Utilization of a presentation document structure for interchange.

摘要

A method is disclosed for utilizing a general layout structure of a document which contains relationships within its layout constructs that offer choices when creating the document and conforming instances of logical elements with the general layout structure, taking in to account specific device characteristics, to generate the final-form document. The relationships are defined as expressions similar to those existing in general logical document structure definitions. Thus, an intermediate phase of document interchange between revision and final-form is introduced which saves data transmission time and gives the receiver some flexibility in presentation options while still conforming to a general layout definition. Further, the general layout definition may be used by a receiver to optimize its processing by identifying the possible layout presentation constructs appearing in the subsequent specific instance of the conforming document.