JP2818066B2 - Image layout processing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image layout processing apparatus for simulating, on a CRT screen, a process of pasting a plurality of figures and line drawings such as characters on an underlaying board in a plate making process. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A schematic configuration of a conventional image layout processing apparatus will be described below with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a graphic display plane memory for storing bitmap data of graphics A _{1 to} A ₃ laid out on a board mount. Various figures laid out on the underlaying board are stored in the form of vector data in an external storage device (not shown). After the vector data of each figure is developed into bitmap data by a CPU (not shown), The data is transferred to the display plane memory 1. Reference numeral 2 denotes a picture mask display plane memory for storing bitmap data of a pattern of interest (hereinafter, referred to as a picture mask) B extracted to be laid out at a predetermined position by moving on the underprint. The picture mask is set at an arbitrary position on the picture mask display plane memory 2 by specifying its offset position (deviation position with respect to the reference origin of the copyboard). Reference numeral 3 denotes a line drawing display plane memory for storing bitmap data of line drawings C ₁ and C ₂ such as characters, logotypes, and illustrations. Various line drawings are stored in an external storage device in the form of run-length data. After the run-length data of the designated line drawing is expanded into bitmap data, it is transferred to the line drawing display plane memory 3. Hereinafter, when collectively referring to figures, pattern masks, and line drawings laid out on the underlaying board,
Notation "Material". Priorities are set in advance in each of the plane memories 1 to 3 in accordance with the overlapping order of the materials A to C. Here, in order to superimpose the figures, the pattern masks, and the line drawings in order, and display them on the CRT screen Then, small, medium, and large priorities are set in the order of the plane memories 1 to 3.

[0004] Each data stored in the plane memories 1 to 3 is raster-scanned and read out sequentially in synchronization with the head address of each memory. The read bitmap data is supplied to the multiplexer 4 at the next stage. If the bitmap data read from each of the plane memories 1 to 3 is both “ON”, the multiplexer 4 selects and outputs the bitmap data of the plane memory of the higher priority, and outputs the bit of the plane memory of the higher priority. If the map data is “OFF”, the bit map data of the plane memory of the next priority is output.

[0005] By extracting the bitmap data of each of the plane memories 1 to 3 via the multiplexer 4 in this manner, the materials A to C are displayed on the CRT screen 5 in an overlapping state.

[0006]

However, the prior art having such a configuration has the following problems. Generally, line drawings stored in an external storage device are
It is rare that the line drawing is a completed line drawing as described with reference to FIG.
Often accompanied by a colored background. A line drawing having such a background is represented by data relating to length (run length data) and color data of the area. Therefore, when such line drawing data is directly developed into bitmap data, as shown in FIG. 6, the line drawing display plane memory 3 stores the line drawing C ₃ ,
C ₄ is transferred. As described above, since the line drawing display plane memory 3 has a higher priority than the other plane memories 1 and 2, when the bitmap data of each of the plane memories 1 to 3 is superimposed, as shown in FIG. Since figures and picture masks to be projected on the CRT screen 5 are hidden by the background color of the line drawing, it is not possible to confirm the exact layout of each material.

In order to avoid the above-mentioned inconveniences, there is also an apparatus for performing frame display C ₅ and C ₆ of a line drawing area on the CRT screen 5 as shown in FIG. However, according to such an apparatus, since the line drawing itself is not displayed on the CRT screen 5, it is difficult to accurately position each material. Therefore, when it is necessary to precisely align each material, the troublesome work of printing the laid-out figures and line drawings on individual films and manually aligning each film is forced. ing.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and accurately simulates the layout of figures and line drawings on an underlaying board on a display screen, thereby improving the work efficiency of the plate making process. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image layout processing device that can be improved.

[0009]

The present invention has the following configuration in order to achieve the above object. That is, according to the present invention, a desired figure or line drawing is arranged on an underlaying board projected on a display screen, and a focused figure (hereinafter, referred to as a picture mask) is aligned with the figure or line drawing. An image layout processing apparatus, which stores graphic data and pattern mask data composed of vector data, and line drawing data composed of run-length data (hereinafter, each data is collectively referred to as material data). Data storage means, material data conversion means for converting each material data stored in the material data storage means into bitmap data, and a contour for extracting a contour of the line drawing converted into bitmap data by the material data conversion means Extracting means, graphic data and picture mask data converted into bitmap data, and the contour extracting means A display storage unit for individually storing the contour data of the output line drawing, and a figure, a pattern mask, and a line drawing based on the figure data, the pattern mask data, and the line drawing contour data stored in the display storage unit. Display means for superimposing and displaying the outlines of the images, superimposition display control means for controlling the superimposition order of the outlines of figures, picture masks and line drawings on the display means, and instructing the setting of the picture masks and the display position thereof And a pattern mask display control means for updating the setting of the picture mask stored in the display storage means and its display position based on the instruction from the command input means. .

[0010]

The operation of the present invention is as follows. The material data conversion means develops each material data stored in the material data storage means into a bitmap, and among the developed material data, the graphic data and the pattern mask data are stored in the display storage means, respectively, and the line drawing data Is passed to the contour extraction means. The contour extracting means extracts the contour of the passed line drawing data, converts it to binary data such as "ON" if it is a contour, and "OFF" if it is not a contour, and stores it in the display storage means. The superimposition display control means superimposes the respective material data stored in the display storage means in the order of a figure, a picture mask, and the outline of a line drawing, and displays a layout on the display means. The picture mask display control means re-displays the picture mask data designated by the instruction input means at the designated movement position. At this time, even if the background portion other than the line drawing such as characters is colored, the display means does not display anything other than the outline of the line drawing, so the figure or pattern mask displayed below the line drawing is:
It is not hidden by the background color of the line drawing data.

[0011]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of the image layout processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a material data input device for reading each material data of a line drawing such as a figure, a picture mask, and a character. The material data input device 11 includes, for example, a magneto-optical disk unit or a flexible disk unit, or a work station for creating a material connected to the device via a network.

Reference numeral 12 denotes an external storage device for storing each material data read from the material data input device 11.
This external storage device 12 corresponds to the material data storage means of the present invention. The external storage device 12 also stores various processing procedures (programs) executed by a CPU (central processing unit) 17 described later.

The CPU 17 develops a graphic data and a pattern mask data stored in the form of vector data in the external storage device 12 and a line drawing data stored in the form of run-length data into a bit map. This is an image memory for storing each material data developed into a bitmap.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a graphic data and a pattern mask data which have been developed into a bit map stored in the image memory 13 and compressed to a size which can be displayed on the CRT 15 by the CPU 17, and the compressed graphic data and the pattern mask data and For display, the CPU 17 compresses the line drawing data expanded in the bit map stored in the image memory 13 to a size that can be displayed on the CRT 15 and further stores outline data of the line drawing extracted by the CPU 17 based on the compressed line drawing data. It is a plain memory. The display plane memory 14 is individually prepared for each material, and in this embodiment, the graphic display plane memory 1 is used.
4a, a pattern mask display plane memory 14b, and a line drawing outline display plane memory 14c. The display plane memory 14 corresponds to a display storage unit in the present invention.

The CRT 15 converts the material data compressed for display stored in each of the plane memories 14a to 14b and the outline data of a line drawing stored in the plane memory 14c under the control of the CPU 17. Shapes,
This is a display device that displays a layout in the order of a picture mask and a contour of a line drawing. This CRT 15 corresponds to a display unit in the present invention.

Reference numeral 16 designates a picture mask whose position is to be changed when positioning a picture mask while referring to the layout of each material displayed on the CRT 15, and instructs an arrangement position of the designated picture mask. An instruction input device. The instruction input device 16 corresponds to an instruction input unit in the present invention, and includes, for example, a digitizer, a keyboard, a mouse, and the like.

As described above, the CPU 17 converts each material data into a bitmap, compresses each material data, extracts the outline of the line drawing data, and processes each material according to the program stored in the external storage device 12. It controls the superimposed display of data, redisplays the pattern mask data on the CRT 15 according to the instruction of the instruction input device 16, and the like. The material data conversion means, the contour extraction means, the superimposed display control means, the pattern This corresponds to mask display control means. Further, the CPU 17 includes an internal memory 17a used when executing each process. The details of each process will be described later.

Next, the operation of the image layout processing apparatus having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. Each material data is read from the material data input device 11 and stored in the external storage device 12 (step S1).

Next, the CPU 17 reads each material data stored in the external storage device 12 into the internal memory 17a, develops it into a bit map, and stores it in the image memory 13 (step S2).

Then, the CPU 17 stores the graphic data and the pattern mask data stored in the image memory 13 in the state developed into the bit map in step S2 in the internal memory 17.
a, and the image data is compressed to a size that can be displayed on the CRT 15, and the graphic data is stored in the plane memory 14a, and the picture mask data is stored in the plane memory 14b (step S3).

The data compression is performed, for example, when the size of the uncompressed plate-making underlay sheet is 1200 pixels in the X direction and Y
In the case where the size is 1920 pixels in the direction and the size that can be displayed on the CRT is 400 pixels in the X direction and 640 pixels in the Y direction, the processing is performed by thinning out the material data stored in the image memory 13 for every three pixels and extracting the material data. .

The CPU 17 reads the line drawing data stored in the image memory 13 into the internal memory 17a in a state where it has been developed into a bit map in step S2, and
Compress as in 3. Further, the CPU 17 extracts the outline of the line drawing data stored in the internal memory 17a in a compressed state, and stores the extracted outline data of the line drawing in the plane memory 14c (step S4).

Here, an example of a method for extracting outlines of line drawing data will be described with reference to FIG. Expanded to a bitmap,
The compressed line drawing data is stored in the internal memory 17a as shown in FIG. One cell in the matrix of FIG. 3A represents one pixel. The number written in each cell is a color value corresponding to the display color of that pixel. Attention is paid to a specific pixel in the matrix, and the color value of that pixel is compared with the color values of the surrounding pixels to detect an outline. That is, it is determined that the point (line) at which the color value changes is the outline of the line drawing. This detection method includes a four-neighbor detection method and an eight-neighbor detection method. Here, the four-neighbor detection method will be described. In FIG. 3A described above, for example, attention is paid to the pixel (color value “2”) of (i ₂ , j ₁ ). As shown in FIG. 3B, the pixel of interest (i ₂ , j ₁ ) and its surrounding pixels (i ₁ , j ₁ ), (i ₃ , j ₁ ), (i ₃ , j ₀ ), (i ₂ , j ₀ ),
(I ₂ , j ₂ ) is extracted, and if there is at least one peripheral pixel having a color value different from the color value of the target pixel (the color value of the lower pixel (i ₃ , j ₁ ) differs for this target pixel) 3), it is determined that the target pixel is in contact with the contour, and the location (I ₂ , J ₁ ) corresponding to the target pixel is set to “1” as shown in FIG. In FIG. 3D, “1” and “0” are discriminating codes that a point forming an outline is “1” and a point not forming an outline is “0”. Note that the outline displayed when the color value originally stored in place of the code “1” is stored becomes a colored outline. FIG. 3 shows the result of extracting the contour lines in this manner.
(D). Here, if (i _3, j ₁₎ of the pixel similarly the pixel and 3 even when focusing on (color value "3") (b) as shown in FIG. 3 (c) is a contour point Since the judgment is made, the outline becomes thicker. This is because, with the above detection method, both inside and outside the boundary where the color changes,
This is because it is determined to be a contour point. Therefore, when it is desired to make the outline thinner, if there is a peripheral pixel having a color value different from the color value of the pixel of interest and the color value of the pixel of interest takes the maximum value (or minimum value), May be extracted as a point on the contour line. FIG. 3E shows contour data extracted in the case of the maximum value. When contour detection is performed in the vicinity of eight, the same processing as described above may be performed on a total of eight pixels obtained by adding four oblique pixels to four pixels in the upper, lower, left, and right directions.

After the line image contour extraction processing as described above is performed, the CPU 17 converts the contents of the plane memories 14a, 14b, and 14c stored for CRT display into graphic data (14a) and picture mask data (14b). ), And superimpose in order of the outline data (14c) of the line drawing and display them on the CRT 15 (step S5). FIG. 4 shows CRT1 at this time.
5 is a display example, where A ₁ , A ₂ , and A ₃ are the lowermost figures,
B indicates the picture mask of the intermediate layer, and C ₇ and C ₈ indicate the contours of the line drawing of the uppermost layer. By the processing up to step S5, each material is laid out on the CRT screen.

The operator confirms the position of the picture mask with reference to the layout display, and inputs subsequent processing from the instruction input device 16.

The CPU 17 determines the end of the system based on an end instruction from the instruction input device 16 by the operator (step S6). If not finished, the following pattern mask positioning processing (processing for deciding the arrangement of the pattern mask on the stencil underlay) of steps S6 to S10 is executed.

The CPU 17 takes in the pick-up instruction of the picture mask and the designation of the moving position of the picture mask inputted by the operator from the instruction input device 16 (step S7).

When a new figure is instructed to be picked up as a pattern mask, the CPU 17 reads out the vector data of the specified figure from the external storage device 12 and develops the vector data into a bit map. Plane memory 14 for mask display
Update the data of b. As a result, a new picture mask is displayed on the CRT 15. When an instruction to move the picture mask is issued, the offset position of the picture mask stored in the image memory 13 is changed, and then the data in the picture memory for displaying the picture mask 14b is updated.
The picture mask is moved and displayed at the designated position on the screen 15 (step S8).

The CPU 17 determines the final position of the picture mask redisplayed on the CRT 15 in accordance with the positioning instruction from the instruction input device 16 by the operator (step S).
9).

The CPU 17 reconfigures the positioned pattern mask data into vector data in order to store the determined position of the pattern mask on the plate-making lower board, and stores the vector mask data in the external storage device 12. (Step S1
0). As a method of storing the position of the pattern mask, in addition to the above-described method, the positioned pattern mask is embedded in the graphic data on the underlaying board, reconfigured into vector data, and the The external storage device 1 is used as graphic data in which the layout of the graphic and the pattern mask on the mount is completed.
2 may be stored.

[0032]

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, when a figure, a pattern mask, and a line drawing are superimposed and displayed in that order on the underlaying board projected on the display screen, the line drawing is Since the outline is extracted and the outline is displayed, even if the original line drawing data has a background color, the background color does not hide the figure or the pattern mask. Therefore, since the pattern mask can be accurately positioned with respect to other figures and line drawings, the troublesome operation of manually printing the figures and line drawings and manually positioning the figures and the line drawings as in the conventional example is eliminated. It is not necessary to perform the process, and the processing efficiency of the plate making process can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an image layout processing apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the embodiment apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an outline extraction method of line drawing data.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of superimposed display of the apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional apparatus for performing layout display.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a problem of the conventional device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another superimposed display of the conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 11 material data input device 12 external storage device 13 image memory 14 display plane memory 15 CRT 16 instruction input device 17 CPU (central processing unit)

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-253473 (JP, A) JP-A-2-39351 (JP, A) JP-A-57-30084 (JP, A) (58) Fields studied (Int .Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G03F 1/00-1/16 G03G 15/22 G06F 15/60 H04N 1/387

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image in which a desired figure or line drawing is arranged on an underlaying board projected on a display screen, and a figure of interest (hereinafter referred to as a picture mask) is aligned with the figure or line drawing. A layout processing apparatus, comprising material data for storing graphic data and picture mask data composed of vector data, and line drawing data composed of run-length data (hereinafter, collectively referred to as material data). Storage means; material data conversion means for converting each material data stored in the material data storage means into bitmap data; contour extraction for extracting a contour of a line drawing converted into bitmap data by the material data conversion means Means, figure data and picture mask data converted into bitmap data, and extracted by the contour extracting means. Display storage means for individually storing the contour data of the drawn line drawing, and a figure, a pattern mask, and a line drawing based on the figure data, the pattern mask data, and the line drawing contour data stored in the display storage means. Display means for superimposing and displaying contours; superimposing display control means for controlling the superimposing order of contours of figures, picture masks, and line drawings on the display means; and setting of the picture masks and indicating their display positions. Instruction input means, and based on an instruction from the instruction input means, a picture mask display control means for updating a setting of a picture mask stored in the display storage means and a display position thereof, Image layout processing device.