JP2895887B2 - Layouter for flyers and catalogs - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an apparatus for allocating flyers and catalogs, and more particularly to an apparatus for allocating flyers and catalogs that performs an interactive work while watching a display screen.

[Conventional technology]

In printed materials such as flyers and catalogs, it is necessary to properly assign photos, character strings, or desired graphics for many commodities to one printed material. Recently, an allocating device that can perform such an allocating operation using a computer has been used. In this type of device, a photograph or a character string of each product is input to a computer as digital data. Then, an image based on these data is displayed on the display screen to perform an assignment operation. The operator can specify the position of arranging a photograph or a character string for a specific product while looking at the display screen, and can change the magnification and the inclination as needed to allocate the product. For a figure, a desired figure can be created at a desired layout position on the display screen by inputting a predetermined instruction. The assignment result obtained in this way is stored in the form of data stored in the memory of the computer, so that the assignment can be easily corrected, and the operator can perform the assignment operation interactively with the computer. Can be advanced.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, the conventional allocating device has a problem in that it is not possible to freely perform an operation of accurately specifying a position on a display screen at one point on the intersection of a figure. That is, when the operator designates one point with an input device such as a mouse while looking at the display screen, the cursor on the screen is positioned by eye measurement, so that it is difficult to specify the exact position. In particular, when the display screen is displayed in a reduced size, physically accurate position designation cannot be performed.

If the vertices of the figure are specified, the coordinates of the vertices are stored as the figure data. Therefore, when the vicinity of the vertices is specified, it is possible to correct the vertices into accurate vertex coordinates. However, since the coordinates of the intersection of the figures are not stored as data, such correction processing cannot be performed. If the calculation for finding the coordinates of the intersections is performed for all the figures, such correction processing can be theoretically performed, but the amount of calculation is enormous, and it is practically impossible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a flyer / catalog allocating apparatus capable of accurately specifying a position on an intersection of a graphic on a display screen.

[Means for solving the problem]

The present invention provides a merchandise data input device for inputting merchandise data relating to merchandise to be published in a flyer / catalog, a graphic data input device for inputting graphic data regarding a graphic to be posted, and an allocation instruction input for inputting an allocation instruction from an operator. A device, an allocating device for performing an allocating operation on product data and graphic data based on the input allocating instruction, a storage device for storing the result of the allocating operation as an allocation result, and an allocation for outputting the allocation result A result output device, a display device for displaying the work progress of the allocation work on a screen, a designated point input device for inputting one point on the display screen of the display device as a designated point, and a graphic data in a storage device. A designated point conversion device that converts the input designated point to a new point and gives the converted point to the assignment instruction input device. The present invention relates to an apparatus for allocating flyers and catalogs.

(1) The first invention of the present application is the layout apparatus for flyers and catalogs described above, wherein the sum of the length of the line segment AS and the length of the line segment BS for the specified point S input to the specified point conversion device is A line segment AB smaller than the sum of the length of the line segment AB and the first predetermined length L1 is searched from the graphic data in the storage device, and all intersections formed by the searched line segments are searched. From the obtained intersections, the intersection Q closest to the specified point S is selected. If the length of the line segment QS is shorter than the second predetermined length L2, the specified point S is converted to the intersection Q. Function to perform

(2) The second invention of the present application is the above-mentioned flyer / catalog layout device, wherein the specified point S inputted to the specified point conversion device has the length of the line segment CS equal to the radius r
Of the radius r having the center point C, which satisfies the condition that the difference is larger than the difference obtained by subtracting the first predetermined length L1 from the above, and is smaller than the sum of the radius r and the second predetermined length L2. The circle
A search is made from the graphic data in the storage device, all the intersections formed by the searched circles are obtained, and the intersection Q closest to the designated point S is selected from the obtained intersections, and the length of the line segment QS is the third. The function of converting the designated point S to the intersection Q when the length is shorter than the predetermined length L3 is provided.

(3) The third invention of the present application is the layout apparatus for flyers and catalogs described above, wherein the sum of the length of the line segment AB and the length of the line segment BS for the specified point S input to the specified point conversion device is A line segment AB smaller than the sum of the length of the line segment AB and the first predetermined length L1 is searched from the graphic data in the storage device. Is the radius r
Is larger than the difference obtained by subtracting the second predetermined length L2 from
A circle having a center point C and having a radius r that satisfies the condition that the radius r is the sum of the third predetermined length L3 and the third predetermined length L3 is searched from the graphic data in the storage device. Find all the intersections formed by the circles, select the intersection Q closest to the specified point S from the obtained intersections, and specify if the length of the line segment QS is shorter than the fourth predetermined length L4. The function of converting the point S into the intersection Q is provided.

[Action]

In the flyer / catalog layout device according to the present invention,
When the operator inputs a designated point, intersection coordinates of a figure near the designated point are obtained. In the first invention of this application, a line segment near the designated point S is searched, and all intersection coordinates of the searched line segment are calculated. In the second invention of the present application, a circle near the designated point S is searched, and all intersection coordinates of the searched circle are calculated. Further, in the third invention of this application, both the line segment and the circle near the designated point S are searched, and all the intersection coordinates of the searched line segment and the circle are obtained by calculation. Then, of the obtained intersections, the intersection closest to the designated point S and within a predetermined distance from the designated point S is recognized as the point that the operator intends to designate. As described above, the intersection is obtained only for the line segment or the circle near the designated point, so that the necessary calculation can be minimized to a minimum and the processing can be performed by a computer generally used at present. Become. In this manner, if the vicinity of an intersection of a figure whose coordinate value is not stored as data is designated, a correction process for recognizing that the intersection has been designated can be performed, and an accurate position can be designated.

[Embodiments] The present invention will be described below based on embodiments illustrated in the drawings.

Basic Configuration of Apparatus FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of an apparatus for allocating flyers and catalogs according to the present invention. Product data input device 1
Is a device for inputting product data relating to products to be published in flyers and catalogs. Here, the product data is data such as a photograph of the product, a character string indicating the product or the price, and the like. Specifically, in this embodiment, an input scanner device is used as a device for inputting a photograph of a product,
A word processor is used as a device for inputting a character string. In the case of a photograph, it is input as raster data of an image, and in the case of a character string, it is input as a character code (including a series and a typeface code).

On the other hand, a graphic is input by the graphic data input device 2. The figure input here is used as an allocation frame or a ruled line. If it is a line segment, it is expressed by the coordinate values of both end points, if it is a polygon, it is the vertex coordinate value, and if it is a circle, it is expressed by the center point coordinate value and the radius value, and is input as graphic data.

The allocation instruction input device 3 is a device for inputting an allocation instruction from an operator, and a device such as a keyboard and a mouse can be used. The allocation work device 4 is a device that performs an allocation work on the input product or graphic data based on the input allocation instruction, and is specifically realized by hardware constituting a computer main body and software for operating the same. Is done. The final result of the assignment work is output from the assignment result output device 5, and the progress of the work is sequentially displayed on the display device 6. As the assignment result output device 5, an output scanner device, a printer, or the like is used. Normally, the operator gives an output designation to the assignment result output device 5 after completing the assignment work. On the other hand, the display device 6 has a function of always displaying the allocation state at that time. Therefore, when the operator inputs an allocation instruction from the allocation instruction input device 3 and the allocation work device 4 performs an operation of allocating predetermined product data and graphic data to predetermined positions according to the instruction, the result is displayed on the display device 6. Appears immediately. Since the operator can confirm the allocation result according to the instruction given by the operator on the display on the display device 6, the operator can perform the allocation work in an interactive manner. The storage device 7 is connected to the assignment work device 4. The storage device 7 is a memory used for the computer constituting the allocating work device 4, and stores the result of the allocating work as data.

The feature of this device is that a designated point input device 8 and a designated point conversion device 9 are further provided. Each of these devices can be realized by specifically using a computer used as the assignment work device 4 and its input device as it is, and preparing dedicated software for each. The designated point input device 8 is a device for inputting one point on the display screen of the display device 6 as a designated point S, and more specifically, a coordinate input device such as a mouse is used. The hardware may be shared with the assignment instruction input device 3. When the operator moves the cursor on the screen of the display device 6 by operating the mouse and designates a desired one point S, the coordinate value of the designated point S is fetched. The designated point conversion device 9 has a function of converting the designated point S into another point Q and giving the same to the assignment instruction input device 3. This conversion is performed with reference to the graphic data stored in the storage device 7. This conversion is performed with the intention of converting the designated point S input by the operator into a correct point Q. When the operator intends to specify the intersection Q of the graphic displayed on the display device 6, it is not necessary to specify the intersection Q exactly, but it is sufficient to specify the point S in the vicinity thereof. Even if a nearby point S is designated, the intersection Q converted by the designated point conversion device 9 is given to the assignment instruction input device 3, so that the intersection Q
Produces the same result as specifying exactly

Conversion Work Now, a specific example of the conversion work by the designated point conversion device 9 will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the procedure of this conversion work. Now, assume that a plurality of figures are displayed on the display screen of the display device 6 as shown in FIG. In this example, rectangles 11, 12, a circle 13, and a line segment 14 are displayed. These figures are stored in the figure data input device 2
And is assigned to this position by the assignment work device 4. Therefore, these graphic data are stored in the storage device 7. In order to save the memory space of the storage device 7, these graphic data are stored as coordinate values of points. For example, rectangle 11 is 4
The coordinates of the vertices P1 to P4 are stored as data, and the coordinates of the four vertices P5 to P8 of the rectangle 12 are stored as data. In the circle 13, the coordinate value of the center point P9 and the value of the radius r are stored as data. Line segment 14 is defined by both end points P10,
The coordinate value of P11 is stored as data. Therefore, the point where the coordinate value is stored in the storage device 7 is represented by P1 to
Only P11. Therefore, intersections Q1, Q2 of rectangles 11 and 12
Are not recognized as points in the storage device 7.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. Here, it is assumed that the operator tries to designate the vertex P5 and actually inputs the point S1 as the designated point from the designated point input device 8. In this case, since the coordinate value of the vertex P5 is stored in the storage device 7, the vertex P5 located in the area a within the radius 1 near the designated point S1 and closest to the designated point S1 is stored in the storage device 7. It can be found by searching. Therefore, if the designated point S1 is converted into the vertex P5 by the designated point converting device 9 and given to the assignment instruction input device 3, the result is the same as when the operator directly specifies the vertex P5. That is, the designated point conversion device 9 has a function of giving the coordinate value of the vertex P5 to the assignment instruction input device 3 instead of the coordinate value of the designated point S1 given from the designated point input device 8. This is a correction function provided in the conventional device. However, when the operator attempts to designate the intersection Q1, the designated point input device 8
Therefore, when the point S2 is actually input as the designated point, the conventional device cannot convert the designated point S2 to the intersection Q1. Because the intersection Q1 is not stored as a point in the storage device 7 as described above, even if a search is made for a point in the area b within the radius 1 near the designated point S2, Cannot find the intersection Q1. In order to find such an intersection, it is theoretically possible to perform a calculation for finding the intersection for all the figures. However, it requires a huge amount of calculation, which is not practical.

The gist of the apparatus of the present application is a method of calculating only intersections near a designated point by calculation. With this method, the designated point conversion device 9 has a function of converting the designated point S into the intersection Q even when the designated point S near the intersection Q is given from the designated point input device 8. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing this technique. First, in step S1, the coordinate value of the designated point S is input from the designated point input device 8. The following step S2 is an operation of searching for a line segment near the designated point S. That is, a predetermined length 1 is determined in advance, and a line segment AB that satisfies the condition of line segment AS + line segment BS <line segment AB + 1 is searched from the storage device 7 (in this specification, the condition The expression of the line segment XX in the equation indicates the length of this line segment). The meaning of this conditional expression can be understood from FIG. In FIG. 5, when considering both end points AB of the line segment 15 and an arbitrary point S, the locus of the point S satisfying the equation of line segment AS + line segment BS = line segment AB + 1 is shown by a broken line in the figure. The ellipse becomes 16. With the above conditional expression including the inequality sign, a line segment 15 that satisfies the condition that the designated point S is located inside the ellipse 16, that is, a line segment near the designated point S is searched. . As the length 1, an appropriate value is set as a parameter indicating the degree of the neighborhood.

The following step S3 is an operation of searching for a circle near the designated point S. That is, predetermined lengths l2 and l3 are determined in advance, and a circle having a center point C and a radius r that satisfies the condition of r−l2 <line segment CS <r + l3 is searched from the storage device 7. . The meaning of this conditional expression can be understood from FIG. Sixth
In the figure, when considering a circle 17 having a center point C and a radius r, the above condition is satisfied because the designated point S is a circle 18 having a radius (r-l2) and a circle 19 having a radius (r + l3). It can be seen that this is the case in which it is located in the region between. Therefore, when a circle that satisfies this condition is searched, a circle whose circumference is near the designated point S is searched. As the lengths l2 and l3, appropriate values are set as parameters indicating the degree of the neighborhood, and usually l2 = l3.

Thus, in step S2, a line segment near the designated point S is searched, and in step S3, a circle near the designated point S is searched. Therefore, in step S4, a work of finding all the intersections of the line segment and the circle found as a result of the search is performed. As a result of the search, a plurality of line segments and circles may be found, but all intersections of these are calculated. For example, in FIG. 4, when a designated point S2 is given, a line segment 11a and a line segment 12a are found as line segments near the designated point S2. line segment
No other line segments or circles, including 11b and 12b, are found. Therefore, in this case, all the intersections obtained by the calculation are only one intersection Q1.

In the last step S5, the intersection Q closest to the designated point S is selected from the obtained intersections. If the line segment QS <l4 with respect to the predetermined length l4, the designated point S
Is converted to an intersection Q. If the line segment QS ≧ l4, the designated point S is given to the assignment instruction input device 3 without conversion. The length l4 is a parameter used for finally confirming that the designated point S is a point near the intersection Q. Even if the two line segments are both near the designated point S, the intersection may not always be near the designated point S. The length l4 is an effective parameter in such a case.

In this way, according to the apparatus of the present application, even when the designated point S2 shown in FIG. 4 is given, the designated point S2 is converted into the intersection Q1 in the vicinity thereof, and the accurate intersection It becomes possible to specify.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be implemented in various modes. For example, in the above-described embodiment, a rectangle having four vertices is taken as an example of the polygon, but this may be an arbitrary polygon. In addition, the intersection in the present invention is not limited to only the intersection of the graphic that is actually assigned, and for example,
The present invention can be applied to an intersection between auxiliary lines or an intersection between an auxiliary line and a graphic, which is displayed as a guide for the layout operation.

In the embodiment shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2, step S2
In step S3, a search for a line segment is performed, and a search for a circle is performed.If the device handles only the line segment, only step S2 is sufficient.If the device handles only the circle, only step S3 is performed. Is sufficient. The first invention of the present application relates to a device for searching for a line segment, the second invention of the present application relates to a device for searching for a circle, and the third invention of the present application relates to a line and a circle. And a device that searches for both.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the flyer / catalog allocating apparatus of the present invention, when a designated point is given, by calculating the intersection of a line segment and a circle near the designated point, the vicinity of the designated point is calculated. Since the intersection is obtained, one point on the intersection of the figure can be accurately specified on the display screen.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of a flyer / catalog allocating apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of a designated point conversion apparatus in the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of a display screen of a display device in the apparatus shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is a view for explaining conditional expressions in step S2 of the flowchart shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the conditional expression in step S3 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 11 ... rectangle, 11a, 11b ... line segment, 12 ... rectangle, 12a, 12b ... line segment,
13 ... circle, 14 ... line segment, 15 ... line segment, 16 ... oval, 17, 18, 19 ...
Circle, a, b: neighborhood area, A, B: end point, C: center point, P1 to P11
... vertex, Q1, Q2 ... intersection, S, S1, S2 ... designated point.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Koji Kotani 1-1-1, Ichigaya-Kaga-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Inside Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (72) Takashi Sekiguchi 1-1-1, Ichigaga-cho, Ichigaya-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo No. 1 Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-55-117146 (JP, A) JP-A-57-74741 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB Name) G03F 1/00-1/06

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A product data input device for inputting product data relating to a product to be published in a flyer / catalog, a graphic data input device for inputting graphic data relating to a graphic to be published, and an allocation instruction for inputting an allocation instruction from an operator. An input device, an allocating device that performs an allocating operation on the product data and the graphic data based on the input allocating instruction, a storage device that stores a result of the allocating operation as an allocation result, and An allocation result output device for outputting, a display device for displaying the work progress of the allocation work on a screen, a designated point input device for inputting one point on a display screen of the display device as a designated point, and a graphic in the storage device With reference to the data, the designated point is converted into a new point, and the point after this conversion is given to the allocation instruction input device. A point conversion device, wherein the specified point conversion device calculates, for the input specified point S, the sum of the length of the line segment AS and the length of the line segment BS, the length of the line segment AB and the first predetermined length. A line segment AB smaller than the sum of the line segment AB is searched from the graphic data in the storage device, and all intersections formed by the searched line segments are obtained. It has a function of selecting the intersection Q closest to the point S and converting the designated point S to the intersection Q when the length of the line segment QS is shorter than a second predetermined length L2. Layouter for flyers and catalogs. 2. A product data input device for inputting product data relating to a product to be posted in a flyer / catalog, a graphic data input device for inputting graphic data regarding a graphic to be posted, and an allocation instruction for inputting an allocation instruction from an operator. An input device, an allocating device that performs an allocating operation on the product data and the graphic data based on the input allocating instruction, a storage device that stores a result of the allocating operation as an allocation result, and An allocation result output device for outputting, a display device for displaying the work progress of the allocation work on a screen, a designated point input device for inputting one point on a display screen of the display device as a designated point, and a graphic in the storage device With reference to the data, the designated point is converted into a new point, and the point after this conversion is given to the allocation instruction input device. A point conversion device, wherein the specified point conversion device is configured such that, for the input specified point S, the length of the line segment CS is larger than the difference obtained by subtracting the first predetermined length L1 from the radius r, and ,
A circle having a center point C and having a radius r that satisfies a condition that the radius is smaller than the sum of the radius r and the second predetermined length L2 is searched from the graphic data in the storage device. All intersections to be formed are obtained. From the obtained intersections, an intersection Q closest to the specified point S is selected. If the length of the line segment QS is shorter than a third predetermined length L3, the specified An apparatus for allocating flyers and catalogs, having a function of converting a point S into the intersection point Q. 3. A merchandise data input device for inputting merchandise data relating to merchandise to be posted in a flyer / catalog, a graphic data input device for inputting graphic data regarding a graphic to be posted, and an allocation instruction for inputting an allocation instruction from an operator. An input device, an allocating device that performs an allocating operation on the product data and the graphic data based on the input allocating instruction, a storage device that stores a result of the allocating operation as an allocation result, and An allocation result output device for outputting, a display device for displaying the work progress of the allocation work on a screen, a designated point input device for inputting one point on a display screen of the display device as a designated point, and a graphic in the storage device With reference to the data, the designated point is converted into a new point, and the point after this conversion is given to the allocation instruction input device. A point conversion device, wherein the specified point conversion device determines that the sum of the length of the line segment AS and the length of the line segment BS for the input specified point S is the length of the line segment AB and the first predetermined length. A line segment AB smaller than the sum of the line segment AB and the length L1 is searched from the graphic data in the storage device. It is larger than the difference obtained by reducing the length L2, and
A circle having a center point C and having a radius r that satisfies the condition that the radius r is the sum of the third predetermined length L3 and the third predetermined length L3 is searched from the graphic data in the storage device. And all the intersections formed by the circles are obtained. From the obtained intersections, an intersection Q closest to the specified point S is selected, and when the length of the line segment QS is shorter than the fourth predetermined length L4, And a function for converting the designated point S into the intersection point Q.