JPH06289587A - Layout design device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily compare layouts between pages and to improve the operability of moving materials to be placed on the pages while conducting a layout design of a plural page printed matter using a computer system. CONSTITUTION:A display screen E1 has two display areas A1 and A2. Moreover, regions, in which plural pages are included and layouts are different, are mapped in each area A1 and A2. Therefore, separated regions on the layouts are respectively displayed in each area A1 and A2 and the layout and the design are easily compared among separated regions. Furthermore, since a separated portion of one layout area is simultaneously displayed, designation of a material I1 to be moved and an accurate position designation of the place to be moved are conducted without changing the screen.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is used at the stage of designing a paper surface in a printing process, and can be used on a display screen, etc.
The present invention relates to a layout design device for simulating and creating layouts and designs of catalogs, leaflets, magazines, etc., and particularly to a layout design device capable of outputting created data as data that can be diverted to other printing processes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, at the design stage in a printing process, a designer creates a material such as a photo original, a character original, and a line drawing on a layout sheet based on a basic layout plan including information such as the number of pages and the number of divisions. I was studying the layout of each page by allocating or drawing. Then, the layout finally determined as a result of the examination is instructed to the printing company in the form of an allocation instruction sheet or the like. However, in the case of producing a printed matter such as a catalog having a large number of pages, determining the layout of the printed matter by the above-mentioned method requires a great deal of labor and time.

Therefore, recently, there has been proposed a technique (allocation device, etc.) for simulating the layout and design of the printed matter at the design stage on a display screen using a computer system. . The purpose of such a device is to efficiently carry out the design study work, which was conventionally done manually by a designer, by using a computer system.

To briefly describe specific working means and operating methods, first, a photograph original used for design study is loaded into a computer from an image input device such as a flat head scanner and registered. For a text original, data input by a word processor or the like is taken into a computer and registered. Alternatively, the manuscript is input by directly inputting it from the keyboard of the computer to register it.

Next, the work conventionally performed on the layout sheet by the designer is performed on the display. That is, a display corresponding to the layout sheet of the printed matter is displayed on the display, and the registered manuscript (image data, character data) is called, and the arrangement position and size of the photograph, the arrangement position and size of the character, and the graphic The layout simulation of the printed matter is performed by performing operations such as setting a flat screen, ruled lines, and the like. In other words, it is a device that simulates a layout on the screen by regarding the display screen as one layout sheet.

The layout screen on the display screen has a coordinate system independent of the layout data. The coordinate system of the layout screen is expressed in units of one pixel,
It is mapped at a desired position in the layout area in the layout data at a desired magnification. That is, when the layout area is larger than the display area of the display, a part of the layout area, which is divided into rectangles, is enlarged or reduced to the size of the display screen and fitted into the display screen.

In the layout area of the layout data, the size represented by one pixel in the display area is determined by the display magnification, and this value becomes the layout accuracy in the display area. That is, when a wide range of the layout area is reduced and displayed in the display area at a high reduction ratio, if the position of an arbitrary pixel in the display area is designated by a cursor or the like, the range of the layout area corresponding to the one pixel is large. Therefore, the position of one point in the layout area cannot be specified with high accuracy. On the other hand, the range displayed on the display screen is the accuracy of one pixel (the size of the range of the layout area corresponding to one pixel).
And the number of pixels on the display screen.

[0008]

By the way, in the conventional apparatus for designing and simulating the layout on the display, only one layout display screen can be displayed on the display. There was a problem. In the layout design device, when performing layout over a plurality of pages, there are two ways of using the coordinate system of the layout information.
One is to have an independent coordinate system for each minimum unit of layout (hereinafter, the former), and the other is to arrange a plurality of pages in one coordinate system (hereinafter, the latter).

In the former case, the smallest unit handled as a unit of the layout area is a page, and the largest unit is a two-page spread (two pages). Since these units have independent coordinate systems, display is possible. It is not possible to map more than one layout area unit (one page or facing page) on the screen. That is, it is not possible to simultaneously display two or more layout areas on the display screen except for the spread pages.

On the other hand, in the latter case, a plurality of pages can be displayed on one screen, but they are regularly arranged in the order of page numbers. For this reason, in a conventional layout design device that can open only one screen in any coordinate system, pages that are actually distant can be arranged close to each other so that the configuration and content can be arranged in a manual process. It becomes impossible to proceed with the work while comparing.

Further, in the conventional system, because of the relationship between the display accuracy of the layout screen and the display range, when an extremely wide range of layout information is to be displayed on the layout screen, the display magnification must be reduced. Therefore, the accuracy of the display becomes coarse. On the contrary, if the accuracy of the display is increased, the displayable range on the display screen becomes narrow. Considering changing the layout by moving character data or image data while looking at the display screen, both the former and the latter move the material within the display screen displayed at the desired magnification. When it is performed, it can be performed by a simple operation, but when it is attempted to move outside the area displayed on the display screen, it is necessary to follow a complicated operation procedure.

[0012] For example, as described above, in the former case, the layout data exceeding the unit of the layout area cannot be displayed on one display screen. Therefore, the information of the moving material is stored in the temporary storage area and the display screen is displayed. After displaying the page to be moved to by switching the above, it is necessary to take the procedure of reading the material information from the temporary storage area. Further, in the latter case, it is possible to display and move as wide a range as possible on one screen, but the display accuracy on the screen becomes rough due to the problem of screen resolution. That is, it is difficult to accurately specify the allocation position of image data or character data on the display screen. Therefore, after moving the material data near the target position with a wide range displayed, change the display magnification to display it with high accuracy and assign it to the correct position in the final arrangement. There is a need.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to easily compare layouts between different pages and perform layouts and designs of printed materials using a computer system. It is an object of the present invention to provide a layout design device capable of easily setting the arrangement by moving material data between positions that are spaced apart from each other or that are apart from each other.

[0014]

A layout design apparatus of the present invention is a material input means for inputting material data such as image data and character data, an allocation position in the layout area of the material data, and a display of the material data. Layout input means for inputting layout data such as appearance, storage means for storing the material data and layout data, display means for displaying the material data, and display of the material data at an arbitrary allocation position and display appearance. Display control means for performing display control so that the display means displays as an image, and the allocation position or display appearance of the material data displayed as an image on the display means is changed on the display means based on the display control of the display control means. And a layout changing means for changing layout data by changing the layout data. And a layout design apparatus for designing, wherein the display means has at least two or more independent display areas, and the display control means includes a display area included in the layout data in each of the display areas. Displaying different portions of the two layout areas is used as a solution to the above problem.

The layout changing means may transfer the material data displayed in one display area to the other display area among a plurality of independent display areas, and change the layout data by transferring the material data. preferable.

[0016]

According to the above construction, the same layout work as that of a general well-known layout design apparatus, that is, the material data is input from the material data input means, the material data is stored in the storage means, and the display control means is controlled. Input the layout data by displaying the characters and images of the material data on the display screen of the display means based on the screen and setting the layout position and size of the material data on the display screen by the layout input means. However, the operation of storing the layout data in the storage unit can be performed.

Further, based on the stored layout data, each material data is allocated and displayed on the display screen of the display means under the control of the display control means, similarly to the layout input means. The layout changing means changes the layout data by instructing to change the position and size of each material data on the display screen. The layout design device of the present invention is
On the display screen of the display means together with the well-known functions as described above,
It has at least two independent display areas, and these display areas can display different parts of one layout area by the display control means. That is, each display area is mapped to a part of the layout area.

Therefore, in one layout area,
According to the latter method of the above-mentioned conventional example of arranging a plurality of pages, it is possible to arrange 2
By displaying two or more pages in each display area of the front screen, the above pages can be compared in one display screen. Further, when the layout changing means moves to a distant position in one layout area, two display areas are used, and a portion where the material data is originally located in one display area is displayed at an arbitrary magnification. Then, the destination of the material data is displayed in the other display area at a magnification that allows accurate alignment of the material data. Then, by specifying the material data to be moved in one display area and instructing the exact destination position in the other display area, the material data can be moved to a distant point in a large layout area where multiple pages are arranged. Can be easily moved and assigned.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the layout design apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in the block diagram of FIG. 1, the layout designing apparatus 1 of this embodiment includes a flat head scanner, a CTS (Computerize
Material input means 2 consisting of d Typesetting System) device etc.
An interactive input means 3 including a tablet, a digitizer, a mouse and a keyboard, a display means 4 including a color display and a frame memory, a layout design device body 5 including a computing unit and a main storage unit, a hard disk and an optical disk. Storage means 6 comprising an external storage device such as a magnetic disk, and data output means 7 connected to the data communication means.
It is composed of

Next, the functions of the above means will be described. The material input means 2 has a well-known function of inputting image data such as photographs and character data. When inputting image data with a scanner or the like, the image data may be of high resolution that can be used in the plate making process, or it can be used only in the design process and is easy to handle even in a small computer system. A low resolution one may be used. Also, the image data is
Image processing such as color correction, rotation, enlargement, reduction, and trimming may be performed in advance. Further, when inputting character data, only character data (a code such as JIS code indicating a character) may be input from the keyboard, or a typeface, series, character spacing, line spacing, etc. can be obtained by using the CTS device. It may be a typeset.

The interactive input means 3 has a known function of interactively giving an input instruction in each functional process. For example, an instruction is given to the material input means 2 or the like, or a position of material data on a layout area is instructed in a layout. The storage unit 6 has a known function of storing and saving material data and layout data, for example, and can store a large amount of data in this embodiment.
For example, a hard disk is used. Display means 4
Has a known function of displaying a layout area corresponding to the layout data stored in the storage unit 6.

The arithmetic unit of the layout design apparatus main body 5 is a well-known arithmetic processing unit used in a computer, and has a function of performing various arithmetic processing by a program stored in the main storage unit of the layout design apparatus main body 5. ing. Then, the arithmetic unit is displayed on the display screen of the display unit 4, and the image data stored in the storage unit 6 at a desired portion of the layout area showing the paper surface of the plurality of pages based on the layout data. It has a well-known display control function for controlling to display material data such as character data and graphic data.

Further, for material data such as image data, character data, graphic data, etc., the size, position, etc. when these material data are displayed in the layout area can be set in accordance with the instruction of the interactive input means 3. It has a well-known function of storing these pieces of information in the storage means 6 as layout data. Further, the calculation unit gives the layout data by giving an instruction from the interactive input unit 3 to the image, character, figure, etc. displayed on the display unit 4 based on the layout data input as described above. It has a well-known function to change.

Here, the arithmetic unit stores one layout area included in the layout data in the frame memory area allocated to the main storage unit, and designates the coordinates of an arbitrary rectangular area of the coordinate system of the layout area. By doing so, the frame memory of the display means 4 is mapped to the rectangular area, the display control for displaying the rectangular area on the display means 4 is performed, and the display screen of the display means 4 is divided into a plurality of areas. It has a function of designating a plurality of rectangular areas and displaying the designated plurality of rectangular areas on each of the divided display screens. The data output means 7 selects desired data from layout and layout information after design work,
For example, it has a function of outputting layout data, character data, and the like.

Next, the operation of the layout design apparatus 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. In the material information input (Step 1), material data such as image data and character data is input from the material input means 2 and stored in the storage means 6. The layout information input (Step 2) is, as the layout information, instructing the setting of the layout area such as the size of each page of the printed matter or whether it is a double-page spread or the like by the interactive input means 3, or is stored in the storage means 6 in advance. When the layout area is used, the layout area is designated and read and stored in the storage means 6 as a part of the layout data.

The layout design (Step 3) reads the layout area from the storage means 6 and stores it in the frame memory area of the main storage unit of the layout design apparatus body 5. Then, the layout area is displayed on the display screen by the display means 4. Then, in the layout area, the position of each material data based on the instruction from the dialogue input means 3 by the worker,
In addition to setting the size and the like, the display control function of the arithmetic unit causes each material data to be displayed on the display screen of the display unit 4, and the operator can try the position of the material data while looking at the display screen. The position and size of the material data in these layout areas are stored in the storage means 6 as layout data, with mistakes.

Further, the layout area in which each material is posted is displayed on the display means 4 based on the layout data once created, and the dialogue input means 3 is placed in this layout area.
The layout is changed by giving an instruction from the storage unit 6 and stored in the storage unit 6 as layout data. Regarding each material data, for example, image processing such as size setting (magnification processing), display angle setting (rotation processing), display region setting (trimming processing), color correction, etc. for image data, The typeface of the character, the size (series) of the character, the character spacing, the line spacing, and the typesetting for the character data may all be typeset in this layout design process, or all or part of it may be performed in advance. In advance, the remaining processing and the allocation processing of each material data may be performed in this step.

The data output (Step 4) outputs the layout data created by the above-described layout and design processing as data that can be diverted to a plate making apparatus such as a layout scanner or a typesetting apparatus such as a CTS apparatus used in the plate making process. To do. That is, the layout data is compatible with a layout scanner and CTS. For example, a typeface and series data determined by character data can be applied to a CTS device, and a scaling process determined by image data can be applied. The magnification and the rotation angle of the rotation process can be applied to the layout scanner.

Next, the operation related to the present invention in the layout design process performed by using the layout design apparatus 1 will be described in detail with reference to an example.
FIG. 3 shows a layout area R for layout design.
2 shows a part of the configuration of FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, at least four page areas from page area P1 to page area P4 are set in the layout area. Then, the page area P1 and the page area P2,
The page area P3 and the page area P4 are arranged adjacent to each other as double-page spreads.

FIG. 4 shows the display areas A1 and A2 on the display screen E1 of the display device of the display means 4. Here, as the display device of the display means 4, for example, an A4 size page is used which is capable of displaying two pages in substantially the same size (actual size) as the actual printed matter. Then, the display screen E1 of the display means 4
Has a display area A1 and a display area A2 and is divided into two parts on the left and right sides. As described above, the display device is capable of displaying two pages at the actual size. Therefore, each of the display areas A1 and A2 can be displayed. Is capable of displaying one page in its actual size.

Further, in each of the display areas A1 and A2, in the coordinate system of the layout area R stored in the frame memory area, a rectangular area designated by coordinates can be displayed. Then, here, for example, in order to compare the page area P1 and the page area P4 of the layout area R, the layout area R is added to the display area A1.
The page area P1 of the layout area R is assigned to the display area A2. In this embodiment, a frame memory area for storing one layout area R is allocated to the main storage section of the layout design apparatus main body 5. Each material data arranged in the layout area R is also stored in the frame memory area corresponding to the layout data allocation position.

The display frame memory of the display means 4 for displaying the layout area R on the display screen E1 of the display device has a frame memory for the display area A1 and a frame for the display area A2 corresponding to the display screen E1. The display is controlled so that it is divided into two parts in the memory. The frame memories for the display areas A1 and A2 can be mapped as rectangular areas on the layout area R on the frame memory area.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the display area A1 is mapped to a desired portion of the page area P1 of the layout area R stored in the frame memory area at a desired magnification, and the display area A2 is mapped to the page area of the layout area R. Map to the desired portion of P2 at the desired magnification. Here, page areas P1 and P2 are provided in the respective display areas A1 and A2.
The whole is mapped at approximately 1 × magnification. Therefore, it becomes possible to display the page area P1 and the page area P2 of the layout area R, which cannot be simultaneously displayed on the display device with high accuracy (for example, in the actual size), adjacent to one display screen E1. Similarly to the case where the layout design is performed without using the computer system, the layout design can be performed while simultaneously observing and comparing the layouts of the pages of the printed matter which are separated from each other.

Since the frame memories for the display areas A1 and A2 each have an independent coordinate system, it is not necessary to maintain continuity of display between the areas, and each can be displayed with desired accuracy. In addition, a desired portion of the layout area R of the frame memory area can be displayed, and further, the layout area R portion displayed in the display area A1 and the layout area R portion displayed in the display area A2 overlap. It doesn't matter.

Next, in the case where the layout data is changed by moving the material data between the distant areas such as the page area P1 and the page area P4 in the layout area R, the display screens of FIGS. 4 and 5 are displayed. E1 and Figure 6
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of. That is, here, the material data displayed in the page area P4 in the layout area R is moved to the page area P1.

On the display screen E1 (FIG. 4) of the display means 4, the page area P is displayed in the display area A1 as described above.
In order to display 1, the display area A1 is mapped to the page area P1 of the layout area R stored in the frame memory area (Op1), and the display area A2 is displayed to display the page area P4 in the display area A2. Mapping is performed on the page area P2 of the layout area R stored in the frame memory area (Op2). Then, the material I1 arranged in the layout area R is displayed in the area A11 of the display area A2.

First, the material I1 on the display area A2 is designated by the interactive input means 3 (Op3). Here, the position of the material I1 is designated on the display area A2 by the interactive input means 3, but the coordinate system of the display area A2 and the coordinate system of the layout area R are the display area A2.
1 and A2 are stored in the main storage unit of the layout design apparatus main body 5 as mapping information associated with each other when mapping to the frame memory area. Therefore, when the points on the display areas A1 and A2 are designated by the interactive input means 3, first, the positions of the points on the display areas A1 and A2 are read as the coordinates of the coordinate system of the display areas A1 and A2. Then, the coordinates are converted into coordinates of the coordinate system of the layout area R based on the mapping information, and the position on the layout area R with respect to the point designated on the display areas A1 and A2 by the interactive input means 3 is specified. (Op4, Op4 ').

Then, in the arithmetic unit of the layout apparatus main body 5, from the position on the layout area R, the material data which is allocated to the position and occupies the point designated by the interactive input means 3 is specified, The material data is stored in the temporary storage area assigned to the main storage unit of the layout apparatus main body 5 (Op5). Here, in the layout designing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the material input (stored in the temporary storage area) or the circumscribed rectangle of the material data is designated by the interactive input means 3 as is well known. It is designed to be moved and displayed along with the movement of. Further, the material data or the circumscribing rectangle can be displayed beyond the boundary between the display area A1 and the display area A2. In this embodiment, the material I1 is changed from the area A11 of the display area A2 to the area A12 of the display area A1.
Move to.

Then, the operator moves the material data or the circumscribing figure of the material data using the interactive input means 3 to confirm the position of the material data and confirm the material data or the material data based on the layout and design. Determine the position of the circumscribing figure (Op6). Then, by instructing the arithmetic unit that the position of the material data has been determined by the dialogue input means 3, the display areas A1 and A2 of the display means 4 are displayed.
The position of the material data displayed above is converted into the coordinate system of the layout area R on the frame memory area, and the position of the material data on the layout area R is determined (Op7, Op7 '). In this embodiment, the area of the layout area R corresponding to the area A12 of the display area A1 is determined. Then, in the layout area R, the material data I1 assigned to the page area P4
Are allocated to the page area P1.

The position of the material data in the area layout data of the display area A1 is changed, and the material data stored in the temporary storage area is stored in the area A12 of the frame memory for the display area A1. Displayed above (Op8). FIG. 5 shows the display screen E1 changed by the above operation. Specifically, the material data I1 is arranged in the area A12 of the display area A1, and the material data I1 is deleted from the area A11 of the display area A2.

As described above, the page area P1 and the page area P4, which are arranged at positions separated from each other on the layout area R, are provided.
When moving material data between and, display screen E1
The source and destination can be displayed at the same time, and the destination can be displayed with an accuracy capable of accurately indicating the position of the material data on the layout area R. As a result, it is not necessary to switch the display of the movement source and the display of the movement destination, and it is not necessary to switch the display accuracy. Therefore, the operability can be improved in the operation of moving the material data between the distant positions on the layout area R.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, the display area on the screen is
The number of screens is not limited to two, and the screen of the display device may be vertically or horizontally divided or vertically and horizontally, and the number of divisions may be two or more. Further, the display area may have a well-known window format so that it can be moved and its size can be changed on the display screen. Also, different layout areas R may be displayed in the respective display areas.

[0041]

As described above, according to the layout design apparatus of the present invention, by opening a plurality of display areas on the display screen of the display means, the contents of discontinuous pages are arranged side by side on the display screen for comparison. It becomes possible to do. Also, by passing layout information between display areas, there is no need to switch pages or display magnification when moving materials between pages, which simplifies operations and reduces workload. It is possible to reduce.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of an embodiment of a layout design apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a basic operation method of the layout designing apparatus of the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a drawing for explaining a layout area in the layout design device.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a display screen of the layout design device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display screen of the layout design device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a material data moving method according to the present invention in a layout design process in the layout design apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Layout Design Device 2 Material Input Means 3 Interactive Input Means (Layout Input Means, Layout Change Means) 4 Display Means 5 Layout Design Device Main Body (Display Control Means, Layout Input Means, Layout Change Means) 6 Storage Means (Material Storage Means) , Layout storage means) 7 data output means A1 display area A2 display area E1 display screen R layout area

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. Material input means for inputting material data such as image data and character data, and layout input means for inputting layout data such as a layout position of the material data and a display format of the material data. , Storage means for storing the material data and layout data, display means for displaying the material data, and display control for displaying the material data as an image on the display means at an arbitrary allocation position and display format Display control means, and layout changing means for changing the layout data by changing the layout position or display appearance of the material data displayed as an image on the display means on the display means based on the display control of the display control means. A layout design device that is equipped with The display means has at least two or more independent display areas, and the display control means causes the display areas to respectively display different portions of one layout area included in the layout data. A layout design device characterized in that 2. The layout changing means transfers the material data displayed in one display area among a plurality of independent display areas to the other display area, and changes the layout data by transferring the material data. The layout design apparatus according to claim 1, which is characterized in that.