JP2802855B2 - A typesetting method that adjusts the arrangement of character groups according to a virtual layout rectangle - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for performing typesetting using an electronic typesetting device, and more particularly to a typesetting method for adjusting the arrangement of character groups according to a virtual layout rectangle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an electronic plate making process, an electronic typesetting apparatus for arranging a character group under a plate is used. In recent years, letters and the like in flyer advertisements are often typeset by an electronic typesetting device.

[0003] In a catalog-style flyer advertisement (for example, a pamphlet for gift products, an advertisement for mail-order sales, an advertisement for condominiums, etc.), a group of characters arranged in a similar pattern on one page appears in many places. Some are located. For example, in a pamphlet of a gift product, in many cases, characters indicating the price and the content of the product are arranged at a plurality of locations in a similar pattern together with a photograph of the product.

[0004]

However, the number of characters at each location within one page is often different, and the area (space) for arranging the characters is also limited by the size of the photograph of the article. Because it is received, it often changes depending on the location. In such a case, the optimal arrangement method of the character group often differs depending on each arrangement location, and it is difficult to designate the arrangement of the character group at each arrangement position at once. Conventionally, even though the character groups at each location are arranged in a similar pattern, the typesetting operator optimizes the arrangement of the character groups at each location (i.e., the balance is good). A) had been adjusted. For this reason, there has been a problem that it takes a considerable amount of time and effort to format a page.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and provides a typesetting method that can easily perform a typesetting operation of arranging a plurality of character groups in a similar pattern. With the goal.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a typesetting method according to the present invention comprises a fixed number of character groups.
A typesetting method for performing typesetting by an electronic typesetting device such that the typesetting units to be repeatedly arranged within one page , comprising: (a) determining the number of character groups included in one set of typesetting units; With respect to each character group in the typesetting unit, coordinate data indicating coordinates of a predetermined reference point of each character group with respect to a predetermined origin of the typesetting unit, and a font and character size of each character group Preparing master data including character information indicating the following: and (b) designating a virtual layout rectangle shape for allocating each of the format units at a plurality of format positions in the screen of one page. (C) preparing arrangement information indicating the contents of adjusting the arrangement of each character group within the one set unit based on the virtual layout rectangle; (d) at each set position Arranged as a plurality of character groups in the typesetting unit Inputting a plurality of characters to be placed in correspondence with each character group; and (e) at each of the plurality of typesetting positions, each character group constituted by the characters input in the step (d) The electronic typesetting device determines the layout based on the coordinate data and the layout information based on the virtual layout rectangle, and determines the typeface and character size of each character group based on the character information. A step of determining by the electronic typesetting device.

Preferably, the step (e) includes a step of determining the arrangement of each character group by applying at least a part of the arrangement information to the coordinate data with priority.

[0008]

An operator prepares master data, designates a virtual layout rectangle at each of a plurality of composition positions within one page, prepares arrangement information, and inputs characters to be arranged at each composition position. Then, each character group is arranged at each typesetting position by the electronic typesetting device. At this time, the arrangement of the character groups is determined based on the master data and the arrangement information based on the virtual layout rectangle at each of the forme positions. No need to adjust. Further, since the typeface and the size of each character group are determined based on the character information, the operator does not need to specify these character characteristics again.

If at least a part of the arrangement information is applied prior to the coordinate data, the character groups can be arranged in a well-balanced manner according to the arrangement information even when the layout rectangle has a different shape depending on the typesetting position.

[0010]

【Example】

A. Configuration of Apparatus FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic typesetting apparatus that performs typesetting by applying an embodiment of the present invention. This electronic typesetting device includes a CPU 10 and a bus line 12, and a RAM 14, a ROM 16
And the frame memory 18 are connected. A keyboard 30, a mouse 32, and a digitizer 34 are connected as input devices to the bus line 12, and a color CRT 36 is connected as an output device. further,
A magnetic disk 38 is connected as an external storage device.

The CPU 10 executes the function of the character position determining means 40 by executing a program stored in the magnetic disk 38. The function of this means will be described in accordance with the processing procedure described later.

B. Screen Configuration FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a one-page screen, and shows, for example, the layout of a pamphlet of a gift product. The screen shows a plurality of image elements PE1 to PE8 and virtual allocation rectangles LR1 to LR8 arranged around each image element. For example, the image elements PE1 to PE8 are photographic images of the items, and the allocation rectangles LR1 to LR8 are typeset with the item number, item name, price, and the like of each item.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a plurality of character groups formatted based on the layout rectangle LR1. In this allocation rectangle LR1, four character groups C1 to C4 are arranged. Hereinafter, each character group is referred to as an “item”. The four items C1 to C4 are virtually surrounded by circumscribed rectangles of the respective character groups. The upper left point (indicated by a white circle) of the circumscribed rectangle is the typesetting start points ST1 to ST4, which are used as reference points (reference points) when arranging each item. In other words, the position of each item C1 to C4 is determined by the typesetting start point ST of each item in the xy coordinate system based on the origin O of the layout rectangle LR1.
It is specified by the coordinates of 1 to ST4.

The same number (four in this example) of items are arranged in each of the allocation rectangles LR1 to LR8. A plurality of items arranged in each layout rectangle correspond to one set of unit in the present invention.

C. Schematic Processing Procedure FIGS. 4 and 5 are flowcharts showing a processing procedure for executing typesetting. Steps S1 to S4 are procedures for the operator to create a master file. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the master file. Master file MF
For each of the items C1 to C4 in one formatting unit, coordinate data indicating the coordinates of the formatting start points ST1 to ST4, data indicating the composition direction (vertical composition or horizontal composition), the character type of each item, It contains character information indicating the size, angle, and character spacing, and data indicating the size of the circumscribed rectangle of each item.

In step S1, characters such as character strings "No. 101" and "gift" to be arranged in each item are inputted (lettered). FIG. 7 shows the typesetting data DL obtained by typesetting.
FIG. Typesetting data consists of items C1 to C4
, And an item code CC (in this example, a code of the character “>”) inserted between the items. The operator inputs each character with the keyboard 30, and when the character input of one item is completed, inputs the character corresponding to the item code CC, thereby inputting the lettering data DL of FIG. Note that the data obtained when the master file MF is created is not used for actual typesetting.

In step S2, the positions of the typesetting start points ST1 to ST4 of the items C1 to C4 on the CRT 36 are designated by using the mouse 32 to arrange the items. At this time, the layout rectangle LR1 as shown in FIG. 3 may be displayed on the screen of the CRT 36, or only the position of the origin O may be displayed.

In step S3, when it is desired to typeset a figure, the figure is input using the mouse 32 or digitizer 34, and is arranged on the CRT 36. Here, the figure refers to a typesetting element other than characters, such as a character string underline, a frame line, and a leader line "...". Data representing the graphic is stored in the RAM 14 as a graphic file.

In step S4, the master file MF (FIG. 6) created as described above is copied to the magnetic disk 38.
To save. In step S5, a character string for performing typesetting is obtained. In the underlaying sheet for instructing typesetting,
As shown in FIG. 2, eight image elements PE are displayed in a screen of one page.
1 to PE8 are arranged, and
It is instructed that one set of unit is arranged corresponding to each image element. However, only the numbers 101, 102, etc. are entered in the places where each typesetting unit is to be arranged. Figure 2 shows the numbers of the image elements and the typesetting units.
Unlike the arrangement order on the screen, this is a predetermined number specified before the arrangement is determined. The shape of the layout rectangle for each typesetting unit does not need to be entered on the underlaying board.

In the typesetting operation, a typesetting data sheet in which, in addition to the underlaying sheet, the number of the typesetting unit (101, 102...) And the characters to be typeset for each typesetting unit are entered. It is prepared in advance and handed to the operator. The operator inputs characters in the order of the number of the typesetting unit while looking at the typesetting data sheet, and obtains the typesetting data DL shown in FIG. At this time, the item code CC is also input between the typesetting units. The character data thus obtained is stored on the magnetic disk 38.

In step S6, the operator operates the CRT 3
6, the shape of each allocation rectangle LR1 to LR8 is specified. When the layout rectangle is not inclined with respect to the coordinate system of the screen, the shape is specified simply by specifying the positions of two points (for example, the upper left point and the lower right point) on the diagonal line of each layout rectangle. On the other hand, when the screen is inclined with respect to the screen coordinate system as in the layout rectangle LR8, the position of three of the four vertices is designated. Before specifying the shape and position of the layout rectangle,
The operator specifies whether the layout rectangle is inclined or not with respect to the screen.

The allocation rectangle LR1 specified in the screen of one page
LR8 are displayed on the CRT 36, and the operator checks whether the layout of the entire screen is well balanced or not. In this way, if the layout rectangles LR1 to LR8 are displayed after being specified, it is possible to check the balance between the formatted characters and the image elements before the actual formatting, so that the layout of the entire screen can be adjusted. It is possible to efficiently perform the typesetting work including the above. In particular, if the inclined layout rectangle (LR8) can be designated, the balance when the inclined composition is performed can be known, so that the layout can be easily performed.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing allocation rectangle data representing an allocation rectangle. The layout rectangle data includes the number of layout rectangles in one page and the coordinates of the four vertices P1 to P4 of each layout rectangle. This allocated rectangular data is stored in the magnetic disk 38.
Is stored in

Returning to FIG. 4, in step S7, the operator creates typesetting arrangement information indicating a mode of arrangement adjustment of each item. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing the created typesetting arrangement information LI. The typesetting layout information LI includes five layout adjustment items (“alignment”, “item connection”, “item spacing”, “font adjustment”, “area adjustment”) for each of the items C1 to C4 in one typesetting unit. ) Is data indicating the mode corresponding to. The five arrangement adjustment items indicate the following arrangement adjustment modes, respectively.

"Alignment": means so-called line alignment. In the case of horizontal composition, “head of line” indicates left alignment, and “end of line” indicates right alignment. “Line center” indicates centering, and “head of line” indicates uniform allocation. To adjust the alignment, see “Font adjustment” described later.
Since it is also related, it will be described in detail in the description of “font adjustment”.

"Item connection": An item whose item connection mode is "Yes" is arranged in a state of touching after the immediately preceding item. For example, the third item C3 in FIG. 3 is designated as the item connection “Yes”. Note that, for an item whose item connection is designated as “present”, the information of the typesetting start point ST3 is ignored, and the item connection is performed so as to execute the item connection.
In addition, the alignment of a plurality of connected items is adjusted according to the alignment of the last item. In the example of FIG. 3, since the item C2 and the item C3 are connected, the two items C2 and C3
Are arranged based on the typesetting start point ST2 of the first item C2, and the alignment is adjusted according to the following item C3. If such an item connection is made, the master file M
Even when the number of characters in an item indicated by F is different from the number of characters actually typeset in the item, the items can be connected without gaps.

"Item interval": An item whose item interval mode is "floating" is shifted from the position of the lower end of the immediately preceding item.
Even when the interval between items is different from the interval in the master file MF, the item is moved so as to keep the interval in the master file MF. Items whose item interval mode is “fixed” are arranged with reference to the typesetting start point regardless of the size of the interval between items. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing how to adjust the item interval. FIG. 10A shows an arrangement of two items C11 and C12 in the master file. In addition,
The characters arranged as each item are not specified in the master file. FIGS. 10B and 10C show a state where characters are actually arranged in two items C11 and C12. FIG. 10B shows a case where the item interval mode of the item C12 is “floating”, and the two items C11 and C
12 is kept equal to the interval indicated in the master file. FIG. 10C shows a case where the item interval mode of the item C12 is “fixed”, and the items C11 and C12 are arranged according to the coordinates of the typesetting start points ST11 and ST12. Therefore, the interval d2 between two items
Is different from the interval d1 indicated in the master file. By adjusting the item interval in this way, even when the number of lines of each item changes, the entire typesetting unit can be arranged in a well-balanced manner.

"Font adjustment": A mode for adjusting the font (character width) according to the length of one line of each item. Hereinafter, first, a method of determining the length of one line will be described, and then adjustment of the font will be described.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing a method of determining the length of one line and various modes of "alignment" according to the length of one line. FIG. 11A shows a method for determining the length of one line. The line length of each item is set equal to the length of the circumscribed rectangle CR registered in the master file MF (FIG. 6) when the font adjustment mode is “line length”. On the other hand, when the font adjustment mode is “area”, the length is set to the length from the typesetting start point to the end of the layout rectangle LR1. The characters in each item are arranged in the "alignment" mode within the length of one line of each item. FIG. 11 (b),
(C), (d), and (e) show alignment modes when the font adjustment is an area. In this way, if the length of one line of each item is the format start point and the end of the layout rectangle,
Since the character strings can be aligned based on the layout rectangle, a well-balanced typesetting may be performed. This is one of the advantages of using the allocation rectangle.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the length of one line and the font adjustment. FIG. 12A shows a case where the number of characters included in the item is small. At this time, no font adjustment is performed. FIG. 12B shows a case where the number of characters in the item is large, and the characters are elongated according to the font ratio K (that is, the character width is reduced). Where the font rate K
Is defined by the following equation. K = a / ba a = (line length of item) b = (length of character string in item) = (width of character frame) × (number of characters) As shown in FIG. When all characters are put in the line length "a" of the item, the characters can be put in the long font. In this case, the characters can be arranged without impairing the readability of the characters and without increasing the number of lines of the item.

FIG. 12C is a diagram showing the processing when the item connection mode is “Yes”. FIG. 12 (c)
In, when the item connection mode of the item C22 is set to “Yes”, the item C22 is arranged in a state of touching the immediately preceding item C21 as described above. At this time, the font ratio K is defined by the following equation. K = a / t a = Σai (sum of the line lengths ai of each item) t = Σbi (sum of the lengths bi of the character strings of each item) The characters in the two items C21 and C22 have the font rate K With long body. As a result, as shown at the lower end of FIG. 12C, all characters are stored in the total line length a of the items C21 and C22. At this time, the typesetting start point ST22 of the following item C22 is set to the upper right point of the circumscribed rectangle of the preceding item C21.

In FIGS. 12 (b) and 12 (c), when the font rate K is smaller than a predetermined limit value (for example, 0.4), the characters are not extended and the number of lines of the item is not changed. May be increased. This is because if the character width is reduced by applying a long font at an excessively small font ratio, the character becomes difficult to read. Even in the case where the number of lines of the item increases to exceed the lower end of the allocation rectangle, the number of lines may be increased irrespective of this.

"Area adjustment": A method for adjusting the position of each item according to the size of the layout rectangle. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing “enlargement” and “reduction” among three modes of area adjustment (“fixed”, “enlargement”, and “reduction”). Note that the area adjustment is applied prior to other arrangement information. When the area adjustment mode is “fixed”, the position is not adjusted according to the size of the layout rectangle, and the area is arranged according to other arrangement information (alignment, item connection, item interval, font adjustment).

When the mode of the area adjustment is "enlarge", as shown in FIG. 13A, the first item C1 and the last item C4 are arranged so as to be in contact with the outline of the allocation rectangle LR1. You. The intermediate items C2 and C3 are arranged at the same distance d3 from the first item C1 and the last item C4. The items C2 and C3 connected to each other are 1
Move as if it were one item.

When the mode of the area adjustment is "reduction", as shown in FIG. 13B, the circumscribed rectangle of the last item C4 is in contact with the lower end of the allocation rectangle LR1.
The distance between the items is kept the same as the value indicated in the master file MF. According to this adjustment method, even when the layout area of one set of composition units indicated by the master file and the area of the layout rectangle are considerably different, items can be arranged in a well-balanced manner based on the layout rectangle. In the area reduction “reduction” mode, the formatted items are assigned rectangles LR.
This is used for arranging the items in a well-balanced manner, for example, when projecting to the lower side of 1 or when the lower side of the allocation rectangle LR1 is largely vacant due to a small number of lines of the item.

Among the above five arrangement adjustments, a part of “alignment” and “area adjustment” are arrangement adjustments based on an allocation rectangle, and are “item connection”, “item interval”, and “font adjustment”. "
Is arrangement adjustment between items. If the layout rectangle is used, the layout can be adjusted based on the layout rectangle, so that the items in each typesetting unit can be more balancedly arranged.

Referring back to FIG. 4, in step S8, the operator specifies a master file to be used. This is a procedure for selecting one of a plurality of master files MF when the plurality of master files MF are stored on the magnetic disk 38.

Steps S9 to S12 in FIG. 5 are processes executed by the character position determining means 40 (FIG. 1) of the electronic typesetting apparatus. In step S9, the layout rectangle to be subjected to typesetting is set to 1
Is selected, and the allocated rectangle is moved to the origin position of the screen of one page. At this time, if the layout rectangle is inclined with respect to the screen, the layout rectangle is rotated by the tilt θ to convert the layout rectangle to a non-tilted rectangle, and the origin of the layout rectangle is moved to a predetermined origin (for example, the lower left point) of the screen. Let it. At this time, the rotation angle θ and the movement amount are stored in the RAM 14.

In step S10, the master file MF
In accordance with (FIG. 6) and typesetting arrangement information (FIG. 9), the typed character (FIG. 7) is poured into each item, and each item is arranged based on the layout rectangle. Step S10
Will be described later in detail.

In step S11, the layout rectangle in which the characters are flowed and the items are arranged is moved to the original position.
At this time, the rotation angle θ and the movement amount stored in the RAM 14 in step S9 are used.

If it is determined in step S12 that the processing has not been completed for all the allocation rectangles in one page, the process returns to step S9, and the processing in steps S9 to S11 is repeated. FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing typesetting arranged data created by such typesetting processing. Formatted data includes format information DD1 representing the size and format of each item,
It includes the number of characters in each item, the character code of each character, and character information DD2 representing the coordinates of the character arrangement point. The created typesetting arranged data is stored on the magnetic disk 38.

As described above, in this embodiment, a virtual layout rectangle is designated, and the arrangement of a plurality of items constituting one formatting unit is adjusted based on the layout rectangle. Even when the number of lines is different from that of the master file, they can be arranged in a well-balanced manner.

D. Detailed Procedure of Arrangement Adjustment FIGS. 15 to 18 are flowcharts showing the detailed procedure of step S10. Steps S20 in FIG. 15 to S40 in FIG. 17 are processes for executing the arrangement adjustment for each item, and steps S41 to S50 in FIG.
Is a process for executing the area adjustment of one entire forme unit.

Steps S20 to S23 in FIG. 15 are processes for obtaining the length a of one line of the item (see FIG. 11). In step S20, if the font adjustment mode registered in the typesetting layout information is "line length", step S21 is executed, and the length a of one line is indicated by the master file MF as shown in FIG. Is set equal to the length of the circumscribed rectangle. If the font adjustment mode is "area", step S22 is executed, and the length a of one line is set to the length from the typesetting start point to the end of the layout rectangle.

In step S23, it is determined whether or not the processing for obtaining the line length has been completed for all the items in one set unit. If not, the process returns to step S20 to return to the line length of the next item. Is required.

In steps S24 to S40 (FIG. 17),
Each item in one set unit is selected one by one as a processing target, and the arrangement is adjusted. In step S24,
The character string length of the item in the case where the character data of the n-th item to be processed is read from the magnetic disk 38 and the typesetting is performed according to the typesetting information of the nth item of the master file MF (FIG. 6). Find b and the width of the item. n is a parameter indicating the order of the items, and varies from 1 to the number of items in one set of unit. Length of item string b
Is, as shown in FIG. 12B, (size of character frame) ×
Is the length given by (number of characters). The item width is the height of the character frame.

In step S25, the total character string length t (see FIG. 12C), the item width, and the total line length a of the items connected to the items are updated. That is, the character string length b calculated in step S24 is added to the total character string length t of the item connected to the item, thereby updating the total character string length t. The initial value of the total character string length t of the character string is set to 0. For an item that is not item-connected, the total character string length t is equal to the character string length b of that item. The maximum value of the width of each item connected to the item is updated as the width of the connected item. Further, the line length of each item connected to the item is also added to the total line length a, thereby updating the total line length a.

In step S26, it is determined whether or not the item is the last item of the plurality of items connected. If it is the last item or an item that is not connected to another item, the process proceeds to step S27 in FIG. On the other hand, when the item connection mode is followed by the item of “Yes”, the process returns to step S24, and step S24 is performed.
24, the processing of S25 is repeated to determine the total length t of the connected items.

In step S27 of FIG. 16, the total line length a is compared with the total character string length t. If a <t, the font adjustment in steps S28 to S30 is executed. If a <t is not satisfied, the font adjustment is not performed, and the process proceeds to the alignment processing in steps S31 to S35.

In step S28, the font ratio K is determined, and a process of multiplying the character by the font ratio K is executed (see FIGS. 12B and 12C). In step S29, for each connected item, the length b of the character string after the length is applied is calculated. The length b of the character string after multiplication by the long body is given by the following equation. b = (size of character frame) × (number of characters) × K

In step S30, for each item connected to the item, the upper right point of the circumscribed rectangle of the character string of the immediately preceding item is set as the typesetting start point of that item. this is,
This is processing for realizing the arrangement shown at the lower end of FIG. In the case where the font adjustment is performed in steps S28 to S30, since the total character string length t is longer than the total line length a, the alignment processing (steps S31 to S35) is not executed, and FIG. Move to step S36.

Steps S31 to S35 are performed in step S2.
7 is an alignment process executed when the total line length a is equal to or greater than the total character string length t. In step S31, the alignment mode designated for the item is determined, and the end of line (step S32), the end of line (step S33),
The process branches to line center (step S34) and line head (step S35) processes (see FIG. 11).

When the alignment mode is the beginning of the line or the end of the line, the x coordinate of the arrangement reference point RP of the first character in the item is set equal to the x coordinate of the typesetting start point indicated in the master file MF (FIG. 6). Is done. Here, the placement reference point RP
Is the upper left point of the character frame of the first character as shown in FIGS. The character spacing at the beginning and end of the line is calculated by the following equation. At the beginning and end of the line: character spacing = (at) / (number of characters -1)

When the alignment mode is line end or line center, the x coordinate of the arrangement reference point RP of the first character in the item is set as follows. End of line: x coordinate of placement reference point = (x coordinate of formatting start point) +
(At) Line center: x coordinate of arrangement reference point = (x coordinate of formatting start point)
+ (At) / 2 By the above processing, the x coordinate of the arrangement reference point of the item to be treated is obtained.

Steps S36 to S40 are processes for obtaining the y coordinate of the item arrangement reference point RP. Step S36
Then, the item interval mode is determined. If the item interval mode is floating, step S37 is executed. If the item interval mode is fixed, step S38.
Is executed.

In the case where the item interval is floating, FIG.
As shown in the figure, the interval d1 between the immediately preceding item C11 and the item C12 to be processed is determined by the master file M
The y coordinate of the arrangement reference point of the item C12 is adjusted so as to keep the value indicated by F. To achieve this, first,
In step S36, the y-direction change width up to the immediately preceding item is added to the y coordinate of the typesetting start point of the processing target item. As shown in FIG. 19, the y-direction change width is the difference W1, W2 between the width Ly1, Ly2 of each item indicated in the master file MF and the width of each item during actual typesetting. In step S36, the y-direction change width of the item up to immediately before the item to be processed is accumulated, and this is added to the y coordinate of the typesetting start point of the item, thereby obtaining the y coordinate of the arrangement reference point of the item. Ask for. The y-direction change width is a value calculated in the next step S39, and for the first item, y
The direction change width is set to zero. In step S39, the Y direction change width of the processing target item is calculated by subtracting the item width indicated in the master file from the current item width.

On the other hand. If the item interval mode is fixed,
In step S38, the y coordinate of the typesetting start point of the master file MF is set as the y coordinate of the arrangement reference point RP of the item. Then, in step S39, the y-direction change width is calculated.

In step S40, it is determined whether or not the processing in steps S24 to S39 has been completed for all items, and if not, the flow returns to step S24. When the processes of steps S24 to S39 are completed for all items, the process proceeds to step S41 of FIG.

Steps S41 to S50 are an area adjustment process. Note that the processing in steps S24 to S40 is an arrangement adjustment for each item, whereas the processing in step S41 is performed.
The processing in steps S50 to S50 is an arrangement adjustment for all items in one composition unit. When the area adjustment is set to reduction or enlargement, the area adjustment is performed prior to the result of the arrangement adjustment for each item.

In step S41, it is determined whether the mode of area adjustment is fixed, reduced, or enlarged. If the area adjustment mode is "fixed", the process ends without performing anything. If the area adjustment mode is “reduction”, steps S42 and S43 are executed. In step S42, the empty width between the lower end of the last item of one typesetting unit and the lower end of the layout rectangle is obtained, and a value obtained by adding a minus to the empty width is stored as a bias. FIG.
Is an explanatory diagram showing the free width of the last item C4. Bias B is a value used when moving each item,
It is given by the following equation. Bias B = − (empty width at lower end of last item) = − ｛(y coordinate of typesetting start point ST4) − (item width L
y)｝

In step S43, all the items in one set unit are moved by the above-mentioned bias B. Thus, the arrangement adjustment as shown in FIG. 13B is performed.

If the mode of the area adjustment is "enlargement", a cumulative value R obtained by accumulating the widths of the items is obtained in step S44. FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the process of step S44. If there is an item connected as in the items C2 and C3, the maximum value Ly3 of the item width is used as the item width of the connected item.

In step S45, the empty width is calculated by subtracting the cumulative value R of the item width from the width LLy of the layout rectangle LR1. In step S46, the bias B is obtained by dividing this empty width by (the number of independent items N-1). Here, the “number of independent items” is the number of items when items connected to each other are regarded as one item.
In the example, N = 3.

In step S47, the item connection mode of the item to be processed is determined. If the item connection mode is “Yes”, the position adjustment of the immediately preceding item is performed, so that the process moves to step S50 without moving the item by area adjustment. On the other hand, if the item connection is "none", the object is moved in the y direction by the following movement amount in step S48. Moving amount = B × (N−i) Here, B is a bias, N is the number of independent items, and i is a parameter for determining the moving amount in consideration of the item connection. The parameter i indicating the order of the independent items takes a value between 2 and (N-1). In other words, the movement in step S48 is executed for the first to second or last to second independent items of one set of unit.

In step S49, the parameter i is counted up by one, and the next item is selected.
Move to If it is determined in step S50 that the item is not the second independent item from the end, the process returns to step S47, and the processes in steps S47 to S49 are repeated. Thus, FIG.
The arrangement adjustment shown in FIG.

As described above, in this embodiment, a virtual layout rectangle is specified, and the arrangement of each item in each composition unit is adjusted based on the layout rectangle. There is an advantage that each item can be arranged in a well-balanced manner.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be implemented in various modes without departing from the gist thereof. For example, the following modifications are possible.

(1) In the above embodiment, the case of the horizontal composition has been mainly described, but the above embodiment can also be applied to the case of the vertical composition. That is, in the case of the vertical composition, the x direction and the y direction described above may be read as the y direction and the x direction, respectively.

[0069]

As described above, according to the typesetting method of the present invention, the arrangement of the character groups is determined based on the coordinate data and the arrangement information with reference to the virtual layout rectangle at each of the forging positions. Since the determination is made, the operator does not need to adjust the arrangement of each character group at each typesetting position. Further, since the typeface and the size of each character group are determined based on the character information, it is not necessary for the operator to newly specify these character characteristics. Therefore, there is an effect that a typesetting operation of arranging a plurality of character groups in a similar pattern can be easily performed.

If at least a part of the arrangement information is applied prior to the coordinate data, even if the layout rectangle has a different shape depending on the typesetting position, the character groups can be arranged in a well-balanced manner according to the arrangement information. There is.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic typesetting apparatus that performs typesetting by applying an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a screen of one page.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a plurality of character groups formatted based on an allocation rectangle.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for executing typesetting.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for executing typesetting.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a master file.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of the lettering data DL.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing allocation rectangle data representing an allocation rectangle.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing typesetting arrangement information LI.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing how to adjust an item interval.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a method for determining the length of one line and a mode of “alignment”.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the length of one line and the adjustment of the font.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing three modes of area adjustment.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing typesetting arranged data.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a detailed procedure of an arrangement adjustment process in step S10.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a detailed procedure of an arrangement adjustment process in step S10.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a detailed procedure of an arrangement adjustment process in step S10.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing a detailed procedure of an arrangement adjustment process in step S10.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram showing a y-direction change width.

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram showing a free space of the last item.

FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram showing the processing content of step S44.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 CPU 12 bus line 14 RAM 16 ROM 18 frame memory 30 keyboard 32 mouse 34 digitizer 36 CRT 38 magnetic disk 40 character position determining means C1 to C4 Item CR circumscribed rectangle LI Typesetting arrangement information LR1 to LR8 Assigned rectangle PE1 to PE8 Image element RP Positioning reference point ST1 to ST4 Typesetting start point

(72) Inventor Hirofumi Oya 5-38-7 Higashiikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. Tokyo Branch (72) Inventor Kazunari Miura 1-5-9 Tenmabashi, Kita-ku, Osaka-shi Dainichihon Screen Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Osaka Branch (56) References JP-A-62-89057 (JP, A) JP-A-4-22632 (JP, A) JP-A-5-286107 (JP, A) (58) ) Surveyed field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G03F 1/00-1/06

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A composition unit composed of a fixed number of character groups is
A typesetting method for performing typesetting by an electronic typesetting device so as to be repeatedly arranged in one page , comprising: (a) determining the number of character groups included in one set of typesetting units; Master data including, for a group, coordinate data indicating coordinates of a predetermined reference point of each character group based on a predetermined origin of the typesetting unit, and character information indicating a typeface and a character size of each character group. (B) designating a virtual layout rectangle shape for allocating each of the forme units at a plurality of forme positions in the screen of one page; and (c) the virtual layout rectangle. Preparing arrangement information indicating the contents of adjusting the arrangement of each character group in the one set of unit on the basis of the layout rectangle; and (d) as a plurality of character groups in the unit in each forme position. Multiple to place (E) inputting a character in correspondence with each character group; and (e) arranging, at each of the plurality of typesetting positions, an arrangement of each character group constituted by the character input in the step (d), The electronic typesetting device determines the typesetting device based on the coordinate data and the arrangement information based on a typical layout rectangle, and determines the typeface and character size of each character group based on the character information. A typesetting method, comprising the steps of: 2. The typesetting method according to claim 1, wherein the step (e) includes a step of determining the arrangement of each character group by applying at least a part of the arrangement information prior to the coordinate data. Typesetting method to prepare.