JPH04125770A - Sheet preparing device for slip for leaflets or catalogues - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily prepare a sheet for slip by allocating a picture data and a character data in a data base read out from a storing means based on a format data at prescribed positions, developing a picture for slip and outputting the developed picture for slip a the sheet for slip. CONSTITUTION:A computer 200 reads out the picture data and the character data from the data base in a storage device 210 as needed based on the inputted format data. The picture data and character data read out by the computer 200 are applied to a picture developing device 320 for slip together with the format data and in this device, the picture for slip is developed corresponding to one sheet for slip. Namely, a raster data for one screen is generated. When the raster data for one screen is generated, a sheet S for slip is outputted by a picture output device 330 for slip. Thus, the sheet for slip can be easily prepared.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a form sheet creation device for flyers and catalogs,
In particular, the present invention relates to a form sheet creation device that uses a plate-making system that inputs images, characters, etc. of products to be laid out as data, and performs plate-making work based on these data.

[Conventional technology]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION With the development of computers, systems have been developed that use computers to perform the plate-making process for flyers and catalogs. For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-27743, an image of a product to be assigned to a flyer or catalog is input as image data using a scanner device, and
An apparatus has been disclosed that manually inputs character strings such as product descriptions as character codes using a computer phototypesetting machine, performs layout work based on these data, and performs plate making. The operator can perform layout work while looking at a display screen connected to a computer. In such a computer-based plate-making system, image data and text data for each product can be stored in the computer's storage device as a database categorized by each product. The advantage is that the data can be reused. Generally, flyers and catalogs often feature the same products as those featured in the previous printed matter, and reusing such data can greatly improve work efficiency.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Customers who have ordered the printing of flyers and catalogs use the ledger of each product listed in the flyers and catalogs to consider the products to be included in the next flyer and catalog to be published. . Therefore, printing companies that receive printing orders create and distribute these forms as part of their services to these customers. This form is made up of the spelling of a form sheet. Conventionally, in order to create this form sheet, the necessary characters were printed out on a sheet with a predetermined form printed on it, the product photo was cut out from the actual printed flyer or catalogue, and this was printed on each sheet. I was working on pasting it onto a sheet. The creation of these form sheets was all done manually, consuming a great deal of effort and time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for automatically creating and hanging form sheets for flyers and catalogs.

[Means to solve the problem]

The present invention provides a form sheet creation device using a prepress system that inputs images and characters about products to be assigned to flyers and catalogs as data, and performs prepress work based on these data. A storage means for storing images and characters in the form of a database as image data and character data for each product, a means for inputting format data that defines the format of the form sheet to be created, and a means for inputting format data that defines the format of the form sheet to be created, and a means for inputting format data that defines the format of the form sheet to be created. The present invention is configured to provide a means for allocating image data and character data in a database at predetermined positions and developing a form image, and a means for outputting the developed form image as a form sheet. .

[For production]

Automatic plate-making systems using computers can print leaflets and
Images and characters for each product to be assigned to catalogs are stored in a storage device as image data and character data. The apparatus of the present invention utilizes this database to automatically create a form sheet. When the operator inputs the format of the form sheet, the necessary image data and character data in the database are called up according to this format.
The image as a form sheet is developed, and the actual form sheet is automatically output.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be described below based on illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of a form sheet creation device for flyers and catalogs according to the present invention. This device is basically a device that utilizes an automatic plate making system for leaflets and catalogs, and first, the configuration of this automatic plate making system will be explained.

The image data input device 10 is a device for inputting images of products to be allocated to flyers and catalogs,
In this embodiment, it is constituted by an input scanner device. Normally, a color photograph of the product is scanned through this input scanner, and the image of the product is captured as image data. The character data input device 20 is a device for inputting characters regarding products to be assigned to flyers and catalogs, and in this embodiment is constituted by a word processor. Product code,
Character data such as product name, product price, and other explanatory text regarding the product are input as a series of character codes. The ruled data input device 30 is a device for inputting ruled lines and figures to be allocated to flyers and catalogs, and in this embodiment is constituted by a CAD device. The operator uses this C
Draw the necessary ruled lines and figures while looking at the display screen of the AD device. This drawing result is input as ruled data.

The plate making apparatus 100 is constituted by a computer having a layout function, and performs layout of flyers and catalogs based on image data, character data, and ruled data provided from each of the input devices described above. Specifically, a display device and input devices such as a mouse and a keyboard are connected to a computer constituting the plate-making apparatus 100, and an operator places a desired image or character in a predetermined position while viewing the display device. Give instructions for allocation. When the layout work is completed in this way, the plate making device 100 creates a collection film P based on the allocated image data, a character block down based on the allocated character data, a ruled lower K based on the allocated ruled data, Output each. Usually, the lined version and the character version are outputted on the same sheet of paper by a computerized phototypesetting machine. For details regarding the processing functions of this plate making apparatus 100, please refer to the above-mentioned publication.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a leaflet printed based on each of the printing plates output in this manner. Product photo PI, P2
is the image data input from the image data human input device 10 assigned to this position, and the characters Ll and L2 explaining the contents of the product are the character data input from the character data input device 20 assigned to this position. 2. Rule and figure Kl. 3. In 4, the ruled data input from the ruled data input device 30 is allocated to this position. Here, for convenience of explanation, a simple example in which there are only two listed products is shown, but in reality, similar allocation is performed for a large number of products.

The feature of this prepress system is that the image data input from the image data input device 10 and the character data input from the character data input device 20 are input to the computer 200, respectively.
The point is that the data is stored in the storage device 210 via the . In the apparatus of this embodiment, image data and character data inputted by an image data input device 10 and a character data input device 20 are transferred to a computer 200 via a magnetic tape,
It may be stored in the storage device 210 as a database, or may be transferred via other media, or may be transferred online. Further, as the storage device 210, any storage device such as a magnetic disk, magnetic tape, optical disk, etc. may be used. Within this storage device 210, image data and character data are stored as a database categorized for each product. FIG. 3 shows the contents of the database regarding the two products listed on the flyer shown in FIG. 2. In this embodiment, character data and image data are stored for each product using the product code as a key code. Character data is further classified into data A1 to A5, and data A1
is a character string for the product name, data A2 is a character string for the price, data A3 is a character string for the manufacturer name, data A4 is a character string for the quantity, and data A5 is a character string for the description. . These character data are composed of a series of character codes corresponding to each character. Furthermore, if necessary, a function code that defines the font, size, character spacing, etc. of the characters may be added to this character code. Note that the image data is actually saved in the form of raster data.

In this way, in the apparatus of this embodiment, if a product code is specified, image data and character data corresponding to the product code can be read out from the database in the storage device 210. If such a database is prepared, image data and text data can be reused when printing such a flyer again. That is, when posting the same product again, the image data and text data for that product can be read out from the storage device 210 and used without having to be inputted again.

The above is the basic configuration of an automatic plate making system using a computer. The form sheet creation device according to the present invention partially utilizes this system. That is, this apparatus is a system in which a format data input device 310, a document image development device 320, and a document image output device 330 are added to the automatic plate making system. The format data input device 310 is a device for inputting data regarding the format of a form sheet, and in this embodiment, it is constituted by a personal computer connected to the computer 200 serving as a host.

The form image development device 320 is a device that develops raster data corresponding to a form image, and in this embodiment, it is also configured by a personal computer. The form image output device is a device that actually outputs a form image in the form of a form sheet S, and in this embodiment is constituted by a color hard copy device.

The work of creating a form sheet using this device is as follows. To perform work with this device, the storage device 210
A prerequisite is that a database for each product is stored within the system. That is, in a normal case, the plate-making process by the plate-making apparatus 100 has already been completed, and the actual flyer or catalog has been printed. here,
An example will be explained in which a flyer as shown in FIG. 2 is actually printed. First, the operator inputs format data from the format data input device 310. This format data is data that defines the format of the form sheet to be created, and includes the following two types of information. That is, the first information is information related to matters written in common on the six pages of the form sheet to be created, and is usually data related to ruled lines and fixed character strings. The second information is information regarding layout, which data is to be read from the database and to which position on the form sheet. FIG. 4 shows an example of this format. A form sheet is a sheet on which ruled lines and character strings are written in such a format, and images and character information related to the product are allocated thereto. In FIG. 4, hatched areas B1 to B8 are areas for this allocation.

The format data includes first information indicating the ruled lines and character strings of the format shown in FIG. 4, and areas B1 to B.
and second information indicating which data is to be allocated to 8. The first information can be configured by, for example, coordinate values of end points in the case of a ruled line, and character codes in the case of a character string. Further, the second information can be constituted by data in which data to be allocated to each area is associated with each other. In the example shown in FIG. 4, areas Bl, B2. B3 is associated with a product code, character data AI, and character data A2 for a product with product code H90-001, respectively, and image data regarding this product is associated with area B4. In addition, areas B5°B6. B7 is associated with the product code, character data Al, and character data A2 for the product with the product code H90-002, respectively,
Image data regarding this product is associated with area B8. Such format data is input by an operator using an input device such as a mouse or a keyboard while looking at the display screen of a personal computer that constitutes the format data input device 310 based on a request from a customer. .

Computer 200 reads necessary image data and character data from the database in storage device 210 based on the input format data. In the example described here, among the various data in the database shown in FIG. 3, character data AI, A2 and image data specified by the format data are read out. In this way, the image data and character data read by the computer 200 are given to the form image development device 320 together with the format data.

Here, an image corresponding to one form sheet is developed. That is, raster data for one screen is generated. Since the given image data is originally raster data, it can be scaled to a desired size by performing thinning or interpolation processing if necessary, and then allocated to a predetermined position as is. However, since the provided character data is in the form of a character code, it is converted into raster data in the form image development device 320. The form image development device 320 has built-in font data corresponding to each character code, and conversion into raster data is performed by referring to this font data. Furthermore, portions of the format data such as ruled lines and character strings are similarly converted to raster data.

In this way, when raster data for one screen is generated,
The form image output device 330 outputs the form sheet S. In this embodiment, the color hard copy device outputs the form sheet S as a color hard copy. FIG. 5 shows an example of a form sheet S output in this manner. Area B1 of the format shown in Figure 4
Character data is allocated to B3°85 to B7, respectively, and areas B4. Image data is allocated to B8.

For convenience of explanation, here, we have shown an example of creating one form sheet S for two products, but in reality, form sheets S for many products can be automatically created in the same way. It turns out.

Although the present invention has been described above based on one embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment and can be implemented in various ways. For example, the form image output device 330
We have shown an example using a color hard copy device, but
- It is also possible to output the form sheet 1-S using a printer for a digital personal computer.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a form sheet is automatically created using a database in an automatic plate making system using a computer, so that a form sheet can be easily created.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of a leaflet/catalog form sheet creation device according to the present invention, and FIG.
Figure 3 is a diagram showing an example of a flyer printed based on each version output by the plate-making device shown in Figure 3. Figure 3 is a diagram showing the contents of the database for the two products listed on the flyer shown in Figure 2. , FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a format input to the device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a form sheet created by the device shown in FIG. 1. PL, P2...Photo, LL, L2...Text, Kl. K2. 3. 4...Ruled lines/shapes, B1-B8...
allocated area. Patent applicant Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. Applicant agent Patent attorney Hiroshi Shimura Figure 1 Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A form sheet creation device that uses a plate-making system that inputs images and characters about products to be assigned to flyers and catalogs as data, and performs plate-making work based on these data, comprising: a storage means for storing images and characters handled by the prepress system in the form of a database as image data and character data for each product, and means for inputting format data defining a format of a form sheet to be created; means for allocating image data and character data in the database to predetermined positions based on the format data and developing a form image; and means for outputting the developed form image as a form sheet. A sheet creation device for forms for flyers and catalogues.