JPH08171649A - Layout device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a layout device capable of efficiently advancing the layout design of a printing object of many pages. CONSTITUTION: Block copy data provided with the picture data name of picture data to be arranged and picture arrangement area instruction information in addition to character information or the like are inputted through a block copy data input means 12 and a layout information extraction means 13 extracts the picture data name and the picture arrangement area instruction information from the block copy data. A picture data base retrieval means 14 and an arrangement information data base retrieval means 15 retrieve the picture data and arrangement information corresponding to the picture data name extracted from the block copy data from a data base and an automatic layout processing means 16 prepares layout data for expressing a state where the picture data obtained by retrieval are arranged based on the arrangement information and the arrangement area instruction information obtained from the block copy data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a layout device used for producing printed matter such as various catalogs for mail order.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in the production of a catalog, the layout of each page of the catalog has been examined by a desk work using a layout sheet. That is, a layout diagram in which the entire area of a page is divided into multiple areas based on a basic layout pattern including information such as the number of steps and the number of divisions, and figures such as photo originals, text originals, and line drawings are virtually arranged in each area. The designer did the work such as creating for all pages of the catalog. Then, the layout finally decided by this examination is used as a layout instruction sheet to instruct the printing company. When a catalog with a large number of pages is created by such a method, a long working time is required to design the layout of one catalog. And
To issue such a catalog with a large number of pages at a short issuing interval, a great deal of labor is required.

From such a background, recently, as a means for laying out and designing a printed matter at the design stage, the layout drawing preparation work performed by the above designer is executed by a computer simulation. A layout device is proposed in which the simulation result (layout result) is provided to the user via a display. According to such an apparatus, since the user gives an instruction for arranging a photographic document or the like and a display of the result of the simulation in response to this instruction, the design study work which is conventionally performed by the designer by hand, The work can be carried out efficiently by linking the designer with the device.

[0004]

The conventional layout device described above is certainly effective as a tool for assisting the designer's layout study. But,
Even when processing a large number of pages, this layout apparatus has a problem of low production efficiency because it must be processed page by page by interactive editing as described above.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a layout device capable of efficiently proceeding with the layout design of a printed matter having a large number of pages.

[0006]

The invention according to claim 1 comprises: a. Image data name of image data to be arranged and b. A block copy data input means for inputting block copy data including image layout area designating information designating an area where the image data should be arranged;
Layout information extraction means for extracting the image data name and image layout area designation information from the block copy data input by the block copy data input means, and the layout information extraction from an image database composed of a plurality of image data. An image database searching unit that searches for image data corresponding to the image data name extracted by the unit; and image data obtained by the image database searching unit based on the arrangement area instruction information obtained by the layout information extracting unit. A layout device is characterized by comprising a layout processing means for creating layout data arranged in a layout.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, an arrangement for retrieving image data arrangement information corresponding to the image data name from an arrangement information database formed of arrangement information designating arrangement modes of the plurality of image data. An information database searching means, wherein the layout means stores the image data obtained by the image database searching means,
The layout device according to claim 1, wherein the layout data is created based on the layout information obtained by the layout information database searching means and the layout area instruction information obtained by the layout information extracting means. Is the gist.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the image data name and the image layout area designation information are information expressed in a specific expression format, and the layout information extracting means specifies the specified one from the block copy data. The layout device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the image data name and the image layout area designation information are acquired by extracting a portion expressed by the expression format.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, the image database search means outputs predetermined image data instead of the search result when the corresponding image data cannot be searched from the image database. The layout device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 is a gist. The invention according to claim 5 further comprises an interactive editing means for editing the layout data obtained by the layout processing means in an interactive manner. The layout device is the gist.

[0010]

According to the invention of claim 1 or 1, the photographic manuscript in addition to the character information and the like can be obtained only by creating and inputting the block copy data including the image data name and the image layout area designating information. Layout data representing a printed matter on which image data such as is arranged is obtained. According to the third aspect of the invention, the image data name and the image arrangement area designation information can be included in the block copy data by a simple means of using a specific expression format.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the layout data can be created by the layout means even when the image data to be printed on the printed matter and its layout information are not prepared as a database. .

According to the invention of claim 4, the layout data finally obtained can be further modified.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

A. Outline of Embodiments In the production of printed materials such as catalogs, production of characters, figures, etc. is performed using a block making device. Here, the block copy creating device is a device which performs character typesetting and creates a block copy in which page editing is performed by designating an area in which an image is to be arranged. The block copy creating device processes image data. I can't. Therefore, normally, a printed matter is produced by a method in which a block made by a plate making device is sent to the next step, a scanner is read in this step, and the created image film is attached to the plate. .

This embodiment is a layout device as a succeeding device of the block copy creating device, and uses the data of the block copy creating device which is conventionally used only for the layout of character information and the like, and the image of the image information is used. A layout device capable of substantially performing layout (pasting) is also provided. That is, first, a block copy creation device creates a block copy based on a layout instruction. At this time, an area in which an image is to be placed and an image data name to be placed are output data of the block copy creation device according to a predetermined procedure. Mix in. The specific procedure is not limited to that described in the present embodiment, and may be arbitrarily decided in consideration of the convenience of the printed matter manufacturing process. The layout device according to the present embodiment receives the output data thus obtained from the block making device as input data, acquires the image data name from this input data, and searches the image database and the layout information database. Thereby, the image data to be arranged and the information such as the arrangement magnification and the angle are obtained. By performing this process on all input data, the layout work of the printed matter including the image data is efficiently executed.

B. Configuration of Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a layout device 11 according to this embodiment. As shown in this figure, the layout device 11 includes a block copy data input means 12, a layout information extraction means 13, an image database search means 14, an arrangement information database search means 15, an automatic layout means 16,
It is composed of a dialogue editing means 17 and an output means 18.

The block copy data input means 12 is a means provided for making an online connection with a block copy creating device (not shown) or an offline connection using a floppy disk as a medium, and is made by a network device or a magnetic disk device or the like. It is configured. The layout device 11 receives the artwork data including the image layout area instruction and the image data name created by the artwork creating device via the artwork data input means 12. The block copy data includes the image data name of each image data to be finally printed on the printed matter and the image layout area designation information for designating the layout area of each image data.

The layout information extracting means 13 is composed of a work station or the like, and automatically generates image layout area instruction information and image data name corresponding to each image data from the block copy data inputted through the block copy data inputting means 12. Extract. The image database searching means 14 is a layout information extracting means 1 from various image data prepared in advance.
The image data corresponding to the image data name extracted in 3 is searched. Further, the arrangement information database searching means 1
Reference numeral 5 retrieves the arrangement information corresponding to the image data name extracted by the layout information extracting means 13 from the arrangement information corresponding to the various image data prepared in advance. Here, the arrangement information is configured by information such as a magnification when printing the image data as an image and an angle of the image. By the means 13 to 15 described above, the image data itself (data representing an actual image), and the arrangement information and the arrangement area instruction information corresponding to the image data, for each image data to be finally published on the printed matter. Is obtained.

The automatic layout processing means 16 responds to the block copy data input via the block copy data inputting means 12.
Necessary image data is merged to create layout data having contents corresponding to not only characters and the like but also printed matter in which images are mixed. That is, for each piece of image data corresponding to each image data name extracted from the block copy data, the content represented by the updated block copy data indicates that the image represented by the image data is layout information corresponding to the image data. And layout data is created so as to represent the state of arrangement based on the arrangement area instruction information. The interactive editing unit 17 is a unit used when interactively editing the contents of the block copy data input via the block copy data input unit 12 or the layout data finally obtained by the above processing. is there.

C. Operation of the Embodiment FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining the manufacturing process of the printed matter performed using the layout device 11 according to this embodiment. Further, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an image of the block copy data output by the block copy creating apparatus, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the image database, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the layout information database, and FIG. It is a figure which illustrates the image of the layout data by which the image data was pasted by the present Example. The operation of this embodiment will be described below with reference to these drawings.

First, the user registers business information such as a customer name, a business name, a paper size, and a used database name of a business to be processed (step F1). Then the user
The block copy data is input to the block copy data input means 12 by connecting the block copy creating device online or by setting a medium in which the output data of the block copy creating device is stored (step F2). The whole block data may be input all at once, or may be divided and input several times.

When the input of the block copy data is completed in this way, the layout information extracting means 13 performs a process of extracting the image layout area designation information and the image data name from the block copy data.
(Step F3). This extraction process is performed as follows. First, the layout image of the printed matter represented by the block copy data is illustrated in FIG. In this figure, a region surrounded by a thick broken line is an image arrangement region in which image data such as a photo original is to be arranged. In addition, the character strings “A100” and “A20” surrounded by “@” arranged in the image arrangement area are displayed.
0 ”and“ B400 ”are the image data names of the image data to be arranged in the image arrangement area. The layout information extracting means 13 extracts the drawing information using thick broken lines from the block layout data to extract the image arrangement area. The instruction information is acquired, and the image data name is acquired by extracting the character information of the character string enclosed by “@” arranged in the image arrangement area from the block copy data.

Next, the image database search means 14 and the placement information database search means 15 search the image database and placement information database (step F4). That is, the image database searching means 14 searches the image data corresponding to each image data name extracted from the block copy data from the image database including the image data corresponding to each image data name as illustrated in FIG. To do. Further, the arrangement information database searching means 15 uses X for each image data name, as illustrated in FIG.
Arrangement information corresponding to each image data name extracted from the block copy data is searched from the arrangement information database including arrangement information such as magnification in the Y direction, X coordinate, Y coordinate, and rotation angle. In this search, if the image data and the layout information corresponding to the image data name are not in the database, the image data etc. cannot be obtained. In such a case, for example, predetermined image data representing an entire gray image is output instead of the image data or the like. Further, when there is the arrangement information that cannot be obtained, a predetermined magnification (for example, 100%) and an angle (for example, 0 degrees) are used instead of this.

When the database search is completed in this way, a message prompting the input of the work range is output. In response to this, the user inputs an instruction of the work range as to which page to which page of the block copy data is to be processed later (step F5).

When this instruction is input, the automatic layout process is performed by the automatic layout means 16. That is, for example, in the case of the block copy data shown in FIG. 3, the block copy data has the image data name A100 in the image arrangement area surrounded by the thick broken line in the uppermost section.
It is required to arrange image data corresponding to.
Therefore, the automatic layout unit 16 sets the image data corresponding to the image data name A100 searched by the image database searching unit 14 according to the layout information corresponding to the image data name A100 searched by the layout information database searching unit 15. The block copy data is updated so as to represent the state of arrangement in the arrangement area. The same applies to the other image data names A200 and B400 in FIG. In this automatic layout process, unnecessary information in the block copy data, that is, the image data name and the image layout area are simultaneously deleted.

By the above automatic layout processing, as shown in FIG. 6, layout data containing image data corresponding to the image data name originally described in each image arrangement area can be obtained.

Next, if necessary, the layout data obtained as described above is corrected by an interactive editing work according to a user's instruction (step F7).

The layout data finally obtained in this way is output by the output means 18 (step F8). The output form of the layout data takes a form according to the output destination device.

In the above embodiment, the analysis of the block copy data and the search of the database are automatically performed.
It may be performed according to the operator's instruction. Further, information may be stored in order to arbitrarily interrupt or change the work in each process in the middle.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, the layout of the printed matter substantially including the image data can be realized by using the block making device which was originally used only for editing the character information and the like. This makes it possible to perform work, and there is an effect that efficient layout work can be performed when creating a catalog or the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a layout device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a manufacturing process of printed matter according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram exemplifying an image of block copy data used in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of contents of an image database used in the same embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram exemplifying the contents of a placement information database used in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an image of block copy data with image data pasted according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Layout device, 12 ... Block data input means, 13 ... Layout information extraction means, 14 ... Image database search means, 15 ... Layout information database search means, 16 ... Automatic layout means, 17 ... Dialog editing means, 18 ... Output means.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A method comprising: a. Image data name of image data to be arranged and b. A block copy data input means for inputting block copy data including image layout area designation information designating an area where the image data should be arranged; and the image data name from the block copy data inputted by the block copy data input means. And layout information extracting means for extracting image arrangement area instruction information, and an image database for searching image data corresponding to the image data name extracted by the layout information extracting means from an image database composed of a plurality of image data. And a layout processing unit that creates layout data in which the image data obtained by the image database searching unit is arranged based on the arrangement area designation information obtained by the layout information extracting unit. Characteristic layout device. 2. An arrangement information database searching means for searching the arrangement information database configured by arrangement information for designating arrangement of the plurality of image data, for arrangement information of image data corresponding to the image data name. Then, the layout means arranges the image data obtained by the image database search means on the basis of the arrangement information obtained by the arrangement information database search means and the arrangement area designation information obtained by the layout information extraction means. The layout device according to claim 1, wherein the layout data is created. 3. The image data name and the image arrangement area designation information are information expressed in a specific expression format, and the layout information extracting means is expressed in the specific expression format from the block copy data. 3. The image data name and the image arrangement area instruction information are acquired by extracting a portion that has been deleted.
Layout device described in. 4. The image database searching means outputs predetermined image data in place of the search result when the corresponding image data cannot be searched from the image database. The layout device according to claim 1. 5. The interactive editing means for editing the layout data obtained by the layout processing means in an interactive manner.
The layout device according to claim 1.