JP2003141105A - Electronic newspaper browsing device and its image printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic newspaper browsing device and its image printing method, capable of printing only the part desired to be printed even if a region of an article or the like desired to be printed is not rectangular. SOLUTION: This electronic newspaper browsing device is provided with a maximum print part picking processing part 105 for picking the maximum region of a newspaper desired to be printed, a mask image generation processing part 106 for removing a surplus part, a mask image logical operation processing part 107 for performing the logical operation of the maximum print part and a mask image, a printing magnification calculating part 109 for calculating the printing magnification in supplying to a printer 111, and a printer output processing part 110.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image printing method capable of printing only an arbitrary part of a newspaper article (image) displayed on an electronic newspaper viewing device, a monitor or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Due to advances in information processing technology such as computers, computerization is progressing in various fields. Nowadays, letters and photographs of newspapers are becoming electronic, and newspaper articles can be viewed electronically through communication lines.

The related arts in or related to such a technical field are disclosed, for example, in "Image forming apparatus" of JP-A-11-122477 and "Circuit diagram creating apparatus" of JP-A-5-197514. . The former discloses an image forming apparatus that forms an image by easily and accurately selecting and erasing a part of a document read by an image reading unit.

The latter discloses a circuit diagram creating apparatus capable of accurately specifying a print size and printing only a part (rectangular part) in the circuit diagram. That is, as shown in FIG. 6A, it is assumed that the desired print portion of the newspaper page 601 is the portion indicated by the letter A. In this case, the range surrounded by the rectangle 602 including the desired print portion is extracted and printed. The print result is indicated by reference numeral 6 in FIG.
As indicated by 03, the portion indicated by the letter A and the portion indicated by the letter B, which are the desired print range, are included.

[0005]

A problem with the conventional method is that if the portion desired to be printed is not rectangular, the portion not desired is printed at the same time. That is, FIG.
As shown in (B), in the conventional technique, even if an attempt is made to print a desired printing range (character A portion of reference numeral 602) on the newspaper surface 601, not only the character A portion but also a portion of the character B portion is actually printed at the same time. It will be printed. In other words,
There is a problem in that not only the portion desired to be printed but also other portions are printed.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and it is desired to print by cutting out and printing only a desired print portion of an image currently being displayed. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic newspaper browsing apparatus and an image printing method thereof that can print only a desired print portion even if the range of newspaper articles and the like to be printed is not rectangular.

[0007]

An electronic newspaper browsing apparatus according to the present invention is a recording means for recording and storing electronic newspaper information, an operating means for browsing and operating the electronic newspaper information, and electronic newspaper information stored in the recording means. Is provided, a printing unit that prints the electronic newspaper information stored in the recording unit, and a control unit that creates print data based on the information input by the operating unit and controls the entire apparatus. In the device, the user selects only the desired information from the electronic newspaper information by the operating means and prints it by the printing means. According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the selection of the information desired to be printed is performed by the maximum print cutout processing unit that determines the maximum print portion of the rectangle including the range of the desired information designated by the operation means, and the maximum print cutout processing unit. This is performed by a mask image creation processing unit that creates a mask image corresponding to a portion that does not include desired information from the processing unit, and a mask image logical operation processing unit that performs logical operation on the maximum printed portion and the mask image. The operation unit is a touch panel, and the user designates a desired range of information with a finger or the like. A printing magnification calculation processing unit that calculates a printing magnification based on the size of the printing paper and the size of the maximum printing portion is provided.

The image printing method of the electronic newspaper viewing apparatus according to the present invention is a printing method of selecting a range including information desired by a user from the electronic newspaper and printing it out by a printer. Cut out the maximum printed part of the rectangle containing it, create a mask image to be deleted from the cut out maximum printed part, perform the logical operation of this mask image and the maximum printed part, and It consists of inputting electronic newspaper information to a printer and printing it. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a user selects a desired print range from electronic newspaper information by using a touch panel and designating a closed loop with a finger or the like. A starting point mark is displayed at the starting point of the closed loop, and the user touches the starting point mark at the end of printing range selection.
Prior to printing on the printer, the printing magnification is calculated according to the paper and the desired information of the electronic newspaper is printed on the entire paper.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The configuration and operation of a preferred embodiment of an electronic newspaper browsing apparatus and an image printing method thereof according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a preferred embodiment of an electronic newspaper browsing apparatus according to the present invention. The electronic newspaper browsing device 100 includes a user operation unit (operation means) 101, an operation analysis unit 102, a main processing unit 103,
Memory (storage unit) 104, maximum print portion cutout processing unit 105, mask image creation processing unit 106, mask image logical operation processing unit 107, monitor display processing unit 108, print magnification calculation processing unit 109, printer output processing unit 110, and printer. (Printing unit) 111.

Next, the main function of each component of the electronic newspaper browsing apparatus 100 according to the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will be described. The user operation unit 101 is, for example, an LCD with a touch panel.
(Liquid crystal display panel) Operate on the monitor. The operation analysis unit 102 analyzes the coordinate position on the monitor that is touched by the user's finger or the like. The main operation unit 103 controls the entire electronic newspaper browsing device 100. Memory 104
Stores (stores) image data. The maximum print portion cutout processing unit 105 cuts out the maximum rectangular range (outline) of an article or the like for which printing is desired. Mask image creation processing unit 10
6 creates a mask image. The mask image logical operation processing unit 107 performs a logical operation on the maximum print portion and the mask image. The monitor display processing unit 108 performs display processing on an LCD monitor device or the like. The print magnification calculation processing unit 109 calculates the print magnification when outputting to the printer 111. The printer output processing unit 110 performs output processing to the printer 111.

Next, FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining the overall operation of the electronic newspaper browsing apparatus 100 according to the present invention shown in FIG. The overall operation of the electronic newspaper browsing device 100 shown in FIG. 1 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, an LCD with a touch panel
On the electronic newspaper image 301 displayed on the monitor, the user traces a desired print range 302 indicated by the letter A with a finger. First, it is determined whether or not the touch panel of the user operation unit 101 has been pressed (step S1). When the touch panel is pressed (step S1: Y), the first pressed point, that is, the starting point coordinate A (X1, Y1) is recognized (step S2). On the other hand, if the touch panel has not been pressed (step S1: N), the process returns to step S1 described above and waits for the touch.

When the starting point coordinates (X1, Y1) are recognized, a square mark of 10 mm square, for example, is displayed at the starting point position, as shown in FIG. 3, and a hint box "Please push at the end" is displayed. 303 appears. At the end of the operation of designating the desired print range 302, the user presses the starting point coordinate A (X1, Y1) according to the hint box 303 to complete a series of operations, and a closed loop is established (step S3). If the start point is not pressed again (step S3: N), the process returns to step S3 described above,
Wait for the start point to be pressed again.

In the example shown in FIG. 3, the closed loop described above is
Coordinates A (X1, Y1), A (X2, Y2), C (X3,
Y3), d (X4, Y4), o (X5, Y5) and mosquito (X6, Y6). In other words, points a, a, u,
The closed loop surrounded by d, o, and f becomes the designated print range or image area. Here, X1 = X6, X2 = X
3, X4 = X5, Y1 = Y2, Y3 = Y4 and Y5 =
It is Y6.

Next, the main processing unit 103, from the designated printing range 302, the minimum value (Xmin) and maximum value (Xmax) of the X axis of the above-mentioned closed loop and the minimum value (Ymin) and maximum value of the Y axis. (Ymax) is calculated (step S4). For example, if it is specified as shown in FIG. 3, Xm
in = X2 (= X3). Xmax = X1 (= X
6). Ymin = Y1 (= Y2). Also,
Ymax = Y5 (= Y6). Therefore, the maximum print portion cutout processing unit 105 in FIG. 1 cuts out the maximum print portion, which is a rectangular image area having diagonal lines of (X2, Y1) and (X1, Y5) (step S5). Figure 4
This will be described with reference to (A) to (D). The maximum printed portion subjected to the above-described cutout processing is the portion surrounded by dots a, i, k, and s in the electronic newspaper image 401 in FIG. 4 (A). This is shown in FIG.

Next, the main processing unit 103 creates a mask image (step S6). That is, the image area, which is the maximum printed portion of the cut-out rectangle shown in FIG. 4B, is initialized with a black value (for example, “0” value in 8 bits) to obtain the image 402. Then, for example, Windows (registered trademark)
Polygon region function (a drawing tool that can define a specific area by specifying the point coordinates and the number of the coordinates), which is one of the API (application interface) functions of, is a clipping area. An area surrounded by points a, a, u, d, o, and mos shown in FIG. 4C is obtained. Then, the selected clipping area is filled with a white value (for example, a value of “255” with 8 bits) to obtain an image 403. Next, the images 402 and 403 of FIGS. 4B and 4C are combined to obtain the image of FIG.
A mask image 404 shown in (D) is obtained.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, an image 501 cut out by the maximum print portion cutout processing unit 105 (FIG. 5A).
And the mask image 404 (see FIG. 5B) are logically operated (step S7). In this logical operation, if the mask image 404 is a white value, AND (logical product) processing is performed. On the other hand, if the mask image 404 has a black value, NAND processing is performed. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5C, an image 502 in which the portion not desired to be printed is filled with white is obtained.

In the subsequent print processing, the print magnification calculation processing unit 109 calculates the print magnification in accordance with the print paper size.
(Step S8). Through these processings, the printer output processing unit 110 causes the image 5 to be printed on substantially the entire sheet.
02 is printed (step S9).

The configuration and operation of the preferred embodiment of the electronic newspaper browsing apparatus and the image printing method thereof according to the present invention have been described above in detail. However, such an embodiment is merely an example of the present invention and does not limit the present invention in any way. Those skilled in the art can easily understand that various modifications and changes can be made according to a specific application without departing from the gist of the present invention. In this preferred embodiment, the example in which there is one rectangular white data pasting portion is shown, but it is needless to say that it can be applied to a plurality of cases (that is, printing of articles or the like having complicated shapes).

[0020]

As can be understood from the above description, according to the present invention, remarkable practical effects can be obtained. That is, since only desired newspaper articles can be cut out and printed, unnecessary articles or a part thereof can be completely eliminated. The reason is,
This is because it is possible to detect a desired printing area and paste the white data in an extra portion where printing is not desired.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a preferred embodiment of an electronic newspaper browsing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of the electronic newspaper browsing device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an operation for designating a desired print range in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a mask image creating operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a logical operation operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a conventional electronic newspaper printing operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 electronic newspaper viewing device 103 Main processing unit 104 memory 105 Maximum print part cutout processing unit 106 mask image creation processing unit 107 mask image logical operation processing unit 108 Monitor display processing unit 109 Print magnification calculation processing unit 110 Printer output processing unit 111 printer 301 Electronic newspaper image 302 desired print range 404 mask image 501 Cutout image of the largest print area

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 5B009 NG02 RB34 RC04                 5B021 AA01 AA02 LB07 LD09 PP08                 5B050 BA16 CA07 EA03 EA23 FA03                       FA09                 5C076 AA02 AA21 AA22 AA37 AA40                       BA06 CA02 CB02

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. Storage means for storing and storing electronic newspaper information,
Operation means for viewing and operating the electronic newspaper information, display means for displaying the electronic newspaper information stored in the storage means, printing means for printing the electronic newspaper information stored in the storage means, In an electronic newspaper browsing device comprising a control unit that creates print data based on the information input by the operation unit and controls the entire apparatus, a user selects only the information desired by the operation unit from the electronic newspaper information. An electronic newspaper browsing device, which is selected and printed on the printing means. 2. The selection of the information desired to be printed is performed by a maximum print cut-out processing unit that determines a maximum print portion of a rectangle including the range of the desired information designated by the operating means.
A mask image creation processing unit that creates a mask image corresponding to a portion that does not include the desired information from the maximum printed portion, and a mask image logical operation processing unit that performs a logical operation of the maximum printed portion and the mask image. The electronic newspaper viewing device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic newspaper viewing device is performed. 3. The electronic newspaper viewing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operation means is a touch panel, and a user specifies the desired range of information with a finger or the like. 4. The electronic newspaper browsing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a print magnification calculation processing unit that calculates a print magnification based on the size of the printing paper and the size of the maximum print portion. 5. An image printing method for an electronic newspaper viewing apparatus, which selects a range containing information desired by a user from an electronic newspaper and prints out by a printer, cutting out a maximum rectangular printing portion containing information desired to be printed. Creating a mask image to be deleted from the cut-out maximum printed portion, performing a logical operation on the mask image and the maximum printed portion, and outputting the electronic newspaper information of the logically operated portion to the electronic newspaper information. An image printing method for an electronic newspaper viewing device, comprising inputting to a printer and printing. 6. The electronic newspaper browsing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the user selects a desired print range from the electronic newspaper information by designating a closed loop with a finger or the like using a touch panel. Image printing method. 7. The electronic newspaper browsing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a starting point mark is displayed at the starting point of the closed loop, and the user touches the starting point mark at the end of printing range selection. Image printing method. 8. The printing magnification is calculated according to the paper before printing on the printer, and the information desired by the electronic newspaper is printed on the entire paper. Image printing method of electronic newspaper described in.