the drawing data 102 containing the generated circuit connection information is displayed on the screen of the terminal 101 so that the worker can perform the work (step S206). After the work is completed, the work support device 100a receives the handwritten data from the terminal 101 via the communication unit 114 (step S207), compares the position coordinates of the handwritten data on the screen of the terminal 101 with the generated circuit connection information on the back to analyze the work (step S208), and registers the results of the analysis in the data storage unit 112 (step S209). The above describes the operation of the work support device 100a according to the first embodiment.

[0053] (End components) Next, we will explain terminal components using the example shown in Figure 3. As mentioned earlier, circuit diagrams describe electrical connection information (circuit connection information) between the components that make up the circuit. However, when the circuit is large, it is difficult to describe all the circuit connection information on one page. Therefore, the circuit is divided in the middle, and the continuation of the circuit is described in a different area on the same page or on another page, so the circuit connection information is described across multiple pages. Terminal components are drawing components that indicate a break in the circuit on the drawing data, and refer to drawing components whose at least one end is not connected to a drawing symbol. Examples of terminal components include terminal wiring, as shown in Figure 3A, where the endpoint included in the terminal wiring has connection information with the other endpoint included in another terminal wiring, and terminal drawing symbols, as shown in Figure 3B, where the drawing symbol has connection information with another drawing symbol. Since each drawing component is uniquely named on the drawing data, terminal components also have names. When a circuit is divided in the middle, it means dividing drawing components with the same name, so drawing components containing endpoints with the same name (i.e., terminal components) exist in pairs on the drawing data and have connection information. For example, Figure 3A shows an example where a terminal wire 300 with the name L1 as wiring name 301 has connection information on page 1 and page 2, and a terminal wire 300 with the name L2 as wiring name 301 also has connection information on page 1 and page 2. Figure 3B shows an example where a terminal drawing symbol with the drawing symbol name #1 as drawing symbol name 303 on page 1 has connection information with a drawing symbol with the drawing symbol #1 as drawing symbol name 303 on page 2. This concludes the explanation of terminal components.

[0054] (Output data from the drawing component detection unit 103) Next, the wiring data, character data, and drawing symbol data output by the drawing component detection unit 103 will be explained using Figure 4. First, the wiring data will be explained. Figure 4A is an example of wiring data. The wiring data includes at least a unique wiring index 400 (e.g., index "*1"), coordinate information (e.g., start point (x0, y0), end point (x1, y1)), and page number. Touching lines are joined together to form a single wiring. The wiring index 400 is stored as internal data for processing.

[0055] Of the two endpoints, one is designated as the start point and the other as the end point. For example, if we consider the left direction as the -X direction and the right direction as the +X direction when viewing the drawing from the front, the endpoint closer to the -X direction will be designated as the start point and the endpoint closer to the +X direction will be designated as the end point. If the X coordinates of the endpoints are the same, then, if we consider the up direction as the +Y direction and the down direction as the -Y direction when viewing the drawing from the front, the endpoint closer to the -Y direction will be designated as the start point and the endpoint closer to the +Y direction. This concludes the explanation of the wiring data.

[0056] Next, we will explain the character data. Figure 4B shows an example of character data. The character data includes at least character information 401 (for example, character information "#1"), coordinate information (for example, the bottom left corner of the rectangle representing the character area is the starting point (x0, y0), and the top right corner is the ending point (x1, y1)), and a page number. This concludes the explanation of the character data.

[0057] Next, we will explain the drawing symbol data. Figure 4C is an example of drawing symbol data. The drawing symbol data includes at least a unique drawing symbol name 402 (for example, drawing symbol name "#1"), coordinate information (for example, the bottom left corner of the rectangle representing the drawing symbol area is the starting point (x0, y0), and the top right corner is the ending point (x1, y1)), and a page number. This concludes the explanation of the drawing symbol data.

[0058] (Supplementary information on the operation of the drawing symbol detection unit 107) As mentioned above, drawing symbol data includes a unique drawing symbol name 402. However, in cases where the circuit portion is composed of lines and text data, such as in PDF drawing data, it is necessary to associate the detected drawing symbol with the text representing the drawing symbol name that is present in its vicinity. The association process is performed in conjunction with the detection of drawing symbols in the drawing symbol detection unit 107. The specific details of the association process are explained below. Since the text representing the drawing symbol name is often written in the location closest to the drawing symbol area, when associating, it is sufficient to associate the text closest to the detected drawing symbol. In addition, following the drawing data creation rules at that time can increase the accuracy of the association. For example, if the rule is to write the drawing symbol name in the upper left corner when viewing the drawing from the front, then the text area that is closest in distance from the lower right corner of the text area rectangle to the upper left corner of the drawing symbol area rectangle should be associated. The above explains the process of associating drawing symbols with part names in the drawing symbol detection unit 107.

[0059] (Output data from the circuit connection information generation unit 108) Next, the circuit connection information data output by the circuit connection information generation unit 108 will be explained using Figure 5. Circuit connection information 501 refers to connection information that spatially connects wiring and drawing symbols contained within the same page. In the example in Figure 5, seven drawing symbols with drawing symbol names 402 from #1 to #7 and twelve wirings with wiring indexes 400 from *1 to *12 are shown. The circuit connection information data includes connection information for at least wirings with unique wiring indexes 400 and drawing symbols with unique drawing symbol names 402. For example, it is connection information where wiring and drawing symbols are repeatedly and alternately connected, such as *1-#1-*2-#2-*3, etc., as shown in Figure 5. Any data format such as a list type or JSON (JavaScript® Object Notation) can be used as long as the above connection information can be represented. The above is an explanation of the circuit connection information data output by the circuit connection information generation unit 108.

[0060] (Operation of terminal component detection unit 109) Next, the operation of the terminal component detection unit 109 will be explained using the example drawing data shown in Figure 6. The terminal component detection unit 109 detects terminal components from drawing data in which each wire is assigned a unique wiring index 400 and each drawing symbol is assigned a unique name. First, the detection of terminal wires will be explained below using Figure 6A. Figure 6A shows an example of drawing data before terminal wire detection and an example of drawing data after terminal wire detection, respectively. In the first embodiment, connection information for terminal components is generated using the component name (wiring name), so it is necessary to associate the detected terminal wire with a character representing the wiring name 301 that exists in its vicinity. Therefore, the terminal component detection unit 109 needs to detect terminal wires not only in a way that simply detects wires containing endpoints, but also in a way that facilitates association with the wiring name 301. As shown in the example drawing data before terminal wire detection in Figure 6A, the location of the wiring name is not necessarily near the endpoint 600, but can be anywhere on electrically equivalent wires. In Figure 6A, wiring group 601 of "*1, *2, *3, *4, and *5" and wiring group 602 of "*6" are electrically equivalent wirings with the same wiring name. Therefore, in detecting terminal wirings by the terminal component detection unit 109, in order to facilitate association with wiring names, wirings that "include endpoint 600" and are "electrically equivalent" are appropriately grouped from the drawing data with a unique wiring index 400 and detected as terminal wirings. The details of the grouping method will be described later. This concludes the explanation of terminal wiring detection.

[0061] Next, the detection of terminal drawing symbols will be explained below using Figure 6B. Figure 6B shows examples of drawing data before detection of terminal drawing symbol 605 and examples of drawing data after detection of terminal drawing symbol 605. As shown in Figure 6B, terminal drawing symbol 605 often consists of two terminal wires, each containing an arrow, connected to a terminal of a drawing symbol representing a contact, such as an "a-contact". The reason why terminal drawing symbol 605 has many contacts is that if the connections of contacts within the circuit or inside the equipment are described, the information in the drawing data becomes excessive. Therefore, the connections are often omitted, and only the contacts are described in a separate area of ​​the drawing data. In addition, the arrow data is output from the drawing symbol detection unit 107 and includes at least a unique drawing symbol name, coordinate information indicating the area, and a page number. Whether a terminal wire contains an arrow can be determined by whether or not the terminal wire is in contact with the area of ​​the arrow. Even if an arrow is included at one end, it is considered an endpoint if it is not connected to other drawing symbols. In Figure 6B, the terminal wiring, i.e., the drawing symbol #5 connected to electrically equivalent wiring groups 603 and 604, is the terminal drawing symbol 605. This concludes the explanation of how to detect the terminal drawing symbol 605.

[0062] (Wiring grouping method for terminal component detection unit 109) Next, a method for appropriately grouping electrically equivalent wiring as terminal wiring, as mentioned above, will be explained using Figure 7. Figure 7 shows a flowchart of the grouping process, an example of drawing data 700 including terminal wiring, and a drawing symbol table 701 showing the wiring attributes used for grouping. Since wiring is a conductor that connects drawing symbols included in the circuit within the drawing data, drawing symbols are included between the wiring. Therefore, even when drawing symbols are included between the wiring, electrically equivalent wiring is appropriately grouped. Specifically, whether or not to group is determined based on the attributes of the drawing symbols present between the wiring. Among the drawing symbols, those indicating wiring attributes show the shape and characteristics of the wiring, so wiring that share such drawing symbols can be considered to have the same electrical potential and can be grouped. Examples of drawing symbols indicating wiring attributes include "connection point," "twisted wire," and "cable core," as defined in JIS C 0617, as shown in the drawing symbol table 701 in Figure 7.

[0063] The grouping method will be explained below using the flowchart and drawing data example 700 shown in Figure 7. When a wiring including an endpoint is input, Figure 7 is a flow that outputs the result of grouping wirings that are electrically at the same potential as the input wiring (i.e., terminal wiring). First, when a wiring including an endpoint is input (in drawing data example 700, *3 is input), it is determined whether the drawing symbol connected to one end of the input wiring indicates a wiring attribute (step S700) (in drawing data example 700, #3 is a drawing symbol that indicates a wiring attribute, so the determination is "YES"). In step S700, if the determination is "YES", the wirings that share the drawing symbol that indicates a wiring attribute are grouped (step S701) (in drawing data example 700, *2 and *5 that share #3 are grouped), the wiring targeted in step S700 is switched within the group (step S702), and it is determined again whether the conditions of step S700 are met. If the determination in step S700 is performed again, the drawing symbols that were used in grouping once are excluded (if the determination target is switched to *5 in drawing data example 700, the determination is "NO" because it is not connected to any drawing symbols indicating wiring attributes other than #3 that were used in grouping once). In step S700, if the determination is "NO", it is determined whether all wiring in the group has become the target of determination in step S700. (Step S703) (If *3, *2 and *5 are a group of electrically equivalent wiring in drawing data example 700, and *5 has already become the target of determination in step S700, then the determination is "NO" because *2 has not yet become the target of determination). In step S703, if the result is "NO", the target wiring is switched in step S702 and the determination in step S700 is made (in drawing data example 700, if the target is switched to *2 in step S702, then in step S700, #2 corresponds to a drawing symbol indicating wiring attributes, resulting in a "YES" determination, and *1 and *4, which share #2, are grouped). In step S703, if the result is "YES", the grouped electrically equivalent wirings are recorded as end wiring data. This data includes at least a unique index for the end wiring, coordinate information of the endpoint, and spatially connected connection information of each wiring constituting the group and the drawing symbols indicating wiring attributes.The above process is applied to all wiring including endpoints in the drawing data. This concludes the explanation of the grouping method.

[0064] (Operation of the terminal component naming unit 110) Next, the operation of the terminal component naming unit 110 will be explained using Figure 8. The terminal component naming unit 110 associates the terminal component detected by the terminal component detection unit 109 with the names of components located around that terminal component. As a specific example, an example of associating a wiring name with a terminal wire will be explained below. Figure 8A shows an example of the positional relationship between a terminal wire and a wiring name. The positional relationship between a terminal wire and a wiring name can be broadly divided into two types, as shown in Figure 8A. One is when the wiring name is located directly next to the endpoint, as shown in positional relationship pattern 800, and the other is when the wiring name is located on the terminal wire (i.e., on a wiring that is included in an electrically equivalent wiring group), as shown in positional relationship pattern 801. As shown in Figure 8B, there are multiple characters other than the wiring name around the terminal wire. For example, terminal number 802 is often written directly next to the endpoint, cable number 803 is often written around the drawing symbol indicating "cable core wire", and signal level 804 is often written around the wiring. Since these characters become noise when associating terminal wires with wiring names, it is necessary to appropriately associate the wiring name with the terminal wire even when there is noise. When drawing designers add text to drawing data, they often follow specific rules for each character type to prevent workers from misidentifying them as different character types when viewing the drawing data. For example, as shown in the character rule table 805 in Figure 8B, wiring names must consist of "one or more digits" + "one or more alphabetic characters," terminal numbers 802 and cable numbers 803 must consist of "single digits," and signal levels 804 must contain "any character including 'AC,' 'DC,' or 'unit (mA, etc.)'." Therefore, when associating terminal wiring with wiring names, associating only the characters that fit the wiring name rules from among the two positional relationship patterns (800, 801) mentioned above will allow for a more accurate association.

[0065] The following describes how to associate end wires with wire names using the flowchart shown in Figure 8C. Figure 8C is a flowchart that takes end wire data as input and outputs end wire data including the associated wire name. As mentioned above, there are two types of positional relationship patterns (800, 801) between end wires and wire names, so first, we search for characters that are directly next to the endpoint of positional relationship pattern 800 (step S800). In step S800, we extend a line from the endpoint to a predetermined length and search for characters. Here, the predetermined length is set, for example, to the maximum width of the character area described in the circuit area included in the drawing data. This is because the wire name is often contained within the maximum width of the character area from the endpoint. Furthermore, in step S800, the search direction follows a direction table 807 determined by the "type of endpoint (start point and end point)" and the "extension direction of the wiring that includes the endpoint among the wirings that constitute the terminal wiring," since the wiring name is characterized by being located directly beside the endpoint (for example, as shown in the example of searching directly beside the endpoint 806 in Figure 8C, if the endpoint is the "end point" and the extension direction is the "X direction," the search line is extended in the +X direction). In step S800, for the character area where the length between the extended line and the center of the character area is shortest, it is determined whether the character information contained in the character area conforms to the wiring name description rules (step S801). If the determination is "YES," the wiring name is added to the input terminal wiring data and converted into data (step S803). If the determination in step S801 is "NO," the character existing on the terminal wiring of the other positional relationship pattern 801 is searched for (step S802). In step S802, as shown in the example of searching on the terminal wiring in Figure 8C, a predetermined width 809 is added to each wiring constituting the terminal wiring in a direction perpendicular to the extension direction, and only the characters that conform to the wiring name description rules are associated with the character information of the character area that shares at least a portion of the predetermined width 809 as the wiring name. Here, if the predetermined width 809 is set to the minimum height width (1.8 mm) of characters that can be written on a drawing as specified in JIS Z 8313-5:2000, the minimum search range can be achieved, reducing the number of characters included in the predetermined width 809 and improving search efficiency. After associating with the wiring name in step S802, the process proceeds to step S803. The above describes the operation of the terminal component name assignment unit 110.

[0066] (Operation of terminal component connection information generation unit 111) Next, the operation of the terminal component connection information generation unit 111 will be explained using the flowchart shown in Figure 9. In the first embodiment, the terminal component connection information generation unit 111 uses the component name assigned to the terminal component to identify the connection destination of the terminal component and generates connection information for the terminal component. Since the connection destinations of terminal components have the same component name, the unit searches for drawing components with the same component name within the page or on other pages. When searching by component name, especially in the case of terminal wiring, there may be multiple terminal wirings with the same wiring name. This is common for power supply wiring from a power source, etc., because there are wirings that are used in common across multiple pages. Therefore, even when drawing components with the same component name exist on multiple pages, it is necessary to generate connection information for terminal components according to the designer's intention.

[0067] The following describes how to search for drawing parts with the same part name, using Figure 9. Figure 9 is a flow that outputs connection information for an end part when data for an end part including its part name is input. Here, the data for end parts including their part names is input in order from the first page. Since there may be connection destinations within the page containing the input end part, first, the system searches for drawing parts with the same name within that page (step S900). Next, the system searches for drawing parts with the same part name on other pages, one page at a time in ascending order from the page containing the input end part (step S901). The reason for searching the pages in ascending order is to improve processing efficiency by avoiding the repeated generation of connection information already generated on previous pages, as connection information for end parts is generated sequentially from the first page. Next, in step S902, connection information is generated between the input end part and the drawing parts with the same part name found in steps S900 and S901. Details of the connection information data generated in step S902 will be described later. Here, if there are multiple connection destinations for a single end part, connection information should be generated for each of the multiple connection points. The above flow allows for the generation of connection information for end components even when multiple drawing components have the same part name. This concludes the explanation of the operation of the end component connection information generation unit 111.

[0068] (Output data from terminal component connection information generation unit 111) Next, the data of the connection information for end components output by the end component connection information generation unit 111 will be explained using Figure 10. Figure 10A is an example of drawing data in which end wiring has connection information, showing an example in which end wiring with wiring name L1 has connection information on page 1 and page 2. On page 1, it has end wiring L1, drawing symbol #1 and circuit connection information A1001 as connection information, and on page 2, it has end wiring L1, drawing symbol #2 and circuit connection information B1002 as connection information. Figure 10B shows an example in which the connection information of the drawing data example shown in Figure 10A has been converted into data. As mentioned above, wiring is a conductor that indicates the connection between drawing symbols, so the connection information of end components includes at least the wiring name of the end wiring, the name of the drawing symbol connected to one end, the page number and coordinate information of the endpoint (shown as No. 1 in Figure 10B), and the name of the drawing symbol connected to the other end, the page number and coordinate information of the endpoint (shown as No. 2 in Figure 10B). The page number allows for immediate reference to the page containing connection information, and the endpoint coordinate information can be used to distinguish connection information for each endpoint when a terminal wire has multiple endpoints. Once the above connection information is generated, circuit connection information spanning multiple pages can be generated. For example, in Figure 10B, drawing symbol #1 on page 1 and drawing symbol #2 on page 2 can be connected, and circuit connection information A1001 connected to drawing symbol #1 can be connected to circuit connection information B1002 connected to drawing symbol #2.

[0069] The above is an example of data for connection information of terminal wiring. However, in the case of data for connection information of terminal drawing symbols, since the terminal drawing symbol corresponds to a connection drawing symbol as shown in Figure 10B, it includes at least the drawing symbol name of the terminal drawing symbol, the page number and coordinates of the drawing symbol area at one end, and the page number and coordinates of the drawing symbol area at the other end. This concludes the explanation of the data for connection information of terminal components output by the terminal component connection information generation unit 111.

[0070] (Example of work analysis by work analysis unit 113) Next, a specific example of work analysis by the work analysis unit 113 will be explained using the drawing data example shown in Figure 11. Figure 11A shows an example of drawing data before work. This is an example where the terminal wirings with wiring names L3, L4, L5, and L6 have connection information spanning pages 1 and 2. Figure 11B shows an example of drawing data after work using terminal 101. As mentioned above, in drawing work, after confirming the circuit's continuity state and sequence operation, the corresponding connection information on the drawing data is overwritten by hand, so handwritten data is recorded chronologically on the drawing data as evidence of the work. The actual handwritten data is point cloud data obtained by sampling a handwritten single-stroke path at a frequency unique to terminal 101. In the drawing data example in Figure 11B, handwritten data 1100 recorded at time t1, handwritten data 1101 recorded at time t2, and handwritten data 1102 recorded at time t3 are shown, respectively. Figure 11C shows an example of drawing data after work analysis. By comparing the handwritten data with the coordinate information of the connection information on the back, it is possible to analyze "the checked connection information and its time" and "the order of operations." For example, knowing "the checked connection information and its time" allows for the highlighting of checked connection information, such as connection information 1103 checked at time t1, connection information 1104 checked at time t2, and connection information 1105 checked at time t3, as shown in the example drawing data in Figure 11C. The "order of operations" can be determined by referring to the order in which the handwritten point cloud data was generated, which reveals the order of operations within the checked connection information. For example, if the handwritten data 1100 at time t1 is a single stroke from the -X direction to the +X direction, then it can be seen that the connection information 1103 checked at time t1 was checked in the order L1→#1→#2→#4→#5→#8→L3.

[0071] If circuit connection information spanning multiple pages can be generated, the order of page transitions allows for a more concrete analysis of the work. For example, Figure 11C has connection information L1→#1→#2→#4→#5→#8→L3→#14→#16 from the -X direction. If the work was performed in the order of time t1→t2→t3, it can be seen that the pages were transitioned in the order of page 1→page 2→page 1. Therefore, after the work at time t1 (L1→#1→#2→#4→#5→#8→L3), the connection information continuing to page 2 (L3→#14→#16) was checked before checking the other connection information contained in page 1.

[0072] There are also advantages in highlighting on drawing data. The way in which connection information across multiple pages is highlighted on the drawing data (for example, the color and shade of the color) is changed depending on whether the check is complete or incomplete. In the example in Figure 11C, the work performed at times t1 and t2 is highlighted in a dark color because the connection information was checked across multiple pages, while the work performed at time t3 is highlighted in a light color because only the first page was checked and the connection information on the second page was not checked. By visualizing the completion status of the connection information check for subsequent pages in this way, the check status can be determined at a glance, which helps to improve work efficiency and eliminate work omissions. In addition, it is possible to provide feedback to the worker on the incomplete parts of the work. The above is an explanation of the work analysis example of the work analysis unit 113.

[0073] <Second Embodiment> In a second embodiment of the present invention, the connection destination of the end component is identified by utilizing link symbols present around the end component, and connection information for the end component is generated. Details about link symbols will be described later, but a link symbol is a character, number, or symbol that represents the "page" or the "location (hereinafter referred to as "coordinates") of the endpoint where the connection destination exists. The second embodiment will now be described in detail.

[0074] Figure 12 is a functional block diagram of the work support device 100b according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Compared to the functional block diagram of the first embodiment shown in Figure 1, a link symbol detection unit 1200 and an end component link symbol connection information generation unit 1201 have been added. Hereinafter, the description of blocks whose processing is common with the first embodiment will be omitted, and the operation of the work support device 100b according to the second embodiment, the details of link symbols, the advantages of using link symbols, the operation of the link symbol detection unit 1200, and the operation of the end component link symbol connection information generation unit 1201 will be described in that order.

[0075] (Operation of the work support device 100b according to the second embodiment) First, the operation of the work support device 100b according to the second embodiment will be explained using the flowchart shown in Figure 13. Compared with the flowchart of the first embodiment shown in Figure 2, two steps have been added: detection of link symbols (step S1300) and generation of connection information between end parts and link symbols (step S1301). Also, generation of connection information for end parts using part names (step S204) has been replaced with generation of connection information for end parts using link symbols (step S1302). Hereafter, steps common to the first embodiment will be denoted by the same reference numerals and their explanations will be omitted, and only the different steps will be explained below.

[0076] After detecting the end component (step S202), the system detects link symbols present in the drawing data based on the results of detecting the drawing component (step S200) and the end component (step S202) (step S1300). After step S1300, the system assigns a component name to the end component (step S203), and after assigning the component name, connects it to the link symbols present around the end component and assigns the link symbol information (step S1301). From the link symbol information assigned to the end component, the system can determine the "page" where the connection destination exists and the specific "coordinates" within that page. The system then searches for the drawing component with the corresponding link symbol information, generates connection information for the end component, and generates circuit connection information spanning multiple pages (step S1302). The above describes the operations performed by the work support device 100b according to the second embodiment that differ from those performed by the work support device 100a according to the first embodiment.

[0077] (Details of the link symbol) Next, we will explain the link symbols in detail using Figure 14. In addition to the part name, link symbols may be written around end parts so that workers can easily identify the connection destination of the end part by looking at the drawing data. In the second embodiment, connection information for end parts is generated using link symbols. Figure 14A shows an example in which link symbols are written around end wiring L1 and end wiring L2, respectively, and Figure 14B shows an example in which they are written around end drawing symbol #1. In the following, in the second embodiment, there are three types of link symbols: sheet link 1400, coordinate link 1401, and coordinate supplement link 1402, and we will explain using as an example link symbols that have the property that the connection destination is always uniquely determined by a combination of the three types.

[0078] First, let's explain sheet link 1400. Sheet link 1400 is a character, number, or symbol that represents the "page" where the connection destination exists. For example, it may include at least a page number, such as "To Page 1", or by replacing the page number with the sheet name, "To Sheet AAA", or "★", and often includes specific keywords such as "page" or "sheet". Figure 14A shows an example where sheet link 1400 includes a page number, and by using sheet link 1400 "To Page 2" on page 1, it can be seen that the connection destinations for terminal wiring L1 and L2 are on "page 2".

[0079] Next, let's explain coordinate link 1401. Coordinate link 1401 is a letter, number, or symbol that represents a specific "coordinate" where the connection destination exists within the page. For example, 1, (1), (A), (a), (ア), *1, *A, "▲", etc. As shown in Figure 14A, it is often written directly next to the endpoint. If we use coordinate link 1401 "1" located directly next to the endpoint of terminal wiring L1 on page 1 in combination with sheet link 1400 "to page 2", we can see that the connection destination of terminal wiring L1 is the terminal wiring with "1" on "page 2". Here, the names of components located around terminal components can be considered to have the same role as coordinate link 1401, and can be treated as coordinate links as needed.

[0080] Next, let's explain the coordinate supplement link 1402. If a unique character is not used in the coordinate link 1401, the combination of sheet link 1400 and coordinate link 1401 may not uniquely determine the connection destination. For example, in Figure 14A, there are two end wires with "1" in "Page 2". The coordinate supplement link 1402 is a character, number, or symbol that supplements the coordinate link 1401 to uniquely determine the connection destination in the above case. For example, it is often a character enclosed in a circle or ellipse, such as (1), (a), or "aa" inside an ellipse. As shown in Figure 14A, it is often written to the side of the coordinate supplement link 1402, and if we use the coordinate supplement link 1402 "ellipse with "aa"" located directly next to the endpoint of end wire L1 in Page 1 in combination with sheet link 1400 "to Page 2" and coordinate link 1401 "1", we can determine that the connection destinations of end wire L1 are the end wires with "1" and "ellipse with "aa"" in "Page 2", and thus uniquely determine the connection destination. The above is an explanation of the link symbol.

[0081] (Advantages of using link symbols) Next, we will explain the advantages of using link symbols using Figure 15. There are three main advantages to using link symbols:

[0082] The first advantage is that it can generate connection information for end components even when the part name is not indicated on the drawing data. Due to space limitations in the drawing data and to prevent the drawing data from becoming overloaded with information due to repeated part names, part names are sometimes omitted. In such cases, in the first embodiment, it is difficult to generate connection information because it is not possible to assign a part name to the end component. On the other hand, if a link symbol is indicated around the end component, the connection destination of the end component can be identified from the information of the link symbol, so connection information for the end component can be generated even if there is no part name. In addition, if a part name is indicated on one end component but not on the other drawing component, the part name can be assigned to the other drawing component after the connection information has been generated. For example, Figure 15A shows an example where L1 and L2 are indicated around the end wiring as wiring name 301 on page 1, but page 2 includes an end wiring 1500 that does not have a wiring name indicated. By utilizing the link symbol, for example, it can be seen that the end wiring L1 on page 1 should be connected to the end wiring with "1" and "aa" on page 2. In addition, terminal wires that do not have a wire name listed on "Page 2" that have "1" or "aa" can be assigned the wire name "L1".

[0083] The second advantage is that the connection destination of end components can be uniquely and correctly determined. In the case of end wiring, if the end wiring contains multiple endpoints, there may be multiple candidate connection destinations even if the component name is the same. In such cases, in the first embodiment, the connection destination is determined by inferring from the positional relationship, but by utilizing link symbols, the connection destination can be uniquely determined. For example, Figure 15B shows an example of drawing data in which end wirings L3 and L4 have connection information spanning pages 3 and 5. If we consider end wiring L3 on page 3 as the connection source 1501, searching for the connection destination by component name will identify end wiring L3 on page 5, but it is difficult to reliably determine whether the correct connection destination candidate 1502 or candidate 1503 is correct. On the other hand, by utilizing link symbols, it can be determined that candidate 1502, which has "1" on "page 3", is the correct connection destination.

[0084] The third advantage is that it speeds up the process of searching for the connection destination of end components. When searching for drawing components that have component names, as in the first embodiment, the search is performed sequentially page by page, which can be time-consuming. On the other hand, by utilizing link symbols, the "page" where the connection destination exists can be uniquely identified, so the search destination only needs to be targeted to that page, shortening the search time and speeding up the search process. For example, as shown in Figure 15C, when searching for the connection destination of end wiring L1 included in page 1, the information from the sheet link "to page 6" indicates that the page containing the connection destination is page 6, so only page 6 needs to be targeted for the search. These are the three advantages of utilizing link symbols.

[0085] (Operation of the link symbol detection unit 1200) Next, the operation of the link symbol detection unit 1200 will be explained using the flowchart shown in Figure 16. Figure 16 is a flow that takes character data, line and point data output from the drawing part detection unit 103 and end part data output from the end part detection unit 109 as input and outputs data for sheet links, coordinate links, and coordinate supplement links. As an example, it shows a flow that converts data in the order of sheet links, coordinate links, and coordinate supplement links. First, in step S1600, it is determined whether the keyword for sheet link is included (step S1600). As mentioned above, sheet links often include predetermined keywords such as "sheet" and "page," so it is determined whether the predetermined keyword is included in the character information. If the determination is "YES," there is a high possibility that it is a sheet link, so multiple pieces of character information related to the sheet link are grouped (step S1601) and converted into data as a sheet link (step S1602). The reason for grouping in step S1601 and the specific processing will be explained later. If the determination in step S1600 is "NO," it is determined in step S1603 whether it is a coordinate link. As mentioned above, coordinate links can have various patterns, but they often exist directly next to the endpoints of terminal components. Therefore, it is determined whether there are characters directly next to the endpoints of terminal components (step S1603). The specific processing in step S1603 is equivalent to step S800 in Figure 8C, but while step S800 only targeted wiring names, step S1603 targets all characters that exist directly next to the endpoints. If the result is "YES", the data is converted into a coordinate link (step S1604). If the result in step S1603 is "NO", it is determined in step S1605 whether it is a coordinate supplement link. In step S1605, as mentioned above, coordinate supplement links are often characters enclosed in circles or ellipses (hereinafter referred to as "circle / ellipse characters"), so circle / ellipse characters are detected and it is determined whether the characters are enclosed in circles or ellipses (step S1605). The method for detecting circle / ellipse characters will be described later. If the result is "YES", the data is converted into a coordinate supplement link (step S1606).If the result is "NO," the character does not correspond to a sheet link, a coordinate link, or any other coordinate link, and processing ends immediately. The output data includes at least the character information and the coordinate information of the link symbol area.

[0086] (Grouping method in step S1601) Next, the method of grouping sheet links in step S1601 of the link symbol detection unit 1200 will be explained using Figure 17. First, the reason for grouping the sheet links so that the necessary information for digitizing them becomes a single character area will be explained. Sheet links often consist of multiple elements, for example, consider a case where they consist of three elements: "keyword," "page destination," and "supplementary information." Here, "keyword" is a predetermined character that the sheet link has, such as "page" or "sheet," "page destination" is a character that specifies the page destination, such as "page number" or "sheet name," and "supplementary information" is a character that represents supplementary information, such as "to" or "from," indicating the input / output relationship. In this case, when the sheet link is included in the drawing data, if there is variation in how the drawing designer includes the sheet link, multiple detection patterns of the three elements output from the drawing component detection unit 103 will be generated depending on the positional relationship between the elements (for example, whether to include them on one line or two lines, whether to include line breaks or not, whether to include all three elements in one character area or in separate areas) and whether to include "supplementary information." For example, there are 11 different detection patterns for sheet links, as shown in Figure 17, number 1700. Since sheet links are characters that indicate the "page" containing the destination, in order for them to function as sheet links, they need to be grouped so that at least the "keyword" and "destination page" are in a single character area. This is the reason for grouping sheet links.

[0087] The method for grouping sheet links will be explained below using the flowchart shown in Figure 17. Figure 17 is a flowchart that takes a sheet link detection pattern as input and outputs the result of grouping at least the "keyword" and "destination page" into a single character area. As a specific example, we will explain how to group 11 detection patterns 1700 so that they become the resulting pattern 1701. In Figure 17, each pattern is numbered, and callouts show how each pattern is separated. First, it is determined whether there is one predetermined "keyword" (step S1700). If the result is "NO", the character area is divided vertically according to the number of "keywords" contained (step S1701). Next, it is determined whether "destination page" is included (step S1702). The determination method in step S1702 is determined by whether characters other than "keywords" are included, etc. If the result in step S1702 is "NO", since "destination page" is often located in the area to the right or below the "keyword" area, each is searched in order. First, the search is performed from the right edge of the "keyword" area to the right (step S1703). The search range can be arbitrarily determined from here on, but determining the search range according to the characteristics of the positional relationship of each area will increase the accuracy of grouping. For example, in the pattern (10) where "page destination" exists in the area to the right of "keyword" shown in the figure, the "page destination" area is adjacent, just 1 pt away. In this case, to avoid incorrect grouping with unnecessary characters in the vicinity, it is best to set the search range to the 1 pt to the right. It is determined whether the "page destination" area exists (step S1704), and if the determination in step S1704 is "YES", the "keyword" area and the "page destination" area are merged (step S1705) and the area and character data are updated. If the determination in step S1704 is "NO", the search is performed from the bottom edge of the "keyword" area to the area below (step S1706). In this case, the search range is set to 0.5 times the vertical length of the "keyword" area below the "page" area, for example, if the "page" area is often located one line below the bottom edge of the "keyword" area, in order to avoid incorrectly grouping it with characters close to the bottom edge of the "page" area.After step S1706, a merge process is performed with the “page destination” area from step S1705. At this time, character areas that exist in the search range other than the “page destination” area (i.e., partially share the area) may be merged together. For example, in pattern (4), the “supplementary” area exists in the search range 0.5 times the vertical length below the bottom edge of the “keyword” area, so it may be merged together. Next, it is determined whether “supplementary” information is included (S1707). The determination method in S1707 is to determine whether the characters used in “supplementary” information are included, as the characters used in the “supplementary” information are often similar based on predetermined rules. For example, if input / output information such as “he” and “yori” is used in “supplementary” information, it is determined whether “he” and “yori” are included. If the determination in step S1707 is “NO”, the right-hand area is searched from the right-hand edge of the area containing “keyword” and “page destination” (step S1708). This is because the “supplementary” area often exists only in the right-hand area. The search range at this time is, for example, if the “supplementary” area is often located within 0.3 times the horizontal width of the area containing the “keyword” and “page destination,” then the search range is set to the area 0.3 times the horizontal width to the right of the right edge to avoid incorrect grouping with unnecessary characters in the surrounding area. After step S1708, it is determined whether the “supplementary” area existed (step S1709), and if the determination in step S1709 is “YES,” the area containing the “keyword” and “page destination” and the “supplementary” area are merged (step S1710). Finally, in step S1711, each grouped character area and character information is updated, and the data is converted into a sheet link, ending the process. After the above processing flow is completed, at least “keyword” and “page destination” are grouped into one character area, so the character areas and character information can be registered as a sheet link. The above is an explanation of the sheet link grouping method in step S1601 of the link symbol detection unit 1200.

[0088] (Method for registering sheet links in the table of the link symbol detection unit 1200) Next, the method for registering sheet links within a table in the link symbol detection unit 1200 will be explained using Figure 18. In step S1600 of the flowchart shown in Figure 16, when determining whether predetermined keywords such as "sheet" or "page" are included in the text information, the item names of tables included in the drawing data may be relevant. In this case, at least a portion of each cell area in the column containing the item name is registered as a sheet link. For example, in Figure 18, an example is shown where the page number containing the connection destination is listed in Table 1800 near the endpoint of a terminal part. Since the column with the item name "Destination Page" corresponds to a sheet link indicating the "page" containing the connection destination, the cells containing "2" and "5" in the "Destination Page" column are registered as sheet links 1801, respectively. When the above is implemented, although not shown in Figure 12, the drawing part detection unit 103 is configured to include a table detection unit that detects tables from the drawing data 102. The data output from the table detection unit includes the coordinates of the table area and each cell area, each item name, and the text information contained in each cell. This concludes the explanation of the method for registering sheet links within a table.

[0089] (Method for detecting circular and elliptical characters in step S1605 by the link symbol detection unit 1200) Next, the method for detecting circle and ellipse characters for the conversion of coordinate supplement link data in step S1605 of the link symbol detection unit 1200 will be explained using Figure 19. As mentioned above, coordinate supplement links are characterized by being enclosed in a circle or ellipse. Generally, when CAD drawing data is converted to PDF drawing data, circles and ellipses are drawn based on Bézier curves, but depending on the drawing method of the CAD designer, some drawing data may be drawn not as Bézier curves but as a collection of dotted lines (for example, the collection of dotted lines 1900 shown in Figure 19A). Therefore, when converting coordinate supplement links into data, it is necessary to appropriately detect circle and ellipse characters even when the arcs constituting the circles and ellipses are drawn as a collection of dotted lines. Below, the method for detecting circle and ellipse characters when curves are drawn as a collection of dotted lines will be explained using the detection steps (steps S1 to S6) shown in Figure 19A. First, the dotted lines included in the drawing data are obtained (step S1). Here, a dotted line refers to a line of a predetermined length or less, for example, a line of 2 pt or less is considered a dotted line. At this time, in addition to the dotted lines that make up the circular character 1901 and elliptical character 1902 that are the target of detection, noise from arcs (dotted line noise 1903 and dotted line noise 1904) and wiring and squares (dotted line noise 1905) that are included in the drawing symbols is also acquired. The noise is removed in step 3 and beyond. Next, dotted lines whose distance from each other falls within a predetermined threshold (for example, a threshold of 2 pt for considering the lines used in step S1 as dotted lines) and are closely adjacent are grouped together so that closely adjacent dotted lines can be treated as a dotted line group (step S2). As a grouping method, a general clustering algorithm such as the well-known DBSCAN (Density-based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise) can be used. Next, among the dotted line noises (1903, 1904, 1905) mentioned above, the dotted line noise 1905, which is the most frequently occurring dotted line noise from wiring and squares, is removed (step S3). Specifically, dotted line groups with fewer dotted lines than a predetermined threshold are removed based on the number of dotted lines contained within each group. The method for determining the threshold will be described later. Next, in preparation for circle and ellipse detection, the dotted line groups are classified into either circles, left arcs, or right arcs (step S4).Here, "circles" and "left and right arcs" can be classified by the aspect ratio of the circumscribed rectangle. Left and right arcs can be classified by determining whether the dotted line is included in the vertical lines that make up the circumscribed rectangle, specifically in the -X direction or the +X direction. If the dotted line is included in the vertical line closer to the -X direction, it is a left arc; if the dotted line is included in the vertical line closer to the +X direction, it is a right arc. By classifying each group of dotted lines, the dotted line noise 1904, which consists of upper and lower arcs, can be removed. Next, ellipses are detected (step S5). Since an ellipse consists of a left arc, two horizontal lines, and a right arc, patterns with the aforementioned combinations are detected. Specifically, ellipses can be detected by detecting horizontal lines that share the starting point of the left arc, detecting right arcs that share the ending points of the horizontal lines, and detecting horizontal lines that share the ending points of the left arc and the right arc. Since a "circle" was detected in step 4 and an "ellipse" in step 5, finally, a merge process is performed with the character regions contained inside the circle or ellipse to detect circle / ellipse characters containing character information (step S6). Here, dotted line noise 1903, which is an ellipse but does not contain character information inside, can be removed. Through the above detection steps (steps S1 to S6), circle / ellipse characters can be appropriately detected and coordinate supplementation links can be converted into data.

[0090] Next, using Figure 19B, we will explain how to determine the threshold for removing dotted line noise 1905, which consists of wiring and squares, in step S3 of the detection step described above. The threshold can be determined from the relationship between the number of dotted lines contained in one group and the frequency of occurrence of the group. Figure 19B is an example of a histogram showing the relationship between the number of dotted lines contained in one group and the frequency of occurrence of dotted line groups in drawing data on one page. For example, from the histogram in Figure 19B, the frequency of occurrence of dotted line groups in the range of 0 to 25 dotted lines is 300 or more, but since it is unlikely that the drawing data on one page contains hundreds of coordinate supplementary links, setting the threshold to remove the dotted line groups in the range of 0 to 25 mentioned above, while leaving dotted line groups in the range of 75 to 100 that may contain arcs drawn with a collection of dotted lines, will remove most of the noise (the threshold in the figure is 70). The above explains a rule-based method for determining the threshold, but it is possible to calculate the threshold more efficiently by using known methods such as the K-means method to calculate the threshold automatically.

[0091] (Operation of the terminal component link symbol connection information generation unit 1201) Next, the operation of the terminal component link symbol connection information generation unit 1201 will be explained using Figure 20. The terminal component link symbol connection information generation unit 1201 connects terminal components and link symbols and attaches information about the "page" and "coordinates" where the connection destination exists to the terminal component. Here, an example of connecting terminal wiring and link symbols will be explained. There are multiple positional relationship patterns 2000 for terminal wiring and link symbols, which are combinations of link symbols and brackets. Here, brackets are drawing symbols that designers include to make it easy to see the range of related characters on the drawing data, and are a set of lines that include at least a U-shape located next to the endpoint of the terminal wiring. The bracket data is output from the drawing symbol detection unit 107 and includes at least a unique drawing symbol name, coordinate information, and page number. The aforementioned positional relationship patterns 2000 for terminal wiring and link symbols are seven patterns, for example, as shown in Figure 20A, which have coordinate links, coordinate supplement links, sheet links, and brackets as components, either individually or in combination. Of the seven patterns, patterns (1) to (5) are patterns that have connection information between pages, and patterns (6) and (7) are patterns that have connection information within a page. Patterns with connection information between pages (patterns (1) to (5)) are characterized by including sheet links, and the information of the "page" where the connection destination exists is added from the sheet link. Patterns with connection information within a page (patterns (6) and (7)) are characterized by including the same coordinate link or coordinate supplement link within the same page, and the information of the "page" where the connection destination exists is added from the page where the coordinate link or coordinate supplement link exists. Although not shown in the diagram, especially with regard to coordinate supplement links and sheet links, due to space limitations when designers create drawing data, the position may be shifted perpendicular to the extension direction of the terminal wiring.

[0092] The following describes how to properly connect end wires and link symbols using the connection flowchart shown in Figure 20B. As an example, we will explain how to properly connect the positional relationship pattern 2000 of end wires and link symbols shown in Figure 20A. In this method, since there is a pattern in which the position is shifted perpendicular to the extension direction of the end wire, elements that are adjacent to the end wire are connected in order. In addition, since each pattern is a combination of coordinate link, coordinate supplement link, sheet link, and parentheses, the processing is branched according to the type of connected element. The connection direction follows the direction table 807, which is determined from the endpoint included in the end wire as described above, according to the "extension direction" and "type of endpoint".

[0093] Figure 20B shows a workflow where an end wire is input, the end wire and a link symbol are connected, and data with the information of the link symbol attached to the end wire is output. First, the element closest to the endpoint of the end wire is searched for in the direction according to the direction table and connected (step S2000). Subsequently, when searching for and connecting the nearest element, processing after narrowing down the elements to be connected in advance can prevent incorrect connections and increase the accuracy of the connection. For example, in step S2000, the elements closest to the endpoint of the end wire are sheet links (pattern (1)), coordinate links (patterns (3)~(7)), and brackets (pattern (2)), so the search targets are sheet links, coordinate links, and brackets. Next, in order to separate pattern (1) from other patterns, it is determined whether the connected element is a sheet link (step S2001). If the determination in step S2001 is "YES", it is pattern (1), so there are no more elements to connect and the process ends. If the result in step S2001 is "NO", the system determines whether the connected element is a coordinate link in order to separate pattern (2) from other patterns (step S2002). If the result in step S2002 is "NO", the parentheses are connected to pattern (2), and the system searches for the nearest sheet link from the parentheses and connects to it (step S2009), ending the process. On the other hand, if the result in step S2002 is "YES", the system searches for whether the same coordinate link exists on the same page in order to separate pattern (6) from patterns (3), (4), (5), and (7) (step S2003). If the result in step S2003 is "YES", the connection is pattern (6), and the process ends. If the result in step S2003 is "NO", the connection will be one of patterns (3), (4), (5), or (7), and the system searches for the sheet link or parentheses closest to the coordinate link and connects to it (step S2004). Next, in order to separate pattern (3) from patterns (4), (5), and (7), it is determined whether the connected element is a parentheses (step S2005). If the result in step S2005 is "NO", the pattern to which the sheet link is connected is pattern (3), and the process ends.If the result in step S2005 is "YES", the pattern will be one of (4), (5), or (7), so the nearest sheet link or coordinate supplement link to the parentheses is searched for and connected (step S2006). Next, in order to separate pattern (4) from patterns (5) and (7), it is determined whether the connected element is a coordinate supplement link (step S2007). If the result in step S2007 is "NO", the pattern will be (4) where a sheet link is connected, and processing ends. On the other hand, if the result in step S2007 is "YES", in order to separate pattern (5) from pattern (7), it is searched for whether the same coordinate supplement link exists on the same page (step S2008). If the result in step S2008 is "YES", the pattern will be (7), and processing ends. If the result in step S2008 is "NO", the pattern will be (6), so the nearest sheet link from the coordinate supplement link is searched for and connected (step S2009), and processing ends. The above describes the operation of the terminal component link symbol connection information generation unit 1201 and the method of connecting terminal wiring and link symbols.

[0094] <Third Embodiment> In a third embodiment of the present invention, drawing data is provided to which a hyperlink to a destination is attached to a link symbol. By attaching a hyperlink to the text of the drawing data on the screen of terminal 101, the user can easily transition to the page containing the destination and the destination's coordinates by tapping the hyperlink with an electronic pen or the like. The third embodiment will be described in detail below.

[0095] Figure 21 is a functional block diagram of the work support device 100c according to the third embodiment of the present invention. Compared to the functional block diagram of the first embodiment shown in Figure 1 and the functional block diagram of the second embodiment shown in Figure 12, a hyperlink assignment unit 2100 has been added. Hereinafter, the description of blocks whose processing is common with the first and / or second embodiments will be omitted, and the operation of the work support device 100c according to the third embodiment and specific examples of hyperlinks will be described in order.

[0096] (Operation of work support device 100c) First, the operation of the work support device 100c according to the third embodiment will be explained using the flowchart shown in Figure 22. Compared with the flowchart of the second embodiment shown in Figure 13, a step S2200 for adding hyperlinks has been added. Hereafter, steps common to the second embodiment will be denoted by the same reference numerals and their explanations will be omitted, and only the different steps will be explained below.

[0097] In step S1302, the corresponding link symbol is searched for and connection information for the end component is generated. Then, a hyperlink is added to the link symbol area to the "page" containing the connection destination and the "coordinates" of the connection destination (step S2200). The above are the main operations performed by the work support device 100c according to the third embodiment that differ from those of the work support device 100b according to the second embodiment.

[0098] (Specific example of hyperlink assignment by the hyperlink assignment unit 2100) Next, a specific example of hyperlink assignment by the hyperlink assignment unit 2100 will be explained using the drawing data example shown in Figure 23. Figure 23A shows an example of drawing data with hyperlinks assigned to sheet links. Since sheet links contain information about the "page" to which the destination is located, a hyperlink with "page" information (hyperlink 2301 assigned to the sheet link in Figure 23A) is assigned, and when the hyperlink 2301 is tapped on the screen of the terminal 101 with an electronic pen 2300, the user can immediately transition to the corresponding page. By assigning hyperlinks to sheet links in this way, the time spent turning pages during work can be reduced, which helps to improve work efficiency. Here, the "page" information attached to the hyperlink can be either a page in the same file or a page in a different file. If the "page" information attached to the hyperlink is a page in a different file, the hyperlink assignment unit 2100 assigns the hyperlink to the sheet link by specifying the directory in which that file exists.

[0099] Figure 23B shows an example of drawing data with a hyperlink added to a coordinate link. The coordinate link contains information about the "coordinates" of the destination, and by adding a hyperlink (hyperlink 2302 added to the coordinate link in Figure 23B) that contains "page" and "coordinate" information, along with the coordinate supplementary link and sheet link information connected to the coordinate link, tapping the hyperlink on the terminal 101 screen with an electronic pen 2300, etc., allows for transition to the corresponding page and highlighting the destination. In this way, in addition to page transitions, highlighting the destination improves work efficiency and helps prevent work errors by clearly indicating the destination. The above is a specific example of hyperlink addition by the hyperlink assignment unit 2100.

[0100] The embodiments of the present invention described above can be summarized as follows.

[0101] (1) The work support devices (100a, 100b, 100c) include a line and point detection unit 104, a drawing symbol detection unit 107, a wiring detection unit 106, a character detection unit 105, a circuit connection information generation unit 108, and a terminal component detection unit 109. The line and point detection unit 104 acquires drawing data that describes circuits showing the connection relationships of equipment using characters, lines, and points, and detects lines and points from the drawing data. The drawing symbol detection unit 107 detects drawing symbols that constitute the circuit. The wiring detection unit 106 detects wiring connecting the drawing symbols from the line and point information. The character detection unit 105 detects characters. The circuit connection information generation unit 108 generates circuit connection information by extracting contact information between drawing symbols and wiring on the drawing data based on the coordinate data of drawing symbols and wiring contained within the same page of the drawing data. The terminal component detection unit 109 generates circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the drawing data. To do this, it detects wiring or the first drawing symbol whose at least one end is not in contact with the second drawing symbol from the circuit connection information generated by the circuit connection information generation unit 108 as terminal components. In this way, the work support devices (100a, 100b, 100c) can detect drawing components that indicate a break in the drawing data, which consists of line and text data, and accurately generate connection information for the drawing components that indicate a break. As a result, the work support devices (100a, 100b, 100c) can generate circuit connection information spanning multiple pages as intended by the designer.

[0102] (2) The terminal component is a set of wirings that includes at least one first wiring which is electrically equivalent to the first wiring which is not in contact with the second drawing symbol at least one end of the wiring included in the circuit connection information.

[0103] (3) End parts are drawing symbols that have two or more arrows connected to the other end of an arrow whose tip is not in contact with the second drawing symbol.

[0104] (4) The terminal component detection unit 109 performs the following: an attribute determination process that determines whether a wiring that shares a drawing symbol with a drawing symbol connected to a wiring has an attribute indicating that the wiring is electrically equivalent and outputs determination information; a process that groups wirings that share a drawing symbol with an attribute into a wiring group and outputs information about the wiring group; a process that switches the wirings within the wiring group that are subject to attribute determination processing of the drawing symbol; and a process that determines whether the determination of whether all wirings included in the wiring group have an attribute has been completed and outputs determination information.

[0105] (5) The work support device 100a further comprises a terminal component name assignment unit 110, a terminal component connection information generation unit 111, and a data storage unit 112. The terminal component name assignment unit 110 identifies the correspondence between characters present around the terminal component and the terminal component, and assigns character information corresponding to the component name to the terminal component. The terminal component connection information generation unit 111 identifies wiring or drawing symbols with the same component name as the terminal component that has been assigned a component name from among multiple pages including the page on which the terminal component exists, and generates connection information between first circuit connection information including the terminal component and second circuit connection information including wiring or drawing symbols with the same component name as the terminal component. The data storage unit 112 stores the connection information generated by the terminal component connection information generation unit 111.

[0106] (6) The terminal part naming unit 110 performs the following processes: extending a line from the end included in the terminal part in the first direction in which the terminal part extends, and outputting character information that is the shortest distance from the extended line; and outputting character information that shares at least a portion of the width of the second direction perpendicular to the first direction of the terminal part.

[0107] (7) The terminal component connection information generation unit 111 performs the following processes: outputting the results of searching for wiring or drawing symbols having the same component name as the terminal component within the first page containing the terminal component; and outputting the results of searching for wiring or drawing symbols having the same component name as the terminal component in ascending order from the first page on a second page having a different page number than the first page.

[0108] (8) The work support device 100b further comprises a link symbol detection unit 1200, an end part name assignment unit 110, an end part link symbol connection information generation unit 1201, an end part connection information generation unit 111, and a data storage unit 112. The link symbol detection unit 1200 detects a link symbol indicating the location where the end part is connected, using either a single character, a character with lines and points, or a character with end part data. The end part name assignment unit 110 identifies the correspondence with characters representing part names that exist around the end part and assigns a part name to the end part. The end part link symbol connection information generation unit 1201 identifies the positional relationship between the end part and the link symbol and associates the link symbol with the end part. The terminal component connection information generation unit 111 identifies wiring or drawing symbols that have a second link symbol corresponding to a first link symbol of a terminal component from among multiple pages, including the page on which the terminal component exists, and generates connection information between the first circuit connection information including the terminal component with the first link symbol and the second circuit connection information including the wiring or drawing symbol with the second link symbol. The data storage unit 112 stores the connection information generated by the terminal component connection information generation unit 111.

[0109] (9) The first link symbol has data containing at least one of the following: page information where the second link symbol exists, or coordinate information that identifies the coordinates of the second link symbol. By combining the two pieces of information, the page information and the coordinate information, the page and coordinates where the second link symbol exists are uniquely determined.

[0110] (10) The link symbol detection unit 1200 performs the following in order to identify a page link symbol having page information in which a second link symbol exists: a page link symbol identification process that outputs the result of determining whether or not the character information contains a keyword representing a page; a process that groups multiple characters from the character information containing the keyword and outputs the character group information; a process that extends a line from the end included in the end part in the first direction extending from the end part and outputs the character information of which is the shortest distance from the extended line in order to identify a coordinate link symbol having coordinate information that identifies the coordinates of the second link symbol; and a process that outputs the result of determining whether or not the character is enclosed in a circle or ellipse in order to identify a coordinate link symbol.

[0111] (11) The link symbol detection unit 1200 further performs the following processes when a circle or ellipse surrounding a character is described by a set of dotted lines: acquiring lines with a length less than a first threshold from among the lines included in the drawing data as dotted lines and outputting information about the dotted lines; grouping dotted lines within a range where the distance between dotted lines is less than a second threshold and outputting information about the dotted line group; removing dotted line groups from among the dotted line groups where the number of dotted lines included in the dotted line group is less than a third threshold as noise; outputting the result of classifying the dotted line group into one of circles, left arcs, or right arcs; detecting an ellipse composed of a left arc and a right arc and outputting information about the ellipse; and performing a synthesis process with the character included inside the circle or ellipse to detect a circle or ellipse character containing the character information and outputting information about the circle or ellipse character.

[0112] (12) The link symbol detection unit 1200 determines whether the item name of a table present in the drawing data contains a keyword indicating a link symbol, and if the keyword is present, it detects at least a portion of each cell area of ​​the column or row that the item name belongs to as a link symbol.

[0113] (13) The terminal component link symbol connection information generation unit 1201 outputs information that connects the element closest to the end included in the terminal component, using the link symbol and parentheses, which are symbols that describe the range of wiring or drawing symbols related to the link symbol, as elements to be connected; a type determination process that determines the type of the connected element; a process that narrows down the elements to be connected according to the type of the connected element and outputs information that connects the element closest to the connected element; and a determination process that determines whether an element identical to the connected element exists on the same page and outputs the determination result.

[0114] (14) The work support device 100c further comprises a hyperlink assignment unit 2100. The hyperlink assignment unit 2100 assigns at least one of the following data as a hyperlink to the area of ​​the first link symbol from the result of generating connection information between terminal components and wiring or drawing symbols: page information in which the second link symbol exists, or coordinate information that identifies the coordinates of the second link symbol.

[0115] (15) The work support devices (100a, 100b, 100c) further include a communication unit 114 and a work analysis unit 113. The communication unit 114 transmits and receives data to and from the terminal 101. The work analysis unit 113 acquires circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the drawing data, and analyzes the handwritten data by matching the handwritten data, which is created by the worker tracing the wiring and drawing symbols on the drawing data with manually entered lines on the terminal 101, with the coordinates of the wiring and drawing symbols included in the circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the drawing data.

[0116] It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and can be implemented using any components without departing from the spirit of the invention.

[0117] The embodiments, examples, and modifications described above are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to these, as long as the features of the invention are not impaired. Furthermore, although various embodiments, examples, and modifications have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these. Other embodiments conceivable within the scope of the technical idea of ​​the present invention are also included within the scope of the present invention.

[0118] In the diagrams above, the control lines and information lines shown are those deemed necessary for explanation and do not necessarily represent all control lines and information lines in the actual implementation. For example, it can be assumed that almost all components are interconnected in practice.

[0119] Furthermore, the arrangement of the various functional units, processing units, and databases of the work support devices (100a, 100b, 100c) described above is merely an example. The arrangement of the various functional units, processing units, and databases can be changed to the optimal arrangement from the perspective of the performance, processing efficiency, and communication efficiency of the hardware and software provided by the work support devices (100a, 100b, 100c). [Explanation of Symbols]

[0120] 100, 100a, 100b, 100c: Work support devices 101: Terminal 102: Drawing data 103: Drawing part detection unit 104: Line and point detection unit 105: Character detection unit 106: Wiring detection unit 107: Drawing symbol detection unit 108: Circuit connection information generation unit 109: End component detection unit 110: End component name assignment section 111: End component connection information generation unit 112: Data storage unit 113: Work analysis department 114: Communications Department 115: Data base station 300: Terminal wiring 301: Wiring name 302: End drawing symbol 303: Drawing symbol name 400: Wiring Index 401: Text Information 402: Drawing Symbol Name 501: Circuit Connection Information 600: End point 601: Wiring Group 1 602: Wiring Group 2 603: Wiring Group 3 604: Wiring Group 4 605: Detected end drawing symbol 700: Example of drawing data including terminal wiring 701: Drawing symbol table showing wiring attributes 800: Positional relationship pattern 1 801: Positional relationship pattern 2 802: Terminal number 803: Cable number 804: Signal Level 805: Character Rule Table 806: Example of lateral search of endpoints 807: Directional Table 808: Search example on terminal wiring 809: Predetermined width 1001: Circuit Connection Information A 1002: Circuit Connection Information B 1100: Handwritten data at time t1 1101: Handwritten data at time t2 1102: Handwritten data at time t3 1103: Connection information checked at time t1 1104: Connection information checked at time t2 1105: Connection information checked at time t3 1200: Link symbol detection unit 1201: End component link symbol connection information generation unit 1400: Sheet Link 1401: Coordinate Link 1402: Coordinate Supplement Link 1500: End wiring without a wiring name indicated 1501: Connection source 1502: Connection destination candidate 1 1503: Connection destination candidate 2 1700: Detection Pattern 1701: Pattern after grouping 1800: table 1801: Sheet links within the table 1900: Collection of dotted lines 1901: Circle character 1902: Elliptic letters 1903: Dotted line noise 1 1904: Dotted line noise 2 1905: Dotted line noise 3 2000: Positional relationship pattern of terminal wiring and link symbol 2100: Hyperlink assignment section 2300: Electronic pen 2301: Hyperlinks added to sheet links 2302: Hyperlinks added to coordinate links

Claims

1. A line and point detection unit acquires diagram data that describes the circuit showing the connection relationships of the devices using characters, lines, and points, and detects the lines and points from the diagram data. A drawing symbol detection unit for detecting drawing symbols that constitute the circuit, A wiring detection unit that detects wiring connecting the drawing symbols from the information of the lines and points, A character detection unit for detecting the aforementioned characters, A circuit connection information generation unit generates circuit connection information by extracting contact information between the drawing symbols and the wiring on the drawing data based on the coordinate data of the drawing symbols and the wiring contained within the same page of the drawing data. In order to generate circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the aforementioned drawing data, an end component detection unit detects, from the circuit connection information generated by the circuit connection information generation unit, wiring or the first drawing symbol whose at least one end is not in contact with the second drawing symbol as end components, In order to generate circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the aforementioned drawing data, a terminal component connection information generation unit performs the following (x) or (y): (x) Identify a wiring or drawing symbol having the same part name as the terminal component that has been given a part name, from among multiple pages including the page in which the terminal component exists, and generate connection information between first circuit connection information including the terminal component and second circuit connection information including the wiring or drawing symbol having the same part name as the terminal component. (y) Identify the wiring or drawing symbol having a second link symbol that is paired with the first link symbol of the terminal component from among multiple pages including the page on which the terminal component exists, and generate connection information between the first circuit connection information including the terminal component having the first link symbol and the second circuit connection information including the wiring or drawing symbol having the second link symbol. A link symbol detection unit detects a link symbol indicating the location where the end component is connected, using either the character alone, the character with the lines and points, or the character with the end component data. Equipped with, The link symbol detection unit, In order to identify a page link symbol that has page information in which the second link symbol exists, a page link symbol identification process outputs the result of determining whether or not the character information contains a keyword representing a page. A process that groups multiple characters from the information of the characters containing the keyword and outputs the information of the character group, In order to identify a coordinate link symbol having coordinate information that identifies the coordinates of the second link symbol, a process is performed to extend a line from the end included in the end part in the first direction extending from the end part, and to output the information of the character that is closest to the extended line. In order to identify the aforementioned coordinate link symbol, a process is performed to output the result of determining whether or not the character is enclosed in a circle or ellipse, A work support device that performs the following actions.

2. A terminal part name assignment unit identifies the correspondence between the characters representing the part name that are present around the terminal part and assigns the part name to the terminal part, A terminal component link symbol connection information generation unit that identifies the positional relationship between the terminal component and the link symbol and associates the link symbol with the terminal component, A data storage unit for storing the connection information generated by the terminal component connection information generation unit, Furthermore, The terminal component connection information generation unit performs (y) as described in claim 1, the work support device.

3. A line and point detection unit acquires diagram data that describes the circuit showing the connection relationships of the devices using characters, lines, and points, and detects the lines and points from the diagram data. A drawing symbol detection unit for detecting drawing symbols that constitute the circuit, A wiring detection unit that detects wiring connecting the drawing symbols from the information of the lines and points, A character detection unit for detecting the aforementioned characters, A circuit connection information generation unit generates circuit connection information by extracting contact information between the drawing symbols and the wiring on the drawing data based on the coordinate data of the drawing symbols and the wiring contained within the same page of the drawing data. In order to generate circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the aforementioned drawing data, an end component detection unit detects, from the circuit connection information generated by the circuit connection information generation unit, wiring or the first drawing symbol whose at least one end is not in contact with the second drawing symbol as end components, In order to generate circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the aforementioned drawing data, a terminal component connection information generation unit performs the following (x) or (y): (x) Identify a wiring or drawing symbol having the same part name as the terminal component that has been given a part name, from among multiple pages including the page in which the terminal component exists, and generate connection information between first circuit connection information including the terminal component and second circuit connection information including the wiring or drawing symbol having the same part name as the terminal component. (y) Identify the wiring or drawing symbol having a second link symbol that is paired with the first link symbol of the terminal component from among multiple pages including the page on which the terminal component exists, and generate connection information between the first circuit connection information including the terminal component having the first link symbol and the second circuit connection information including the wiring or drawing symbol having the second link symbol. A link symbol detection unit detects a link symbol indicating the location where the end component is connected, using either the character alone, the character with the lines and points, or the character with the end component data. Equipped with, The link symbol detection unit, Determine whether the item names of the tables in the drawing data contain the keyword indicating the link symbol. If the aforementioned keyword is included, at least a portion of each cell area in the column or row containing the item name is detected as the link symbol. Work support device.

4. A terminal part name assignment unit identifies the correspondence between the characters representing the part name that are present around the terminal part and assigns the part name to the terminal part, A terminal component link symbol connection information generation unit that identifies the positional relationship between the terminal component and the link symbol and associates the link symbol with the terminal component, A data storage unit for storing the connection information generated by the terminal component connection information generation unit, Furthermore, The terminal component connection information generation unit performs (y) as described in claim 3, a work support device.

5. A line and point detection unit acquires diagram data that describes the circuit showing the connection relationships of the devices using characters, lines, and points, and detects the lines and points from the diagram data. A drawing symbol detection unit for detecting drawing symbols that constitute the circuit, A wiring detection unit that detects wiring connecting the drawing symbols from the information of the lines and points, A character detection unit for detecting the aforementioned characters, A circuit connection information generation unit generates circuit connection information by extracting contact information between the drawing symbols and the wiring on the drawing data based on the coordinate data of the drawing symbols and the wiring contained within the same page of the drawing data. In order to generate circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the aforementioned drawing data, an end component detection unit detects, from the circuit connection information generated by the circuit connection information generation unit, wiring or the first drawing symbol whose at least one end is not in contact with the second drawing symbol as end components, In order to generate circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the aforementioned drawing data, a terminal component connection information generation unit performs the following (x) or (y): (x) Identify a wiring or drawing symbol having the same part name as the terminal component that has been given a part name, from among multiple pages including the page in which the terminal component exists, and generate connection information between first circuit connection information including the terminal component and second circuit connection information including the wiring or drawing symbol having the same part name as the terminal component. (y) Identify the wiring or drawing symbol having a second link symbol that is paired with the first link symbol of the terminal component from among multiple pages including the page on which the terminal component exists, and generate connection information between the first circuit connection information including the terminal component having the first link symbol and the second circuit connection information including the wiring or drawing symbol having the second link symbol. A link symbol detection unit detects a link symbol indicating the location where the end component is connected, using either the character alone, the character with the lines and points, or the character with the end component data. A terminal part name assignment unit identifies the correspondence between the characters representing the part name that are present around the terminal part and assigns the part name to the terminal part, A terminal component link symbol connection information generation unit that identifies the positional relationship between the terminal component and the link symbol and associates the link symbol with the terminal component, Equipped with, The terminal component link symbol connection information generation unit is: The parentheses, which are symbols describing the range of the link symbol and the wiring or drawing symbol to which the link symbol is related, are used as elements to be connected. A process to output information on the connection of the element closest to the end included in the end component, A type determination process for determining the type of the connected element, The process involves narrowing down the elements to be connected according to the type of connected element, and outputting information that the element closest to the connected element has been connected. A determination process that determines whether an element identical to the connected element exists on the same page and outputs the determination result, A work support device that performs the following actions.

6. A data storage unit that stores the connection information generated by the terminal component connection information generation unit, Furthermore, The terminal component connection information generation unit performs (y) as described in claim 5, the work support device.

7. A line and point detection unit acquires diagram data that describes the circuit showing the connection relationships of the devices using characters, lines, and points, and detects the lines and points from the diagram data. A drawing symbol detection unit for detecting drawing symbols that constitute the circuit, A wiring detection unit that detects wiring connecting the drawing symbols from the information of the lines and points, A character detection unit for detecting the aforementioned characters, A circuit connection information generation unit generates circuit connection information by extracting contact information between the drawing symbols and the wiring on the drawing data based on the coordinate data of the drawing symbols and the wiring contained within the same page of the drawing data. In order to generate circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the aforementioned drawing data, an end component detection unit detects, from the circuit connection information generated by the circuit connection information generation unit, wiring or the first drawing symbol whose at least one end is not in contact with the second drawing symbol as end components, In order to generate circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the aforementioned drawing data, a terminal component connection information generation unit performs the following (x) or (y): (x) Identify a wiring or drawing symbol having the same part name as the terminal component that has been given a part name, from among multiple pages including the page in which the terminal component exists, and generate connection information between first circuit connection information including the terminal component and second circuit connection information including the wiring or drawing symbol having the same part name as the terminal component. (y) Identify the wiring or drawing symbol having a second link symbol that is paired with the first link symbol of the terminal component from among multiple pages including the page on which the terminal component exists, and generate connection information between the first circuit connection information including the terminal component having the first link symbol and the second circuit connection information including the wiring or drawing symbol having the second link symbol. A work analysis unit analyzes the handwritten data by matching the handwritten data, which is created by an operator tracing the wiring and drawing symbols on the drawing data with manually entered lines on a terminal, with the coordinates of the wiring and drawing symbols included in the circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the drawing data. A work support device equipped with the following features.

8. A terminal part name assignment unit identifies the correspondence between the characters present around the terminal part and the terminal part, and assigns information about the characters corresponding to the part name to the terminal part. A data storage unit for storing the connection information generated by the terminal component connection information generation unit, A communication unit that transmits and receives data to the aforementioned terminal, Furthermore, The terminal component connection information generation unit performs (x) as described in claim 7, the work support device.

9. The computer acquires diagram data that describes the circuit showing the connection relationships of the devices using characters, lines, and points, and detects the lines and points from the diagram data. The computer detects the diagram symbols that constitute the circuit, The computer detects the wiring connecting the drawing symbols from the line and point information, The computer detects the character, The computer generates circuit connection information by extracting contact information between the drawing symbols and the wiring on the drawing data, based on the coordinate data of the drawing symbols and the wiring contained within the same page of the drawing data. The computer generates circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the drawing data, and from the generated circuit connection information, it detects wiring or the first drawing symbol whose at least one end is not in contact with the second drawing symbol as end components. In order for the computer to generate circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the drawing data, it performs terminal component connection information generation by doing (x) or (y) below, (x) Identify a wiring or drawing symbol having the same part name as the terminal component that has been given a part name, from among multiple pages including the page in which the terminal component exists, and generate connection information between first circuit connection information including the terminal component and second circuit connection information including the wiring or drawing symbol having the same part name as the terminal component. (y) Identify the wiring or drawing symbol having a second link symbol that is paired with the first link symbol of the terminal component from among multiple pages including the page on which the terminal component exists, and generate connection information between the first circuit connection information including the terminal component having the first link symbol and the second circuit connection information including the wiring or drawing symbol having the second link symbol. The computer performs link symbol detection, which uses one of the following: the character alone, the character with the lines and points, or the character with the data of the end component, to detect a link symbol indicating the location where the end component is connected. In the aforementioned link symbol detection, the computer, In order to identify a page link symbol that has page information in which the second link symbol exists, a page link symbol identification process outputs the result of determining whether or not the character information contains a keyword representing a page. A process that groups multiple characters from the information of the characters containing the keyword and outputs the information of the character group, In order to identify a coordinate link symbol having coordinate information that identifies the coordinates of the second link symbol, a process is performed to extend a line from the end included in the end part in the first direction extending from the end part, and to output the information of the character that is closest to the extended line. The process involves determining whether the character is enclosed in a circle or ellipse in order to identify the coordinate link symbol, and outputting the result of that determination. A method for supporting the execution of tasks.

10. The computer identifies the correspondence between the characters representing the names of the components located around the end component and assigns the names of the components to the end component. The computer identifies the positional relationship between the end component and the link symbol, and associates the link symbol with the end component. The computer identifies the wiring or drawing symbol having a second link symbol that pairs with the first link symbol of the end component from among multiple pages including the page in which the end component exists, and generates connection information between the first circuit connection information including the end component having the first link symbol and the second circuit connection information including the wiring or drawing symbol having the second link symbol. The computer stores the generated connection information. Further processing is performed, The work support method according to claim 9, wherein a computer performs (y) in the generation of terminal component connection information.

11. The computer acquires diagram data that describes the circuit showing the connection relationships of the devices using characters, lines, and points, and detects the lines and points from the diagram data. The computer detects the diagram symbols that constitute the circuit, The computer detects the wiring connecting the drawing symbols from the line and point information, The computer detects the character, The computer generates circuit connection information by extracting contact information between the drawing symbols and the wiring on the drawing data, based on the coordinate data of the drawing symbols and the wiring contained within the same page of the drawing data. The computer generates circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the drawing data, and from the generated circuit connection information, it detects wiring or the first drawing symbol whose at least one end is not in contact with the second drawing symbol as end components. In order for the computer to generate circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the drawing data, it performs terminal component connection information generation by doing (x) or (y) below, (x) Identify a wiring or drawing symbol having the same part name as the terminal component that has been given a part name, from among multiple pages including the page in which the terminal component exists, and generate connection information between first circuit connection information including the terminal component and second circuit connection information including the wiring or drawing symbol having the same part name as the terminal component. (y) Identify the wiring or drawing symbol having a second link symbol that is paired with the first link symbol of the terminal component from among multiple pages including the page on which the terminal component exists, and generate connection information between the first circuit connection information including the terminal component having the first link symbol and the second circuit connection information including the wiring or drawing symbol having the second link symbol. The computer performs link symbol detection, which uses one of the following: the character alone, the character with the lines and points, or the character with the data of the end component, to detect a link symbol indicating the location where the end component is connected. In the aforementioned link symbol detection, the computer, Determine whether the item names of the tables in the drawing data contain the keyword indicating the link symbol. If the aforementioned keyword is included, at least a portion of each cell area in the column or row containing the item name is detected as the link symbol. Work support method.

12. The computer identifies the correspondence between the characters representing the names of the components located around the end component and assigns the names of the components to the end component. The computer identifies the positional relationship between the end component and the link symbol, and associates the link symbol with the end component. The computer stores the generated connection information. Further processing is performed, The work support method according to claim 11, wherein a computer performs (y) in the generation of terminal component connection information.

13. The computer acquires diagram data that describes the circuit showing the connection relationships of the devices using characters, lines, and points, and detects the lines and points from the diagram data. The computer detects the diagram symbols that constitute the circuit, The computer detects the wiring connecting the drawing symbols from the line and point information, The computer detects the character, The computer generates circuit connection information by extracting contact information between the drawing symbols and the wiring on the drawing data, based on the coordinate data of the drawing symbols and the wiring contained within the same page of the drawing data. The computer generates circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the drawing data, and from the generated circuit connection information, it detects wiring or the first drawing symbol whose at least one end is not in contact with the second drawing symbol as end components. In order for the computer to generate circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the drawing data, it performs terminal component connection information generation by doing (x) or (y) below, (x) Identify a wiring or drawing symbol having the same part name as the terminal component that has been given a part name, from among multiple pages including the page in which the terminal component exists, and generate connection information between first circuit connection information including the terminal component and second circuit connection information including the wiring or drawing symbol having the same part name as the terminal component. (y) Identify the wiring or drawing symbol having a second link symbol that is paired with the first link symbol of the terminal component from among multiple pages including the page on which the terminal component exists, and generate connection information between the first circuit connection information including the terminal component having the first link symbol and the second circuit connection information including the wiring or drawing symbol having the second link symbol. The computer performs link symbol detection, which uses one of the following: the character alone, the character with the lines and points, or the character with the data of the end component, to detect a link symbol indicating the location where the end component is connected. The computer identifies the correspondence between the characters representing the names of the components located around the end component and performs end component naming, assigning the component names to the end component. The computer identifies the positional relationship between the end component and the link symbol, and generates end component link symbol connection information that associates the link symbol with the end component. In the generation of terminal component link symbol connection information, The computer uses the link symbol and the brackets, which are symbols describing the range of the wiring or drawing symbol to which the link symbol is related, as elements to be connected, A process to output information on the connection of the element closest to the end included in the end component, A type determination process for determining the type of the connected element, The process involves narrowing down the elements to be connected according to the type of connected element, and outputting information that the element closest to the connected element has been connected. A determination process that determines whether an element identical to the connected element exists on the same page and outputs the determination result, A method for supporting the execution of tasks.

14. The computer stores the generated connection information. Further processing is performed, The work support method according to claim 13, wherein a computer performs (y) in the generation of terminal component connection information.

15. The computer acquires diagram data that describes the circuit showing the connection relationships of the devices using characters, lines, and points, and detects the lines and points from the diagram data. The computer detects the diagram symbols that constitute the circuit, The computer detects the wiring connecting the drawing symbols from the line and point information, The computer detects the character, The computer generates circuit connection information by extracting contact information between the drawing symbols and the wiring on the drawing data, based on the coordinate data of the drawing symbols and the wiring contained within the same page of the drawing data. The computer generates circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the drawing data, and from the generated circuit connection information, it detects wiring or the first drawing symbol whose at least one end is not in contact with the second drawing symbol as end components. In order for the computer to generate circuit connection information within the same page and across pages of the drawing data, it performs terminal component connection information generation by doing (x) or (y) below, (x) Identify a wiring or drawing symbol having the same part name as the terminal component that has been given a part name, from among multiple pages including the page in which the terminal component exists, and generate connection information between first circuit connection information including the terminal component and second circuit connection information including the wiring or drawing symbol having the same part name as the terminal component. (y) Identify the wiring or drawing symbol having a second link symbol that is paired with the first link symbol of the terminal component from among multiple pages including the page on which the terminal component exists, and generate connection information between the first circuit connection information including the terminal component having the first link symbol and the second circuit connection information including the wiring or drawing symbol having the second link symbol. The computer acquires circuit connection information within and between pages of the drawing data, and analyzes the handwritten data, which is created by an operator tracing the wiring and drawing symbols on the drawing data with manually entered lines on a terminal, by matching the coordinates of the wiring and drawing symbols included in the circuit connection information within and between pages of the drawing data. Work support method.

16. The computer identifies the correspondence between the characters present around the end component and the end component, and assigns the information of the characters corresponding to the component name to the end component. The computer stores the generated connection information. Further processing is performed, The work support method according to claim 15, wherein in the generation of terminal component connection information, a computer performs (x).

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