JP2001189846A - Method and system for picture layout - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and system for picture layout and a recording medium which reduces the waste of a printing medium and obtaining the efficient and good-looking layout of printing pictures. SOLUTION: When relation 2a<c or 2b<c exists, when at least one rectangular printed pictures having respectively a longer edge of length (a) and a shorter edge of length (b) are arrayed on a single rectangular printing paper 60 having longer edge of length (c) and shorter edge of length (d), waste of the papers 60 is reduced by arraying a plurality of printing pictures on a single paper 60. In addition, since automatic layout is performed such that the length of the direction of the longer edge which a printed picture occupies on the paper 60 may be minimized in accordance with the size of the printed picture, it is possible to array at least one printed pictures on the paper 60 and printing again by putting this paper 60 upside down, after arraying at least one printing picture on the paper 60 and printing. Consequently, the paper 60 is used efficiently.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an image layout method, an image layout system, and a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known an image reading apparatus which moves a carriage equipped with a color image pickup means having a line sensor such as a CCD in parallel with a document surface and reads an image of the document.

[0003] For example, in the case of a flat bed type image reading apparatus, a platen made of a transparent plate such as glass for placing a document is provided on the upper surface of a box-shaped casing. A carriage that is moved by a driving device in parallel with the document table is provided. The carriage is provided with a light source and a color imaging unit. Irradiation light from the light source is reflected on the surface of the document on the document table, and is condensed on a color image pickup means by a condenser lens.

In the image reading apparatus as described above, when the read image data is finally printed out, the image is displayed on a monitor by using a processing device such as a personal computer, and a desired image is selected by a printer or the like. Prints out on a print medium such as printing paper by the image printing apparatus.

[0005]

When performing an image printing process using a personal computer, a user performs a command input operation specified by an operating system, and a print processing application program and a printer driver are stored therein. For example, it is necessary to take the data from a storage device such as a magnetic disk into the internal memory of the personal computer and make it executable.

After installing a print processing application program and a printer driver in a personal computer, a user can use an image reading device such as a scanner and an image printing device such as a printer to print additional photos or convert large-sized photos at home. When trying to enlarge a document, use the scanner driver's user interface to select the type of document to be scanned and the appropriate reading settings, then use the printer driver's user interface to select the type of paper to print and the appropriate printing settings. There is a need to.

Further, when the aspect ratio of the print image size is different from the aspect ratio of the input image size, if the aspect ratio of the input image data (original data) is longer than the aspect ratio of the print area, the long side of the original data is It is conceivable to print by performing trimming in the vertical direction of the original data by making the long sides of the print area correspond. If the aspect ratio of the original data is wider than the aspect ratio of the print area, the short side of the original data may correspond to the short side of the print area, and trimming may be performed in the left and right direction of the original data for printing. Can be Thereby, it is possible to prevent a blank space from being formed in the print area.

However, when the print image size is smaller than the size of a print medium such as print paper, the margin area is relatively large depending on the combination of the print image size and the print paper size, so that one print paper is always used. Printing one print image may waste printing paper. In addition, if one or more print images are randomly arranged on one print sheet, there is a problem that appearance is poor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image layout method and a system capable of reducing waste of a print medium and efficiently obtaining an arrangement of print images having a good appearance. With the goal.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording medium on which a computer program is recorded in which a waste of the printing medium can be reduced, and an arrangement of print images having a good appearance can be obtained efficiently.

[0011]

According to the image layout method according to the first aspect of the present invention or the recording medium according to the fifth aspect, the length of the long side of the print image is set to a, the length of the short side is set to b, and the printing is performed. When the long side length of the medium is c and the short side length is d, a <c
<2a and b <d <2b, one print image is 1
When a <c <2a and 2b <d, one or more print images are arranged in one or more rows in the short side direction of one print medium, and a <d <2a and 2b
In the case of <c, one or more print images are arranged so as to be one or more lines in the long side direction of one print medium, and 2a <c and 2
When b <d, one or more of the print images are arranged so as to be one or more rows in the short side direction of one print medium and one or more rows in the long side direction of one print medium. I do. Therefore, when there is a relationship of 2a <c or 2b <c,
By arranging a plurality of print images on one print medium, it is possible to reduce waste of the print medium.

According to the image layout method according to the second aspect of the present invention or the recording medium according to the sixth aspect, the length of one or more print images in the long side direction occupying one print medium is minimized. 2a <c, or 2b
When the relationship of c is satisfied, one or more print images are arranged on one print medium and printed, and then the top and bottom of the print medium are reversed, and one or more print images are arranged again on the print medium. Can be printed. Therefore, the print medium can be used efficiently.

According to the image layout method according to the third aspect of the present invention or the recording medium according to the seventh aspect, one or more print images are directed from the origin side of the print medium to the diagonal direction opposite to the origin side of the print medium. Are arranged on one print medium.
It is possible to efficiently obtain a print image array having a good appearance. Here, the origin of the print medium refers to a predetermined location on the print medium corresponding to the print origin of the image printing apparatus, and is usually one of the corners of the print medium.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image printing apparatus for printing a print image on a print medium, and a processing apparatus for executing the image layout method according to the first, second or third aspect. Therefore, it is possible to reduce waste of the print medium and efficiently obtain an array of print images having a good appearance.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1 to 5 show an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an image layout system composed of a carriage moving type flat bed type image reading device, an ink jet type light and shade color printer and a personal computer.

As shown in FIG. 2, an image reading apparatus 100 includes a platen 1 made of a transparent plate such as glass on the upper surface of a housing 2.
Is provided. A carriage 3 that can reciprocate in parallel with the document table 1 by a driving device (not shown) is provided inside the housing 2, and a light source 4 and a color imaging unit 5 are mounted on the carriage 3. The light emitted from the light source 4 is reflected on the surface of the document 8 on the document table 1, reflected by a plurality of mirrors 6, and then condensed on the color imaging means 5 by the condensing lens 7. The color imaging means 5 is provided with a red (R:
Red), green (G: Green) and blue (B: Blu)
e) convert each light into an electric signal and output. The reflection from the plurality of mirrors 6 increases the optical path length from the document 8 to the condenser lens 7. At the end of the document table 1 in the direction of movement of the carriage 3, a white reference 9 having a highly reflective uniform reflection surface is provided. When reading a transparent original such as a photographic film, a second light source (not shown) that moves with the movement of the carriage 3 is provided above the original table 1.

The signal processing unit 10 includes the interface unit 1
5 is connected to a personal computer 40 as a processing device via a bus 16 of a parallel transmission system or a serial transmission system. The signal processing unit 10 includes an amplifier, A
/ D conversion unit, shading correction unit, gamma correction unit, other correction units, and control means. The control means is configured by a microcomputer including a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, and the like.

The A / D converter converts the data input from the color image pickup means 5 via the amplifier into a digital signal and transfers the digital signal to the shading corrector. For example, when the read gradation is 10 bits, this digital signal
The signal indicates a numerical value up to 1023. The shading correction unit corrects a variation in sensitivity and a variation in light amount of the light source 4 for each element of the photoelectric conversion element row using data obtained by reading the white reference 9 before starting reading. Then, the pixel data subjected to the shading correction is sent to the gamma correction unit.
The gamma correction unit performs gamma correction using a predetermined gamma function, and converts the light amount signal output from the A / D conversion unit into an image signal. Other correction units perform various conversions such as color correction, edge enhancement, and area enlargement / reduction.

Color printer 50 as an image printing device
Is a bus 5 of a parallel transmission system or a serial transmission system.
Interface unit 51 connected to personal computer 40 via CPU 4, CPU, RAM and ROM
And a print head 53 as a printing unit for printing an image based on print data from the interface unit 51.
And

The print head 53 expands and contracts the volume of the ink chamber by applying a voltage to the pressure generating means in response to a drive signal from the control unit 52, and the ink in the ink chamber is not shown as ink droplets from the nozzles. It can be ejected on paper. An ink tank (not shown) that stores six color inks of cyan (C), magenta (M), light cyan (c), light magenta (m), yellow (Y), and black (K). It has six rows of nozzles (not shown) arranged perpendicularly to the moving direction of the print head 53. By using six color inks of cyan (C), magenta (M), light cyan (c), light magenta (m), yellow (Y) and black (K),
Extremely smooth gradation can be expressed, and the dots of the ink droplets can be made inconspicuous even in a portion having a high brightness, such as a skin color. A color image can also be printed by combining four colors of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K). When printing black by superimposing the C, M, and Y inks, the K ink can be omitted.

The personal computer 40 includes a monitor 2
0 and a mouse 30 are connected, and include a central processing unit (CPU), a RAM as a main storage device, a hard disk as an auxiliary storage device, and the like. By executing a printing computer program installed on a hard disk or the like of the personal computer 40, control of displaying a photographic image on the monitor 20, selecting an execution procedure with the mouse 30, and printing a photographic image with the color printer 50 is performed. This computer program is provided by being recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a floppy disk, CD-ROM, or magneto-optical disk (MO), installed on the hard disk of the personal computer 40, read into the RAM, and read by the CPU. Be executed. Alternatively, the program can be provided on a network such as the Internet, and the program can be stored in a location remote from a computer that executes the program.

Next, the operation of the image layout system configured as described above will be described. (1) The user places a document 8 on the document table 1 of the image reading apparatus 100. At this time, if the original 8 is a reflection original such as an E-size, L-size, cabinet-size, 2L-size, panoramic, eight-cut, or six-cut, FIG.
As shown in (A) or (B), the document 8 is set in the portrait direction or the landscape direction in accordance with the reading origin 1a of the document table 1. As shown in FIG. 3C, when reading a transparent original 18 such as a 35 mm strip negative film, the transparent original 18 is loaded into a dedicated film folder 19, and a reading range of a transparent original unit having a second light source is read. 21 is set in accordance with the origin 21a.
As shown in FIG. 3D, when reading a transparent original 28 such as a positive film mounted on a slide frame 29, for example, the transparent original 28 is set at the origin of the reading range 21 of the transparent original unit provided with the second light source. Set according to 21a.

(2) The user can freely move the position of the arrow-shaped pointer displayed on the monitor 20 by operating the mouse 30. Hereinafter, the pointer is superimposed on the image displayed on the monitor 20 and the mouse 30
Pressing the button is called "push image".

When the image layout program of this embodiment is executed, a screen as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed. From here, select "Photo", "Negative film", "Positive film"
Is selected, and the image is pressed to select an input medium (step S1 in FIG. 5).

(3) Buttons displayed as "photo card", "photo quality card", "photo print paper", and "special gloss film" from the area for selecting the type of paper to be printed in the screen shown in FIG. Is selected, and an output medium is selected by pressing the image (step S in FIG. 5).
2).

(4) From the area for selecting the size of the image to be printed and the number of images to be printed in the screen shown in FIG. The user selects the number of images to be printed from the button displayed as "" and makes print settings (step S in FIG. 5).
3).

(5) In step S4 shown in FIG.
By pressing the button labeled "Print Preview", FIG.
Then, the process proceeds to step S8 to execute a pre-scan. If the button displayed as "print" is pressed in step S5 shown in FIG. 5 without pressing the button displayed as "print preview", the process proceeds to step S6 in FIG. Then, the process proceeds to step S7 in FIG. 5 to execute the main scan. In the above step S4 or step S5, the scanner driver selects a driver that meets a predetermined condition from the TWAIN drivers installed on the hard disk of the personal computer 40, and the driver is displayed on the display unit 22. . As the printer driver, a default printer selected by the system is used, and the driver is displayed on the display unit 23. If the scanner driver and the printer driver do not meet the predetermined conditions, an alert is displayed and the processing is stopped. Therefore, the user interface of the scanner driver and the printer driver is not displayed. The input resolution in the pre-scan in step S6 or S8 is 72 dpi for a reflective original and 216 dpi for a transparent original. In the pre-scan, the contour extraction and the inclination correction for automatically extracting the document size and the image correction by the automatic exposure are mainly performed. In the contour extraction and the inclination correction, the contour of the pre-scanned image is extracted, and the inclination of the document is corrected. The image correction by the automatic exposure causes the scanner driver to generate a gamma table for expressing the automatic exposure in order to scan the optimum image in the main scan at the subsequent stage.

(6) In step S 9 of FIG. 5, a print preview image is generated and displayed on the screen of the monitor 20. The print preview image is an image obtained by applying the profile matrix of the image reading apparatus 100 or the gamma table generated by the scanner driver to the image obtained by performing the contour extraction and the inclination correction on the image acquired by the pre-scan in step S8. The print preview image is displayed with the same automatic layout as the generation of a print image described later. Depending on the number of printed images, the image may be printed over a plurality of physical pages. In this case,
Display only the first page. The output resolution of the print preview image is 72 dpi for both the reflection original and the transmission original. That is, in the case of a reflection original, the pre-scanned image is used as it is, and in the case of a transparent original, the pre-scanned image is enlarged three times and used.

During the display of the print preview image, the process proceeds to step S10 of FIG. 5 simultaneously and the main scan is executed. Then, the process proceeds until immediately before the subsequent printing process to generate a print image. While displaying the print preview image, the progress bar of the main scan is displayed on the back of the screen of the monitor 20. While the print preview image is being displayed, if the button displayed as “cancel” is pressed in step S11 in FIG. 5, the simultaneous main scan or generation of the print image is stopped, and the process proceeds to step S4 in FIG.
Move to Further, if the button displayed as “print” is pressed in step S12 of FIG. 5 while the print preview image is displayed, the print preview image is closed and printing is executed. At this time, if the main scan is being performed, a progress bar of the main scan is displayed on the screen of the monitor 20.

(7) Step S7 or Step S in FIG.
In step 10, the main scan is executed so that the resolution of the captured image becomes 360 dpi as the final print size. During scanning, a progress bar with a cancel button is displayed on the screen of the monitor 20, and contour extraction and inclination correction are performed. In the contour extraction and the inclination correction, the contour of the main scanned image is extracted, and the inclination of the document is corrected. At this time, the contour extraction and inclination correction parameters obtained as a result of performing the contour extraction and inclination correction on the image acquired by the prescan are used.
In step S13 of FIG. 5, when the button labeled "cancel" is pressed, the main scan or print image generation that is proceeding simultaneously is stopped, and the process proceeds to step S4 of FIG.

When the execution of the main scan is instructed, the control means of the image reading apparatus 100 turns on the light source 4 or the second light source and moves the carriage 3 at a constant speed in the sub-scanning direction. The drive signal generated every predetermined time
The image of the line is read by each photoelectric conversion element row of the color imaging unit 5, and pixel data is output to the signal processing unit 10.
The analog pixel data output to the signal processing unit 10 is A
The data is converted into digital pixel data by the / D conversion unit, subjected to shading correction by the shading correction unit, and sent to the gamma correction unit. Then, gamma correction is performed by a predetermined gamma function.
A color correction process is performed on the B data to convert it into CMYK gradation bit image data for printing. And the obtained CM
The YK gradation bit image data is divided into data of each density by using a density ink table, and further, a dither method,
Halftone processing such as error diffusion is performed to determine the distribution or arrangement of dark and light colors on the bitmap for each color, and a binary bitmap is created for each. The bitmap data subjected to the halftone processing is supplied to the interface unit 15
Is temporarily stored in a predetermined area of the RAM of the personal computer 40 by DMA (Direct Memory Access) transfer via the bus 16.

(8) In the main scan in step S7,
When execution of cancellation is not instructed, or in the main scan in step S10, execution of printing is instructed,
When execution of cancellation is not instructed, in step S14 shown in FIG. 5, a print image is generated and a print mode is set, and printing is performed.

In the generation of a print image, when the aspect ratio of the print image size is different from the aspect ratio of the input image size, if the aspect ratio of the original data is longer than the aspect ratio of the print area, Trimming is performed in the vertical direction of the original data by making the long sides of the print area correspond. If the aspect ratio of the original data is longer than the aspect ratio of the print area, the shorter side of the original data is made to correspond to the shorter side of the print area, and trimming is performed in the left and right direction of the original data. Thereby, it is possible to prevent a blank space from being formed in the print area.
Further, when the print image size is smaller than the print paper size, the automatic layout of the print image is executed.

In setting the print mode, the print mode is set for the printer driver.
Then, a print preparation end signal is sent to the interface unit 51 via the bus 54, and the printing operation state of the color printer 50 is checked. The color printer 50 sends a print data transfer request signal to the CPU of the personal computer 40 when the printing operation is possible. The CPU of the personal computer 40 sequentially transmits the print control data and the bitmap data for each color to the color printer 50 by DMA (Direct Memory Access) transfer. The color printer 50 prints an image with the print head 53 based on the print image data sequentially taken out of the RAM of the personal computer 40. At this time, the user interface of the printer driver is not displayed.

Next, a layout method of a print image when the print image size is smaller than the print paper size will be described in detail with reference to FIG. In FIG.
(A) is a case where the print image 61 of the octuple or hex size is arranged on the printing paper 60 of the A4 size.
In the case of arranging a 2L-size or cabinet-size print image 62 on an A4 size print sheet 60, FIG.
Panoramic size print image 63 on size print paper 60
(D) shows the printing paper 60 of A4 size.
5 shows a case where print images 64 of E size or L size are arranged.

As shown in FIG. 1A, in the case of arranging print images 61 of eight- or six-cut sizes on an A4 size print paper 60, only one print image 61 is arranged on one print paper 60. Is done. At this time, the print image 61
Are arranged at substantially the center of the printing paper 60 such that the top, bottom, left, and right margins are substantially equal. In FIG. 1A, an arrow Y
Indicates the long side direction of the printing paper 60, and 60a indicates the printing paper 6
0 indicates the origin. Here, the origin 6 of the printing paper 60
0a indicates the upper left corner of the printing paper 60 corresponding to the origin of the color printer 50. In FIG. 1, the upper left corner is cut off for ease of explanation. The eight-cut size is a size of a = 216 mm and b = 165 mm, and the six-cut size is a = 254 mm and b = 203.
mm, and A4 size means c = 297 mm,
The dimension is d = 210 mm. That is, a <c <2
a and b <d <2b, and one print image 6
1 are arranged on one sheet of printing paper 60.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1B, when a 2L-size or cabinet-size print image 62 is arranged on an A4-size print sheet 60, one or two print images are printed on one print sheet 60. 62 can be arranged. At this time, one print image 62 corresponds to the origin 60 of the printing paper 60.
The two printed images 62 arranged in the substantially central portion of the upper half of the a side
Are arranged side by side in the sub-scanning direction of the color printer 50 indicated by the arrow Y such that the top, bottom, left, and right margins are substantially equal at substantially the center of the printing paper 60. For this reason, after printing one print image 62 on the printing paper 60, it is possible to reverse the top and bottom of the printing paper and print one printing image 62 again on the printing paper. Here, the 2L size is a size of a = 178 mm and b = 127 mm, and the cabinet size is a size of a = 165 mm and b = 120 mm. That is, there is a relationship of a <d <2a and 2b <c, and one or more print images 62 are arranged so as to be one or more lines in the sub-scanning direction of one print sheet 60.

As shown in FIG. 1C, when the print images 63 of the panoramic size are arranged on the print paper 60 of A4 size, one or two print images 63 are arranged on one print paper 60. can do. At this time, one print image 63 is arranged at a substantially central portion of the left half of the printing paper 60 on the origin 60a side, and the two print images 63 have substantially equal top, bottom, left, and right margins substantially at the central portion of the printing paper 60. The two are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the sub-scanning direction of the color printer 50 indicated by the arrow Y, that is, in the main scanning direction. For this reason, after printing one print image 63 on the printing paper 60, it is possible to reverse the top and bottom of this printing paper and print one printing image 63 again on the printing paper. Here, the panorama size is a = 260 mm, b
= 89 mm. That is, there is a relationship of a <c <2a and 2b <d, and one or more print images 63 are arranged in one or more rows in the main scanning direction of one print sheet 60.

As shown in FIG. 1 (D), an E-size or L-size print image 6 is printed on an A4 size print sheet 60.
When four are arranged, one to four print images 64 can be arranged on one print sheet 60. At this time, one print image 64 is arranged at substantially the center of the upper left half of the printing paper 60 on the origin 60a side, and the two print images 64 are arranged substantially at the center of the upper half of the printing paper 60 on the origin 60a side. A direction orthogonal to the sub-scanning direction of the color printer 50 indicated by an arrow Y,
That is, two print images 64 are arranged side by side in the main scanning direction, and three print images 64 are provided at approximately the center of the upper half of the printing paper 60 on the origin 60a side, and at approximately the center of the lower left quadrant of the printing paper 60 on the origin 60a side. One and four printed images 64
Are arranged side by side at substantially the center of the printing paper 60 such that the upper, lower, left and right margins are substantially equal. In this manner, the print images 64 are arranged so that the length of the print image 64 in the long side direction occupying the print paper 60 is minimized, and the print image 64 is further arranged on the print paper 60 from upper left to lower right, that is, They are arranged from the origin 60a side to the diagonal direction opposite to the origin side. For this reason, after printing one or two print images 64 on the printing paper 60, the top and bottom of the printing paper can be reversed and the one or two printing images 64 can be printed again on the printing paper. . Here, the E size is
The dimensions are a = 117 mm and b = 83 mm, and the L size is a dimension of a = 130 mm and b = 89 mm.
That is, there is a relationship of 2a <c and 2b <d, and one or more rows are arranged in the short side direction of one printing paper 60 and one or more rows are arranged in the long side direction of one printing paper 60. One or more print images 64 are arranged in such a manner.

In one embodiment of the present invention described above, one or more rectangular printed images having a long side length a and a short side length b have a long side length c and a short side length d. When arranged on one rectangular printing paper 60, 2a <c or 2b <
When there is a relationship of c, by arranging a plurality of print images on one print sheet 60, waste of the print sheet 60 can be reduced.

Further, in this embodiment, since the automatic layout is executed so that the length of the print image 60 in the long side direction occupying the print paper 60 is minimized according to the print image size, 2a <c or When there is a relation of 2b <c, 1
After arranging and printing the above printed images on the printing paper 60, the top and bottom of the printing paper can be reversed, and one or more printed images can be arranged and printed on the printing paper 60 again. Therefore, the printing paper 60 can be used efficiently.

Further, in this embodiment, since the print images are arranged from the origin 60a side of the print paper 60 toward the opposite side of the diagonal direction of the print paper 60, the print image with good appearance can be efficiently displayed. An array can be obtained.

In one embodiment of the present invention described above, A4
Although the case where the print images are arranged on the print paper 60 of the size has been described, in the present invention, the print medium of the B4 size,
The print images may be arranged on a print medium of any size such as a print medium of three sizes.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the present invention is applied to an image layout system provided with a carriage moving type flat bed type image reading apparatus 100. However, the image pickup means and the condenser lens are fixed, and the light source and the reflection mirror are used. The present invention can be applied to an image layout system including a mirror-moving flat-bed image reading device that moves a group, and includes another image reading device such as a sheet feed type that moves and reads a document. It is also possible to apply the present invention to an image layout system.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a color printer 50 using an ink jet type print head 53 is used.
Although the present invention has been applied to an image layout system including a printer, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be applied to an image layout system including a color printer using various print heads such as a dot impact system. It is possible.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the present invention is applied to an image layout method, an image layout system, and a recording medium for laying out an image read by the image reading apparatus 100 as a print image on a print sheet. It is needless to say that the present invention is applicable to an image layout method, an image layout system, and a recording medium for laying out an image captured by a digital camera as a print image on a print medium.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIGS. 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D are schematic diagrams for explaining an image layout method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an image layout system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams for explaining the operation of the image layout system according to one embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIGS. 3A and 3B show a reflective original, and FIGS. 3C and 3D show a transparent original; FIGS. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a monitor screen, for explaining an image layout program according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image layout system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 20 monitor 30 mouse 40 personal computer (processing device) 50 color printer (image printing device) 60 printing paper (printing medium) 60a origin 61, 62, 63, 64 printing image 100 image reading device

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Iwao Nakamura 3-3-5 Yamato, Suwa-shi, Nagano F-term in Seiko Epson Corporation (reference) 2C087 AB05 BB10 CA03 CA12 CB03 5C076 AA02 AA17 AA19 AA37 BA02

Claims (7)

[Claims] At least one rectangular print image having a long side length a and a short side length b is arranged on one rectangular print medium having a long side length c and a short side length d. A <c <2a and b <d <2b, one print image is arranged on one print medium, and a <c <2a and 2b <d One or more of the print images are arranged in one or more rows in the short side direction of one of the print media, and when a <d <2a and 2b <c, the length of one print medium is One or more of the print images are arranged so as to be one or more lines in the side direction, and when 2a <c and 2b <d, one or more columns are arranged in the short side direction of one print medium. And 1 in the long side direction of one print medium.
An image layout method, comprising arranging one or more print images so as to have at least one row. 2. The image layout method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more print images are arranged so that a length in a long side direction occupying one print medium is minimized. 3. The print medium according to claim 1, wherein the one or more print images are arranged on one print medium from an origin side of the print medium to a diagonal direction opposite to the origin side of the print medium. 3. The image layout method according to 1 or 2. 4. An image layout system comprising: an image printing device that prints a print image on a print medium; and a processing device that executes the image layout method according to claim 1, 2, or 3. 5. One or more rectangular print images having a long side length a and a short side length b are arranged on one rectangular print medium having a long side length c and a short side length d. A <c <2a and b <d <2b, one print image is arranged on one print medium, and a <c <2a And when 2b <d, one or more of the print images are arranged in one or more rows in the short side direction of one print medium. When a <d <2a and 2b <c, 1 One or more of the print images are arranged so as to be one or more lines in the long side direction of one of the print media, and when 2a <c and 2b <d, one in the short side direction of one of the print media 1 or more in the longitudinal direction of one print medium
A recording medium on which a computer program is recorded, wherein one or more of the print images are arranged so as to have at least one line. 6. The computer program according to claim 5, wherein one or more of the print images are arranged so that a length in a long side direction occupying one print medium is minimized. Recording medium. 7. The print medium according to claim 1, wherein the one or more print images are arranged on one print medium from an origin side of the print medium to a diagonal direction opposite to an origin side of the print medium. A recording medium on which the computer program according to 5 or 6 is recorded.