JPH0833649B2 - Layout scanner system - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a layout scanner system used for plate making of an original such as a color photograph, and particularly, the memory capacity is greatly reduced and the processing speed is greatly reduced. The present invention relates to a layout scanner system that can be improved.

[Prior Art] Currently, in the field of plate making, a layout scanner system has been developed and put into practical use at the time of plate making of an original such as a color photograph. This layout scanner system has an editing function capable of outputting one or more images in a desired layout on one sheet of film. This type of layout scanner system is sold by many manufacturers, and is an epoch-making one as a plate making system.
Its general usage is, for example, a special process for eliminating acne, wrinkles, etc. of a person image, and a method for plate making (plate making). Moreover, printing of color photographs is generally handled as a temporary process, but for catalogs, pamphlets, leaflets, etc.
In many cases, image processing such as reduction / rotation is performed, trimming is changed, reused, and reused. Such work is generally called the former as a plate-making work and the latter as a plate-making work using a database. Note that trimming means designating a specific area used in an image such as a photograph. In general, which part (area) of the image is used varies depending on the printed matter, and therefore, it is necessary to perform trimming change for extracting only necessary image information from the entire image each time.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, frequently used (used or reused) color photographs or the like are temporarily stored as a database in a recording medium such as a magnetic tape or a magnetic disk, and may be laid out as necessary. Can be recalled and reused in the scanner memory. Then, this processing such as re-expansion / reduction / rotation can be performed, but it takes time and the productivity becomes low. In other words, the reason for this is that when color photographs are used for printing, full-trimming, that is, reading all the images stored on the recording medium and using them is rare, and in most cases, 30-40% cutting is used. is there. But,
The current layout scanner system does not take any measures against such a problem, and the entire image information including the data other than the trimming area, such as the file name of the photograph, regardless of the trimming size, is used. Is read from the database and stored in the memory on the layout scanner, and image processing such as rotation is performed on all of this image information. Therefore, processing such as enlarging / reducing / rotating is generally performed by affine transformation, but it takes a very long time to process areas other than necessary areas. Furthermore, when arranging the color photographs, it is necessary for the worker to display the photographs one by one on the display and arrange them, which makes it difficult to achieve complete automation.

As described above, in the conventional layout scanner system, since the image processing is performed to the area other than the necessary area, not only the capacity of the recording medium of the system is used more than necessary but also the processing time is long. As a result, the work efficiency is lowered, and there is a problem in improving the quality of the plate making which occupies an important position in the printed matter producing process and in shortening the delivery time. Further, there is a problem that the arrangement after the image processing cannot be automatically performed.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and automatically determines a necessary (processing) area in the image information, that is, a trimming area, and determines the trimming area from the database. By reading out only the image of the above, the amount of information necessary for performing various image processing and the memory amount for storing the image data read from the database for performing the image processing are significantly reduced. At the same time, it is an object of the present invention to provide a layout scanner system that can significantly improve the processing speed and can automatically perform layout after image processing.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned object, according to the present invention, an image input unit for inputting image information of a document, and a plurality of references relating to trimming of image information input from the image input unit. Image storage means for adding point position information and storing as a database, input means for inputting mask information shown on layout-specified paper or block copy and position information of a plurality of reference points, and document in finished state Magnification input means for inputting the magnification of, reference point position information stored in the image storage means, mask information and reference point position information input from the input seed stage, and input from the magnification input means. The coordinates of the trimming area of the image information to be image-processed are calculated for each reference point based on the magnification, and the coordinates of the obtained reference points are averaged to obtain the final trimming area. And the image processing means for reading out the trimmed image of the image information of the image processing target from the storage means based on the coordinates.

[Operation] Therefore, in the layout scanner system of the present invention, when the image information is stored as a database,
Similar to a normal database, by adding coordinate information of multiple reference points related to trimming in addition to various attributes such as a file name, the area to be trimmed of the image information to be subjected to image processing, and the layout It is possible to automatically calculate and process the reference point for. As a result, the image processing size is significantly reduced and the amount of information and image processing are performed. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the amount of memory for storing the image data read from the database and increase the processing speed. The arrangement after processing can be automatically performed.

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

With a layout scanner system equipped with an editing function that performs color separation of color originals as well as the layout of the final finish, that is, a full-page typesetting function,
In order to operate the system as efficiently as possible, it is extremely important to paste the color originals on the scanner drum at a predetermined and accurate angle. Further, in this case, an arbitrary point (referred to as a reference point or a singular point) for aligning the pattern of the color original can be designated as shown in, for example, "Japanese Patent Application No. 58-217258". What is important here is that, as shown in FIG. 2, when the reference point on the digital signal color-separated by the color scanner is P,
The coordinates (or address) of the reference point P and the acquisition origin O of the digital image can be easily calculated from the scanning line density and the magnification at the time of color separation even if the size is changed.

According to the present invention, when storing a color original document as a database of digital images in this way, coordinate (address) information of the reference point P is stored in addition to various attributes such as a file name as in a normal character database. Multiple items are added.

Here, when creating a database of image information of color originals, it is necessary to create a database by full trimming (up to the black edges of color photographs). This is because when reused or diverted, it is not possible to determine whether the entire color photograph is used or only a part thereof is used. On the other hand, in the case of reusing a color original (photograph) stored in the database, if a trimming area indicated by the broken line size in FIG. 3 is designated at the stage of creating a printed matter, a new trimming start point S The end point E (required image area) can be easily obtained and image-processed from the relationship between the resolution, the enlargement / reduction ratio, the new trimming size (broken line size) and the reference point.
Then, by calculating the trimming size for each reference point and averaging the data, it is possible to obtain a highly accurate trimming size.

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a layout scanner system according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the layout scanner system of this embodiment has a color scanner 1 as an image input means, a magnetic disk 2 as a first storage means, a digitizer 3 as an interactive input means, and a graphic display. 4 and the magnetic disk 5 or the floppy disk 6 which is the second storage means.
A magnification angle setting device 7 and a floppy disk 8 which are magnification angle setting means, a color display 9 which is an image display means, and an optical disk 10 which is a third storage means.
And a computer 11 which is an image processing means and an output machine 12 which is an output means.

Here, the color scanner 1 is for inputting an image of a color photograph which is a document, and for color-separating this image information for output. Further, the magnetic disk 2 stores image information output from the color scanner 1. On the other hand, the digitizer 3 reads the positional information such as the plate-making size, mask information, reference point information, etc., which is shown on the layout-designated paper or block copy, and displays it on the graphic display 4. The magnetic disk 5 or the floppy disk 6 stores the position information output from the digitizer 3. Further, the magnification angle calculating device 7 measures the magnification and the inclination angle of the document in the finished state and stores it in the floppy disk 8.

On the other hand, the optical disc 10 stores the image information output from the color scanner 1 in a plurality of reference points P ₁ P ₂ P ₃ P ₄ for trimming as shown in FIG.
The coordinate information is added and stored as a database. Further, the computer 11 reads out the image information and the position information stored in the magnetic disk 2 and the magnetic disk 5, respectively, and based on the information of the magnification and the tilt angle stored in the floppy disk 8, the computer 11 reads the information. And the coordinates of the area to be trimmed from the coordinate information for each of the reference points of the image information to be image-processed stored in the optical disc 10, and the obtained data is averaged. ,
It has a function of calculating the trimming start point and trimming end point. Further, the output machine 12 outputs the processing information in the computer 11 as a plate-making film.

Next, in the layout scanner system configured as described above, the image information of the color photograph color-separated by the color scanner 1 is once stored in the magnetic disk 2. Further, the positional information such as the plate-making size, mask information, reference point information, etc., which is shown on the layout-designating paper or block copy as shown in FIG. 5, is read by an appropriate means such as the digitizer 3, and the magnetic disk 5 or It is stored in the floppy disk 6 and displayed on the graphic display 4. Further, the magnification and the tilt angle of the original document in the finished state are measured by the magnification angle setting device 7 and stored in the floppy disk 8. Furthermore,
The image information output from the color scanner 1 has coordinate information of a plurality of reference points P ₁ P ₂ P ₃ P ₄ relating to trimming added to this image information, as shown in FIG.
It is stored in the optical disc 10 as a database. In this case, the reference points P1, P2, P3, and P4 may be selected by any standard, but if you select a point that is easy to understand and point like a mountain peak or human eyes, it will be used later. Sometimes convenient.

On the other hand, in the computer 11, the reference points P ₁ P ₂ P _{3 of the} image information stored in the optical disk 10 and to be the image processing target.
The coordinates of the area to be trimmed are calculated for each P ₄ from the coordinate information, the obtained trimming data is averaged, and the trimming start point S and end point E are calculated and image processing is performed. This calculates the coordinates of the area to be trimmed based on the mask information and reference point information of the block-designated paper as shown in FIG. First, the digitizer 3 reads the coordinates of the reference points P1, P2, P3, P4 and the mask information (outer frame in which the photograph is stored) shown on the block designating paper. On the other hand, the computer 11 calculates the coordinates of the area to be trimmed based on the coordinate information for each of the reference points P1, P2, P3, P4 of the image information to be image-processed stored in the optical disc 10.

Now, since the relative positional relationship of the mask information (outer frame in which the photograph fits) with respect to the reference points P1, P2, P3, and P4 on the block-designated paper is known, the mask information of the block-designated paper in the image of the optical disc 10 is used. If the corresponding area is known, only the image information of the necessary trimming area can be extracted. As described above, the image on the optical disk 10 has a reference point
Since P1, P2, P3, and P4 are stored, the coordinates of the area corresponding to the area indicated by the mask information of the block designating paper with respect to this reference point can be obtained as the coordinates of the area to be trimmed.

When the image information is scaled and used, the trimming area may be determined in consideration of the scaling ratio.

In the above processing, the trimming area can be determined if there is only one reference point, but if the operator gives an instruction using the digitizer 3, an error is likely to occur. In addition, there are many cases in which the rough sketch drawn on the designated layout paper or block copy is not accurately drawn. For this reason, in this embodiment, a plurality of reference points are prepared, and the coordinates of the trimming area are calculated for each reference point. By performing an averaging process on a plurality of (the number of reference points) coordinate data obtained in this way, the above error can be reduced. In this way, the trimming start point S and end point E are calculated, and only the image in the trimming area is read from the optical disc 10 and stored in the magnetic disc 2 or 5. Next, various image processes are performed on the image thus read. That is, the image information and the position information stored in the magnetic disk 2 and the magnetic disk 5 are read out, and this information is displayed on the color display 9 based on the information of the magnification and the tilt angle stored in the floppy disk 8. It In this case, the computer 11 adjusts the relative position of the line indicating the mask displayed on the color display 9 and the color-separated image information by using the reference point to obtain the color-separated image information. The image information and the position information are automatically arranged at a predetermined position and combined. By performing such image processing on each color-separated image, the positions of all the images to be output on one film are determined and output as a plate-making film. If necessary, a color hard copy machine (not shown) may output the color hard copy.

As described above, in the layout scanner system of the present embodiment, when storing the image information of the color photograph which is the original document as a database, in addition to various attributes such as a file name as in a normal database, a plurality of information related to trimming is stored. The coordinate information of the reference point is added, the coordinate of the area to be trimmed is calculated from the coordinate information for each reference point of the image information to be image-processed, and the obtained trimming data is averaged to perform trimming. Since the start point S and the end point E are calculated and the image processing is performed, the area to be trimmed of the image information to be the target of the image processing,
Also, the reference points for the arrangement can be automatically calculated and processed with high accuracy. As a result, it is possible to significantly reduce the image processing size, reduce the amount of information and memory, and increase the processing speed, and it is also possible to automatically and accurately perform the arrangement after image processing.

That is, in FIG. 3, for example, the size when printing the size of a captured color photograph is 12 lines / mm in resolution, and the sizes in the X and Y directions are 15 cm and 10 cm. In addition, the cropping size (the size of the broken line in FIG. 3) when reusing the color photographs stored in the database is X
The size in the direction and Y direction is 10 cm and 6 cm. Here, in the conventional image processing method, all images are accessed regardless of the size of the trimming size. The data amount in this case is calculated as (150 × 12) × (100 × 12) × 4 = 8640000 bytes. However, the depth of one pixel is 8 bits. On the other hand, in the image processing method of the present embodiment, a really necessary (processing) area is automatically calculated in one color photograph, and only this area (broken line size in FIG. 3) is calculated. Are being accessed. When the data amount in this case is calculated, it becomes (100 × 12) × (60 × 12) × 4 = 3456000 bytes. That is, the access size can be greatly reduced from 8.6 MB in the past to 3.5 MB in the present embodiment.

As described above, in the layout scanner system of the present embodiment, since the image processing is performed only on the required area of the color photograph which is the original, the capacity of the storage medium (magnetic disk 2, 5 etc.) of the system is more than necessary. It is not used too much, and the processing time is short, resulting in improved work efficiency and increased productivity about 3 to 5 times, improving the quality of plate making, which is an important part of the printed matter production process, and delivery. Can be shortened. Further, it is possible to automatically and accurately perform the arrangement after the image processing.

In the above embodiment, the reference point information of the original color photograph is fetched at the time of image input, but the addition of the reference point information is instructed on the color display 9 connected to the computer 11. It is also possible to do so.

Further, in the above embodiment, the reference point is the P point in the pattern of the color photograph, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be an arbitrary point on the color photograph or an arbitrary point outside the color photograph. . Of course, the point O, which is the input origin, may be used as the reference point. However, it is more efficient to arrange the reference point in the newly trimmed portion (broken line), and therefore, it is usually important to design the pattern. Use as points.

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

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION As described above, according to the present invention, a necessary area (to be processed) in a document is automatically determined. Therefore, the amount of information required when performing various image processings. ， Because the image processing is performed, the memory capacity for storing the image data read from the database can be greatly reduced and the processing speed can be greatly improved, and the layout after the image processing can be automatically performed with high accuracy. A layout scanner system that can be performed well can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a layout scanner system according to the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are conceptual diagrams for explaining the concept of the present invention, and FIG. 4 shows reference points in image information. FIG. 5 and FIG. 5 are views for explaining the reference points on the layout-designating sheet. 1 ... Color scanner, 2 ... Magnetic disk 3 ... Digitizer 4 ... Graphic display 5 ... Magnetic disk, 6 ... Floppy disk 7 ... Magnification angle setting device, 8 ... Floppy disk 9 ... Color display 10 ...... Optical disk, 11 ...... Computer 12 ...... Output machine

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Image input means for inputting image information of an original, and image storage means for storing position information of a plurality of reference points regarding trimming to the image information input from the image input means as a database. , Input means for inputting mask information and position information of a plurality of reference points shown on the layout-designating paper or block, magnification input means for inputting the magnification of the document in the finished state, and the image storage means. Based on the stored position information of the reference point, the mask information input from the input seed stage and the position information of the reference point, and the trimming area of the image information of the image processing target based on the magnification input from the magnification input means. Coordinates are calculated for each reference point, the obtained coordinates for each reference point are averaged to calculate the coordinates of the final trimming area, and the image information of the image processing target is calculated based on the coordinates. Layout scanner system characterized in that it comprises an image processing means for reading trimming image from the storage means, a.