JPH0287141A - Layout scanner system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To greatly improve a processing speed and to prevent the deterioration of image quality by not executing variable power processing of images which require trimming alone and do not require the variable power processing. CONSTITUTION:Whether there is a need for the variable power processing after trimming or not is decided from whether the product of the definition and magnification at the time of diversion of the image and the product of the definition and magnification at the time of taking in the image are nearly the same or not. The coordinates of the region to be trimmed are exactly calcu lated in the form of compensating a digital error from the coordinate informa tion of the reference point P of the image information for image processing stored on an optical disk if there is no need for the variable power processing after trimming. The start point S and end point E of the trimming are thus calculated. Namely, the image which requires the trimming alone and does not require the variable power processing is not subjected to the variable power processing, by which the information quantity and memory quantity necessary for executing various kinds of the image processing are decreased and the processing speed is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a layout scanner system used for plate making of manuscripts such as color photographs, and particularly to a layout scanner system that significantly reduces memory capacity and significantly increases processing speed. The present invention relates to a layout scanner system that can be improved.

[Prior Art] Currently, in the field of plate making, layout scanner systems have been developed and put into practical use when making plates of manuscripts such as color photographs. This layout scanner system has an editing function that can output one or more images in a desired layout on one film. This type of layout scanner system is sold by many manufacturers.
This is an extremely innovative plate-making system.

Its internal use is, for example, in special processing such as erasing acne, wrinkles, etc. from human images, and in plate-making (block collection). In addition, printing color photographs is treated as a temporary process, but catalogs, pamphlets, leaflets, etc.
Perform image processing such as reduction, rotation, etc., or reuse by changing cropping.

Often reused. Such operations are often referred to as "plate collection work" and "prepress work using a database" in the latter case.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, color photographs and the like that are used (appropriated or reused) can be stored and reused in recording media such as magnetic tapes and magnetic disks.

At this time, you can also perform processing such as enlarging, reducing, rotating, etc.
Time consuming and low productivity. In other words, the reason for this is that when a color photograph is used for printing, the film is rarely fully trimmed (in most cases, it is cut by 30 to 40%. However, current layout scanners The system does not take any measures against such problems, and simply accesses the entire area using the file name of the photo, etc., regardless of the cropping size. Processing such as rotation is performed within the film using affine transformation, but it takes a very long time as it processes areas other than the necessary areas.Furthermore, when placing a color photograph, one A single photo must be displayed and placed by a worker, making it difficult to fully automate this aspect as well.

On the other hand, when trying to smoothly operate a database system in this type of layout scanner system, conventional systems store image information as a database and bring it into the system with full trimming. The problems with such a system are, firstly, when compiling a book using a layout scanner, the image information that is the subject of calculations may be much larger than the information other than the necessary part (trimming). The second problem is that it takes more time to calculate the layout than necessary (the same applies when changing the size of the target image information by one rotation).

It may be difficult to create image information for other media such as CDI. Therefore, recently, as a method to solve such problems, a system equipped with image information trimming processing and scaling processing functions has been considered. However, when considering practical operation, there are many cases where scaling processing is not substantially necessary except for cropping.

For example, for catalogs, etc., it is necessary to perform plate making at the same resolution and magnification as when constructing the database.

In such cases, even if trimming is necessary,
There is almost no need to change the magnification (for example, if the magnification is X and ±1%
In this case, there is a problem in that the scaling process is performed despite 0.99<x<1.01), which increases the processing time and reduces the processing speed. Also,
The more magnification processing is performed, the more the image quality deteriorates. Furthermore, when operating at the same resolution and magnification as at the time of image capture, the cropping area should be calculated assuming that the magnification at the time of operation is 1.0x, but due to slight differences in magnification and digital errors (rounding errors), the desired In such cases, it is extremely difficult to perform normal compilation work on a layout scanner without scaling. In other words. Consistency between the data management information that the system already has and the image data is lost.

As mentioned above, in conventional layout scanner systems, image processing is performed on both necessary and non-necessary areas, and further processing is performed on areas that do not require scaling processing, simply by cropping. , the system's storage medium capacity is used more than necessary, and the processing time is extremely long (not only does it take a long time), but also the quality after image processing deteriorates, resulting in a decrease in work efficiency and a slowdown in the print production process. There was a problem in improving the quality of plate making, which occupies an important position, and shortening the delivery time.Furthermore, there was a problem that arrangement after image processing could not be performed automatically.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it automatically determines the necessary (to be processed) area in the document, and also eliminates the need for scaling processing by simply performing cropping. By not processing objects for scaling, it is possible to significantly reduce the amount of information and memory required when performing various image processing, and to greatly improve processing speed. can be done automatically,
Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide a layout scanner system that can prevent deterioration of image quality due to scaling processing.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a layout scanner system having an editing function capable of outputting at least one image in a desired layout on one sheet of film. an image input means for inputting an image, color-separating the image information and outputting it; a first storage means for storing the image information output from the image input means; an input means for reading positional information such as plate making size and mask information, a second storage means for storing positional information output from the input means, and a magnification angle determining means for measuring the magnification and inclination angle of the original in the finished state. a third storage means for storing the image information outputted from the image display means and the image input means as a database by adding coordinate information of at least one reference point regarding trimming to the image information; 1st and 2nd
A function for reading out image information and position information stored in the storage means of and displaying this information on the image display means based on the magnification and tilt angle information output from the magnification angle determining means, image diversion (operation) A function that determines whether scaling processing is necessary after cropping based on whether the product of resolution and magnification at the time of image capture is approximately the same as the product of resolution and magnification at the time of importing the image, and If there is a need for doubling processing, the coordinates of the area to be trimmed are calculated from the coordinate information of the reference point of the image information to be processed, which is stored in the third storage means, and the starting and ending points of trimming are calculated. Points are calculated and subjected to scaling processing, and if there is no need for scaling processing after trimming, the coordinate information of the reference point of the image information to be image processed stored in the third storage means is used. .

The apparatus is equipped with an image processing means having a function of calculating the coordinates of the area to be trimmed so that the size after trimming becomes a predetermined size, and calculating the start point and end point of trimming.

[Function] Therefore, in the layout scanner system of the present invention, when storing image information as a database, in addition to various attributes such as file names, like a normal database, at least one reference point related to trimming is stored. By adding coordinate information, it is possible to automatically calculate and process a region to be trimmed of image information to be subjected to image processing and a reference point for placement. As a result, the image processing size can be significantly reduced, the amount of information stored in memory can be reduced, and the processing speed can be increased, and it is also possible to automatically arrange the information after image processing. Furthermore, when reusing (using) an image stored as a database, if the product of resolution and magnification at the time of reusing (using) the image is almost the same as the product of resolution and magnification at the time of importing the image, cropping is required. By determining the trimming area by calculating the trimming start and end points so that the final size is a predetermined size, the image processing speed is improved by eliminating the scaling process of enlarging and reducing after trimming. It is possible to further improve the image quality and prevent deterioration of the quality of one image.

[Example] First, the concept of the present invention will be described.

In a layout scanner system equipped with an editing function that performs color separation of color originals and layout for final finishing, that is, a full-page collection function, in order to run the system as efficiently as possible, color originals are transferred to the scanner drum. It is extremely important to stick at the correct angle. Also in this case, for example “
As seen in Japanese Patent Application No. 58-217258, it is also possible to specify arbitrary points (referred to as reference points or singular points) for positioning the patterns of color originals.What is important here is that As shown in Figure 2, if P is a reference point on a digital signal separated into colors by a color scanner, the coordinates (or address) of this reference point P and the origin 0 of the digital image have changed in size. can be easily determined from the scanning line density and magnification when performing color separation.

In the present invention, when storing a color original as a digital image database, in addition to various attributes such as a file name, as in a normal character database, coordinate (address) information of a reference point P is stored. This is something to add. Here, when creating a database of image information of a color original, it is necessary to create the database with full trimming (up to the black edges of the color photograph). this is,
This is because when a color photograph is reused or diverted, it cannot be determined whether the entire color photograph will be used or only a portion thereof. On the other hand, when reusing a color manuscript (photograph) that has been made into a database, if the trimming area indicated by the dashed line size in Figure 3 is specified at the stage of creating a printed matter, a new trimming start point S and the end point E (required image area) is the resolution,
It can be easily determined from the relationship between the enlargement/reduction magnification, the new trimming size (dotted line size), and the reference point, and then image processing can be performed.

Furthermore, in the present invention, when determining this new trimming size (required image area), the necessity of scaling processing after trimming is also taken into consideration. That is,
Determining whether there is a need for scaling processing after cropping, depending on whether the product of the resolution and magnification when the image is used (used) is almost the same as the product of the resolution and magnification when the image is captured, (In other words, the resolution and magnification during diversion (operation) are
There is no need to perform scaling processing not only when the resolution and magnification are almost the same as at the time of import, but also when the product of resolution and magnification is almost the same at the time of import and at the time of diversion (operation) even if the resolution and magnification are different. It is determined that ) As a result, if there is no need for scaling processing, the coordinates of the area to be trimmed are calculated from the coordinate information of the reference point P of the image information so that the size after trimming becomes a predetermined size. , to calculate the start and end points of trimming.

An embodiment of the present invention based on the above concept will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the output of the layout scanner system according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the layout scanner system of this embodiment includes a color scanner 1 as an image input means, a magnetic disk 2 as a first storage means, a digitizer 3 as an interactive input means, and a graphic data reader. a magnetic disk 5 or a floppy disk 6 as a second storage means; a magnification angle setting position 7 and a floppy disk 8 as a magnification angle setting means; a color display 9 as an image display means; The images are output from an optical disk 10 which is a storage means, a computer 11 which is an image processing means, and an output device 12 which is an output means.

Here, the color scanner 1 inputs an image of a color photograph as a document, separates this image information into colors, and outputs it. Further, the magnetic disk 2 is used to store image information output from the color scanner 1. On the other hand, the digitizer 3 reads positional information such as plate making size and mask information shown on the layout designation sheet or the master copy, and displays this on the graphic display 4. Further, the magnetic disk 5 or floppy disk 6 is used to store position information output from the digitizer 3. Furthermore, the magnification angle measuring position 7 measures the magnification and inclination angle of the original in the finished state, and stores these on the floppy disk 8.

On the other hand, the optical disc 10 stores image information output from the color scanner 1 as a database by adding coordinate information of at least one reference point related to trimming to the image information. The computer 11 also reads the image information and position information stored on the magnetic disk 2 and the magnetic disk 5, respectively, and displays this information on a color display based on the magnification and tilt angle information stored on the floppy disk 8. 9. Depending on whether the product of resolution and magnification at the time of image diversion (operation) is almost the same as the product of resolution and magnification at the time of importing the image, the need for scaling processing after cropping. If there is a need for a function to determine the presence or absence of the image, and if there is a need for scaling processing after trimming, the area to be trimmed can be determined based on the coordinate information of the reference point of the image information to be processed, which is stored on the optical disc 10. The coordinates are calculated, the start and end points of trimming are calculated, and scaling processing is performed.If there is no need for scaling processing after trimming, the image information to be subjected to image processing stored in the optical disc 10 is The position of the reference point (from the type information, calculate the coordinates of the area to be trimmed with digital error (rounding error) compensated so that the size after trimming will be the predetermined desired size, and start trimming. The output device 12 has a function of calculating points and end points.Furthermore, the output device 12 outputs information processed by the computer 11 as a plate-making film.

Next, in the layout scanner system output as described above, the image information of the color photograph color-separated by the color scanner 1 is once stored on the magnetic disk 2. Further, positional information such as the plate making size and mask information shown on the layout designation sheet or the master plate is read by an appropriate means such as the digitizer 3 and stored on the magnetic disk 5 or floppy disk 6, and is also stored on the graphic disk. Displayed on Spray 4. Furthermore, the magnification and tilt angle of the original in the finished state are adjusted to the magnification angle position 7.
is measured and stored on the floppy disk 8. Furthermore, the image information output from the color scanner 1 is stored in the optical disk 10 as a database with coordinate information of one reference point P related to trimming added to the image information.

On the other hand, the computer 11 calculates the coordinates of the area to be trimmed from the coordinate information of the reference point P of the image information to be processed, which is stored on the optical disc 10, and calculates the start point S and end point E of the trimming. Image processing is then performed. That is, the magnetic disk 2 and the magnetic disk 5
The image information and position information stored in the floppy disk 8 are read out, and this information is displayed on the color display 9 based on the magnification and tilt angle information stored in the floppy disk 8. In this case, the computer 11 adjusts the relative position between the line indicating the mask displayed on the color display 9 and the color-separated image information, so that the color-separated image information is automatically placed at a predetermined position. image information and position information are combined. By performing such image processing on each color-separated image, the positions of all images to be output on -sheets of film are determined and output as a plate-making film. In addition, if necessary, a color hard copy Iso (not shown) can be used.
It may also be output as a color hard copy.

In this case, the necessity of scaling processing after cropping depends on whether the product of resolution and magnification when the image is used (used) is almost the same as the product of resolution and magnification when the image is imported. The presence or absence is determined. As a result, if there is a need for scaling processing after trimming, the coordinates of the area to be trimmed are calculated from the coordinate information of the reference point P of the image information to be processed, which is stored on the optical disc 10. The start point S and end point E of trimming are calculated and the scaling process is performed. On the other hand, if there is no need for scaling processing after trimming, the size after trimming is predetermined from the coordinate information of the reference point P of the image information to be processed, which is stored on the optical disc 10. The coordinates of the area to be trimmed are accurately calculated with digital errors (rounding errors) compensated so that the size after trimming becomes the desired size after scaling, and the starting point S of trimming is calculated. and the end point E is calculated.

Here, the predetermined size is a magnification for outputting a plate-making film by the output device 12.

This is the image size (line x column) determined from the resolution and size (length). This size is the size measured from the layout designation paper or block copy plus a reserve.

I will discuss this point in detail. That is, as shown in FIG. 4(a), the trimming area to be trimmed from the image information A stored on the optical disc 10 is B,
Further, as shown in FIG. 4(b), the image information area at the time of diversion (operation) is assumed to be C.

Here, for example, the size of trimming area B after calculation is
600th line to 1200th line → 601st line, 1
The 00th column to the 1000th column = 901st column, and the size of the image information area C during reuse (operation) is set to 600.
In the case of lines x 900 columns, the calculated size of trimming area B is 600 lines to 1199 lines, 600 lines, 100 columns to 999 columns →
Trimming is performed by changing to 900 columns.

As described above, in the layout scanner system of this embodiment, when storing the image information of a color photograph as a document as a database, in addition to various attributes such as file names, as in a normal database, at least information related to trimming is stored. The coordinate information of one reference point P is added, the coordinates of the area to be trimmed are calculated from the coordinate information of the reference point P of the image information to be image processed, and the start point S and end point E of trimming are calculated. Since the image processing is performed based on the image information, the region to be trimmed and the reference point for arrangement of the image information to be subjected to the image processing can be automatically calculated and processed.

As a result, the image processing size can be significantly reduced and information m,
The memory capacity can be reduced and the processing speed can be increased, and the arrangement after image processing can also be performed automatically.

In other words, in Figure 3, for example, the size when printing the imported color photograph is set to a resolution of 12 lines/mm.
and the size in the X direction and Y direction is 15 cm and 1
08+11. In addition, when reusing color photographs in a database, the cropping size (dotted line size in Figure 3) is set to 10 cm in the X and Y directions.
and 6 cm. Here, in the conventional image processing method, the entire image is accessed regardless of the trimming size.

Calculating the data poison in this case, (150X 1
2) X (100X 12) X 4-864000
It becomes 0 bytes. However, the depth of one pixel is 8 bits.

In contrast, the image processing method of this embodiment automatically calculates the area that is really necessary (to be processed) in a color photograph, and only this area (the size indicated by the dashed line in Fig. 3) is processed. is being accessed. The data in this case is (100x 12) x (60x 12) x 4-
It becomes 3456000 bytes. That is, the access size, which was conventionally 8.6 megabytes, can be significantly reduced to 3.5 megabytes in this embodiment.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, when reusing (operating) image information stored as a database, the product of the resolution and magnification at the time of reusing (operating) the image information is the product of the resolution and magnification at the time of importing this image information. When the size is almost the same as that, the coordinates of the area B to be trimmed are calculated so that the size after trimming becomes the predetermined size, and the starting point S and ending point E of trimming are calculated. , Enlargement and expansion of image information after trimming during image information operation.
It is possible to eliminate the scaling process of reduction, thereby further improving the image processing speed and preventing deterioration of image quality due to the scaling process.

As described above, in the layout scanner system of this embodiment, image processing is performed only on the necessary areas of the color photograph that is the original, so the capacity of the system's storage medium (magnetic disk 2.5, etc.) is This increases productivity by about 3 to 5 times, increasing productivity by 3 to 5 times. It is possible to improve quality and shorten delivery time.Also, it is also possible to automatically perform placement after image processing.

Furthermore, if the product of resolution and magnification when image information is used (used) is almost the same as the product of resolution and magnification when this image information is imported, then the image information after trimming can be enlarged and
Since the scaling process for reduction is omitted, it is possible to further improve the image processing speed and prevent image quality from deteriorating due to the scaling process.

In the second embodiment, information on reference points of a color photograph as a manuscript is taken in at the time of inputting the image. ” It is also possible to instruct with “2”.

Further, in the above embodiment, the reference point was set as point P within the pattern of the color photograph, but it is not limited to this, but it may also be set as an IE point in the color photograph, or any point outside the color photograph. Good too. Of course, the 0 point, which is the input origin, may be used as the p reference point, but it is more efficient to place the reference point within the newly trimmed part (dashed line), so it is usually important to This is a key point.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the original is a color photograph has been described, but it goes without saying that other types may be used.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the necessary (to be processed) area in the document is automatically determined, and the scaling process is not performed on the area that is only to be trimmed and does not require scaling processing. Therefore, the information required when performing various image processing can significantly reduce the amount of memory, greatly improve processing speed, and automatically arrange the information after image processing. It is possible to provide a layout scanner system that can prevent deterioration of image quality due to scaling processing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a layout scanner system according to the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are conceptual diagrams for explaining the present invention in detail, and FIG. 4 explains the operation of the same embodiment. This is a conceptual diagram for 1...Color scanner 2...Magnetic disk, 3
... Digitizer 4... Graphic display, 5... Magnetic disk, 6... Floppy disk, 7... Magnification angle position, 8... Floppy disk, 9... Color display, 10... Optical disk, 11... Computer, 12... Output device. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a layout scanner system having an editing function that can output at least one image in a desired layout on one sheet of film, an image of a document is input, the image information is separated into colors, and the image information is output. a first storage means for storing image information outputted from the image input means; and an input means for reading positional information such as plate making size and mask information shown on the layout designation paper or the block copy. and second storage means for storing the position information output from the input means; magnification angle determining means for measuring the magnification and inclination angle of the document in the finished state; image display means; and output from the image input means. a third storage means for storing image information as a database by adding coordinate information of at least one reference point regarding trimming to the image information, and storing the image information in the first and second storage means; A function for reading out image information and position information from the image displaying means and displaying this information on the image display means based on the magnification and tilt angle information output from the magnification angle determining means, and a resolution when the image is used (operated). A function that determines whether or not scaling processing is necessary after cropping, based on whether the product of magnification is approximately the same as the product of resolution and magnification at the time of capturing the image;
If there is a need for scaling processing after trimming, the coordinates of the area to be trimmed are calculated from the coordinate information of the reference point of the image information to be processed, which is stored in the third storage means. Calculate the start point and end point of trimming and perform scaling processing, and if there is no need for scaling processing after trimming, image information to be subjected to image processing stored in the third storage means. From the coordinate information of the reference point of
An image processing means having a function of calculating the coordinates of the area to be trimmed and calculating the start point and end point of trimming so that the size after trimming becomes a predetermined size. layout scanner system.