JPH08314923A - Layout design device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a layout design device capable of considerably speedily and accurately executing composition. CONSTITUTION: This device is provided with a storage means (RAM 2 and hard disk 5) storing plural pieces of material data, a layout data generation means (CPU 1) regulating printing contents in respective page units by combining material data and a change means (CPU 1) updating a page including material data among layout data when material data is changed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a layout design apparatus suitable for layout design of catalogs and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a program called "typesetting software" has been used for platemaking of printed materials such as product catalogs. The outline will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11A shows character material data (text data) created to obtain the image shown in FIG. Inside the figure (a), the symbols "<" and ">"
The type of data, the number of font points, and the character decoration are specified by the parts enclosed in.

However, it is possible to omit the point number and character modification of the font, and when omitted, default contents (for example, 8-point unmodified Mincho font) are selected. Further, as shown in the figure, the types of data provided in one character material data are the product ID and
Product name, price and specifications (text for product description)
It consists of and.

Further, after the symbol ">", the data content corresponding to the designated data type is designated. In addition, in order to generate an image as shown in FIG. 9B, it is necessary to specify the image material data to be inserted (image data such as a photograph) and the paste position. Then, when the character material data, the image material data, and the paste position are supplied to the compiler of the typesetting software, the same figure
A layout paper surface as shown in (b) is formed.

By the way, depending on the type of product catalog or the like, the number of pages may reach several hundreds. In such a case, product information about the same product is often posted in a plurality of places in the product catalog. For example, it is preferable that the product “Fountain pen” is posted in the “Office supplies” column and also in the “Gift” column because it is easy for consumers to access.

[0006] Here, the display mode of the product information (for example, the size of the publication column, the method of character modification, etc.) often differs for each of these plurality of publication columns. As an example thereof, FIG. 3 shows an example in which the display mode is changed for the same product as the product shown in FIG. In FIG. 3B, the character string "350 yen"
Is in italics, the position where the image material data is pasted,
2B is different from that shown in FIG. 2B in that trimming (truncating a margin portion of image material data) is not performed.

[0007]

By the way, the product information or the like to be published in the product catalog or the like is often changed. When the product information is changed, it is necessary to change all the material data (corresponding parts of the source list) in a plurality of corresponding publication columns. However, in the past, such a change operation was performed manually, so there was a risk of omission of the change. That is, if only some of the columns for the same product are changed, conflicting contents will be posted in the product catalog. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a layout design apparatus that can perform typesetting extremely quickly and accurately.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the structure according to claim 1, the storage means for storing a plurality of material data, and the print contents for each page by combining these material data Layout data generating means for generating layout data for defining the layout data, and updating means for updating a page including the material data in the layout data when the material data is changed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the layout design apparatus according to the first aspect, the material data is character data, and when the material data is changed, the layout data is reproduced again. It is characterized in that it is provided with a rearrangement means for performing the arrangement.

[0010]

In the structure according to claim 1, the storage means stores a plurality of material data, and the layout data generation means combines the material data to generate layout data defining the print content for each page. To do. Here, when the material data is changed, the updating means updates the page including the material data in the layout data.

Further, in the structure according to claim 2,
When the material data is changed, the rearrangement unit rearranges the layout data.

[0012]

【Example】

A. First embodiment A-1. Configuration of Embodiment Next, the configuration of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, 1 is a CPU, which controls other components based on a control program described later. 2 is RAM, 3 is RO
M, which stores various variables used in the control program. Reference numeral 4 denotes a display, which displays various information to the operator under the control of the CPU 1. A hard disk 5 is used to write various data by the CPU 1. An input device 6 is composed of a keyboard, a mouse and the like. An output device 7 outputs a block copy of a product catalog.

A-2. Operation of Embodiment Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. As a premise, it is assumed that the character material data, the image material data, and other various data are previously stored in the hard disk 5. When the program shown in FIG. 7 is activated in such a state, the process proceeds to step SP1 and new material data is registered. That is, the character material data and the image material data for each product are registered in a predetermined data batch management area in the hard disk 5.

In such processing, for example, material registration information data designating necessary material data is created in advance, and based on the material registration information data, the necessary material data may be collectively registered by batch processing. . These material data are material data in a state where standard typesetting is performed (hereinafter referred to as standard material data). That is, if this standard material data is used as it is, a layout paper surface as shown in FIG. 5 is obtained.

That is, the character material data of the standard material data registered in step SP1 is as shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 3 (a).
Although it has the same format as the above, only the data type is designated by the portion enclosed by the symbols "<" and ">", and the number of points and the character modification of the font are undesignated.

Next, when the process proceeds to step SP2, the operator edits the character material data used for the actual product catalog or the like. For example, for the standard material data, the number of points is specified or the character decoration is specified. Also, for image material data,
The pasting position and the presence / absence of trimming are specified. Further, when the same product is published in a plurality of places in the product catalog, material data is created for each place as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, for example. However, in these material data, the product ID (ID123 in the illustrated example)
456) are the same.

When this editing work is completed, further, in step SP2, the edited material data is assigned to each page of the product catalog. That is, layout design is performed and typesetting data is created. Therefore, after the typesetting data is created, the typesetting result (the product catalog of the product catalog) can be appropriately output from the output device 7. Further, the operator can save the formatted result in the data batch management area of the hard disk 5. At that time, a table as shown in Table 1 below is generated.

[0018]

[Table 1]

Table 1 summarizes the layout design results for each page. In Table 1, column (1) shows the product ID of the product to be posted, and column (2) shows the coordinates of the paste position of the image material data (X and Y coordinates in the page).
Is displayed, column (3) displays designation of presence or absence of trimming for the image material data, column (4) displays the content of the character material data itself, and column (5) is the paste position of the character material data. Is displayed.

Table 1 shows a page information table corresponding to the page number "1", but similar tables are generated for other pages. The column (4) of Table 1 contains the text material data itself, whereas the table does not contain the image material data itself. This is because the image material data is uniquely determined by the product ID. However, it goes without saying that the image actually pasted on each page is slightly different depending on the presence or absence of trimming. On the other hand, since the character material data is not uniquely determined by the product ID, it is included in this table.

In the present embodiment, the product I is used in order to quickly retrieve the page number on which the image material data is posted based on the product ID of the image material data.
A table (see Table 2) in which D is associated with page numbers is created.

[0022]

[Table 2]

Similarly, based on the product ID of the character material data, in order to quickly retrieve the page number where the character material data is posted, a table in which the product ID and the page number are associated (see Table 3). ) Is created.

[0024]

[Table 3]

As described above, when various tables are stored in the hard disk 5, the processing in step SP2 ends,
The process proceeds to step SP3. Here, the operator is asked whether or not to replace the material data. Here, when the operator gives an instruction that "there is no replacement", the processing of the present embodiment ends.

On the other hand, when the operator gives an instruction to "replace the material data", the process proceeds to step SP4.
Proceed to. In step SP4, the standard material data is replaced with new data. Next, the process is step S.
When proceeding to P5, Table 2 or Table 3 is referred to, and the page number corresponding to the replaced standard material data is specified. Next, when the process proceeds to step SP6, it is determined whether the standard material data to be replaced is character data.

If "YES" is determined here, the process proceeds to step SP7 to change the page composition data in which the character material data is arranged. More specifically, based on the previously changed standard material data, Table 1
The content of the character material data in the column (4) is changed.
However, no changes are made to the parts enclosed by the symbols "<" and ">". Therefore, the format contents (font, character modification, etc.) are not changed, and only the data contents of the character material data are automatically changed.

On the other hand, if the material data to be replaced is image data, "NO" in step SP6.
Therefore, step SP7 is skipped. This is because, as described above, the page information table (Table 1) does not include the image material data itself, so that it is not necessary to change the contents of the table. Next, when the process proceeds to step SP8, it is determined whether or not there is a page to be processed for the material data that was previously replaced.

If "YES" is determined here, the processes of steps SP5 to SP7 are performed on the remaining pages. Then, when the processing of all target pages related to the material data is completed, the processing proceeds to step SP9.
Here, it is determined whether or not the next replacement material data exists. If "YES" is determined here, the process returns to step SP4, and the processes after step SP4 are performed. After that, when the processing of all the pages of all the replacement materials is completed, it is determined as "NO" in step SP9, and the processing of this program ends.

B. Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. First, the configuration of this embodiment is similar to that of the first embodiment. Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. As a premise, it is assumed that the character material data, the image material data, and other various data are previously stored in the hard disk 5. When the program shown in FIG. 7 is started in such a state, the process proceeds to step SP21, and the character material data is arranged on the layout paper surface. The contents will be described below.

First, the character material data before arrangement has a unique character material ID, and the character material data is arranged on the layout paper. In the present embodiment, the character material data is the data of a certain unit to be arranged on the layout sheet and the character data that has already been typeset. For example, when the formatted data has the structure as shown in FIG. 6, the character material data indicates the data in units of small sets.

In step SP1, a new character material ID (post-arrangement character material ID) is set for the arranged character material data. A unique page ID is preset for each page on the layout paper. FIG. 8 shows the relationship between the character material data before arrangement, the character material data after arrangement, and the layout sheet on which the character material data is arranged.

Next, in correspondence with the character material ID before arrangement,
A page ID of the page in which the character material data is arranged,
The post-arrangement character material ID is stored in the hard disk 5. The relationship is shown in Table 4 below. As shown in Table 4 below, the post-arrangement character material IDs are set so that they do not overlap each other.

[0034]

[Table 4]

Next, when the processing advances to step SP22,
Page typesetting data is created. That is, the character material data before arrangement is copied on the layout paper and incorporated as post-arrangement character material data in the page composition data. At this time, the post-placement character material ID described above is described in the page composition data together with the placement information. As a result, no matter how the typesetting process is performed on the text material data that has been placed on the layout paper, the text material data before placement is saved separately, so the typesetting data in the state when it was input will be It can be placed on multiple pages. In addition,
FIG. 9 shows a conceptual diagram of the processing in step SP22.

Next, when the processing proceeds to step SP23,
The operator is inquired whether or not to correct the typesetting.
Here, if the operator gives an instruction to "do not make a correction", the process returns to step SP21, and the same process as described above is performed on the next page typesetting data. On the other hand, when the operator gives an instruction to "correct", the process proceeds to step SP24, and the recomposition process is performed.

The details will be described below. First, in step SP24, the operator changes the appearance of the character material data placed on the layout sheet. An example thereof is shown in FIG. The figure (a) is the layout sheet before the correction, and the figure (b) is the layout sheet after the correction. The character frame size of FIG. 11B is smaller than that of FIG. 9A, and the character font is also smaller accordingly. That is, the page typesetting data previously created in step SP22 is subjected to such a change.

Next, when the processing proceeds to step SP25,
The operator is inquired whether or not to finish the layout work. Here, if the operator gives an instruction to "not end", the process returns to step SP21, and the same process as described above is repeated. After that, when the operator gives an instruction to "end the layout work" in step SP25, the process proceeds to step SP26.

In step SP26, the page typesetting data is converted into file saving format data, and the result is saved in the hard disk 5. Here, the file save format data is data that has all the information included in the page composition data and has a format suitable for file save. That is, the file save format data includes character information (text, size, typeface name, position, etc.) that is the typesetting information of each character material data, other typesetting structure description data, and the post-placement characters of each character material data. The material ID is also saved.

The file storage format data is basically created for each layout page, but a plurality of layout pages may be provided. Incidentally, step SP2
FIG. 11 shows a conceptual diagram of the processing in No. 6. Next, when the processing advances to step SP27, the operator is inquired whether or not to replace the character material data. here,
When the instruction to "do not replace" is issued, the processing of this program ends.

On the other hand, if an instruction to "replace" is issued, the process proceeds to step SP28. Here, the operator specifies the character material data to be replaced (character material data before arrangement). here,
As an example, it is assumed that the character material data with the character material ID “MOJIID00001” is deleted and the character material data with the character material ID “MOJIID00003” is changed. When these character material IDs before arrangement are designated, the ID management table (Table 4
(See reference), and the page IDs corresponding to the character material IDs “MOJIID00001” and “MOJIID00003” and the arranged character material IDs are acquired.

In the example of Table 4, character material I before arrangement
Corresponding to D "MOJIID00001", page ID "PGID0000
1 ”and the post-placement character material IDs“ PGMID00001 ”and“ PGMID00002 ”in the page corresponding to the page ID are acquired. In addition, the character material ID “MOJIID0000
Corresponding to "3", page IDs "PGID00001" and "PGID
00002 ”and the post-placement character material IDs“ PGMID00004 ”and“ PGMID00005 ”on the pages corresponding to these page IDs
And "PGMID00006" are acquired.

Next, when the processing advances to step SP29,
The replacement processing of the post-arranged character material data is performed. Here, the layout sheet before replacement is as shown in FIG. 12, and the post-placement character material ID “PGMID000
Assuming that the replacement composition related to "04", "PGMID00005" and "PGMID00006" was as shown in FIG.
A specific example will be described.

First, referring to FIG. 12, the post-arranged character material I
D The character material data relating to “PGMID00001” and “PGMID00002” is deleted, and the arranged character material ID “PGMID0000” is deleted.
The character material data relating to "4", "PGMID00005", and "PGMID00006" are replaced with those shown in FIG. Therefore, the layout sheet after such processing is shown in FIG.
As shown in 4. The replacement procedure is the same as the processing in steps SP6 to SP7 of the first embodiment, and the format information in the original post-placement character material data is saved.

Next, when the processing advances to step SP30, the operator is inquired whether or not to perform the relayout.
When the operator gives an instruction to "do not perform relayout", the processing of this program ends. On the other hand, when the operator gives an instruction to "relay out", the process proceeds to step SP31, the page composition data converted into the file save format data is read from the hard disk 5 and re-developed into the original data format. . Then, the processes after step SP21 are executed again for the re-developed page typesetting data.

Here, the file save format data of the page composition data includes various layout information such as character information which is composition information of each character material data, other composition structure description data, or post-arranged character material ID. ing.
Therefore, if the file is expanded on the RAM 2, it is not necessary to perform the typesetting again. That is, since the file may be read into the RAM 2 and the display process may be performed according to the data, the relayout can be initialized efficiently. A conceptual diagram of the processing in step SP30 is shown in FIG.

C. Modifications It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made. For example,
In step SP28 of the second embodiment, character material data to be replaced (character material data before arrangement)
The page ID and the post-arrangement character material ID corresponding to are acquired, and in step SP29, replacement is automatically performed for all the acquired post-arrangement character material data. However, the post-arranged character material data may be displayed on the display 4 so that the operator can specify whether or not to replace each of them.

[0048]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, when the material data is changed, the updating means updates the page containing the material data in the layout data. You can typeset to. Further, in the configuration according to the second aspect, when the material data is changed, the rearrangement unit rearranges the layout data, so that the typesetting can be performed more accurately.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory diagram of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a control program of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory diagram of the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory diagram of the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a control program of the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory diagram of the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an operation explanatory diagram of the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an operation explanatory diagram of the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an operation explanatory diagram of the second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is an operation explanatory diagram of the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an operation explanatory diagram of the second embodiment.

FIG. 14 is an operation explanatory diagram of the second embodiment.

FIG. 15 is an operation explanatory diagram of the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 CPU (layout data generation means, update means, rearrangement means) 2 RAM (storage means) 5 Hard disk (storage means)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A storage unit that stores a plurality of material data, a layout data generation unit that generates layout data that defines print contents for each page by combining these material data, and the material data is changed. And a updating unit for updating a page including the material data in the layout data. 2. The layout design according to claim 1, further comprising rearrangement means for rearranging the layout data when the material data is changed and the material data is character data. apparatus.