Information processing apparatus, method therefor, and computer-readable memory

Abstract

A plurality of kinds of electronic source documents are held, and an electronic binder builder selects a desired electronic source document page from electronic source document pages of the plurality of kinds of held electronic source documents. Based on the selected electronic source document page, an integrated electronic document is composed, and page relation between pages in the electronic source document having electronic source document pages constituting the integrated electronic document and pages in a converted integrated electronic document of electronic source document pages constituting the converted integrated electronic document with the integrated electronic document converted into a predetermined file format is managed.

1 . An information processing apparatus for composing pages of an integrated electronic document based on one or more pages of electronic source documents, the information processing apparatus comprising:
 holding means for holding the plurality of kinds of electronic source documents and a plurality of thumbnails corresponding to the pages of the electronic source documents, wherein the plurality of thumbnails are created by converting each of the pages of the electronic source document;   selection means for selecting at least one user-desired thumbnail from from the plurality of thumbnails corresponding to the pages of the electronic source documents; and   composition means for composing the integrated electronic document on the basis of the at least one user-desired thumbnail selected by said selection means, wherein the integrated electronic document composed by said composition means manages relation information between the pages of the electronic source document and the pages of the integrated electronic document; and   updating the pages of the integrated electronic document based on the relation information managed in the integrated electronic document when the page of the electronic source document is edited by another application software.   
   
   
       2 . The information processing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein said composition means composes the pages of the integrated electronic document based on the user's operation for the user-desired thumbnails selected by said selection means. 
   
   
       3 . The information processing apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 editing means for editing a desired page of the integrated electronic document; and   control means for controlling to change the composition of said electronic source document and the composition of said integrated electronic document on the basis of the editing result of said editing means and said page relation.   
   
   
       4 . The information processing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein said composition means composes the integrated electronic document including an integrated electronic document converted into a predetermined file format and the electronic source document. 
   
   
       5 . An information processing method of composing pages of an integrated electronic document based on one or more pages of electronic source documents, the information processing method comprising:
 a holding step of holding the plurality of kinds of electronic source documents and a plurality of thumbnails corresponding to the pages of the electronic source documents in a storage medium, wherein the plurality of thumbnails are created by converting each of the pages of the electronic source document;   a selection step of selecting at least one user-desired thumbnail from the plurality of thumbnails corresponding to the pages of the electronic source documents;   a composition step of composing the integrated electronic document on the basis of the at least one user-desired thumbnail selected in the selection step, wherein, in the integrated electronic document composed in said composition step, relation information between the pages of the electronic source document and the pages of the integrated electronic document are managed; and   an updating step of updating the pages of the integrated electronic document based on the relation information managed in the integrated electronic document when the page of the electronic source document is edited by another application software.   
   
   
       6 . The information processing method according to  claim 5 , wherein, in said composition step, the pages of the integrated electronic document are composed based on the user's operation for the user-desired thumbnails selected in the selection step. 
   
   
       7 . The information processing method according to  claim 5 , further comprising:
 an editing step of editing a desired page of the integrated electronic document; and   a control step of controlling to change the compositions of the electronic source documents and the composition of the integrated electronic document on the basis of an editing result in the editing step and said relation information.   
   
   
       8 . The information processing method according to  claim 5 , wherein, in said composition step, said integrated electronic document including an integrated electronic document converted into a predetermined file format and the electronic source document are composed. 
   
   
       9 . A computer-readable memory which stores program codes for composing pages of an integrated electronic document based on one or more pages of electronic source documents, the program codes comprising:
 a holding step of holding the plurality of kinds of electronic source documents and a plurality of thumbnails corresponding to the pages of the electronic source documents in a storage medium, wherein the plurality of thumbnails are created by converting each of the pages of the electronic source document;   a selection step of selecting at least one user-desired thumbnail from the plurality of thumbnails; and   a program code of a composition step of composing the integrated electronic document on the basis of the at least one user-desired thumbnail selected in the selection step, wherein, in the integrated electronic document composed in said composition step, relation information between the pages of the electronic source document and the page of the integrated electronic document are managed; and   an updating step of updating the pages of the integrated electronic document based on the relation information managed in the integrated electronic document when the page of the electronic source document is edited by another application software.   
   
   
       10 .- 27 . (canceled)