JPS61188621A - Drawing outputting method of plotter drawing output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the utilization efficiency of a form by giving a drawing size data to each checkers-shaped frame formed by dividing the maximum size drawing into necessary minimum size drawings, and placing the drawing in accordance with whether a 90 deg. rotation is necessary or not. CONSTITUTION:A titled device has drawing size data S1-S9 in front of a plotting data, and a processing is executed by an original algorithm, by a firmware on a microprocessor contained in the device by said data S1-S9. That is to say, the maximum size drawing corresponding to the corresponding table is divided, and 16 frames of frame number '0'-15 of a necessary size drawing are given to a part which has been formed on the firmware. Subsequently, whether the drawing has been placed horizontally or vertically is discriminated, and in accordance with a result of its discrimination, the respective drawings are brought to a nesting processing horizontally and vertically to 16 pieces of frames. By executing such a processing, a white part of a form is eliminated, and the utilization efficiency of the form is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Industrial Application Field The present invention utilizes a drawing table by a plotter drawing device, particularly a control program (hereinafter referred to as 7-Aware) before drawing graphic data. The present invention relates to a drawing output method of a plotter drawing apparatus that performs nesting of drawing size data. ,
.

(Naka) Conventional technology Recently, the development of graphics processing systems (hereinafter referred to as host systems) has progressed due to the use of computer computers, and with this, it has become increasingly difficult to import drawing data from host systems, especially CAD systems. Development of a drawing output device for inputting data, for example, development of efficiency in using drawing data 9 arranged on a drawing table is being carried out.

For example, what about large-sized drawings? To explain, a wide range of sizes (from human size to A4 size) are used, among which Al-
A4 size diagram! is more useful than AO size. Therefore, the paper on the drawing table is AO size. Any size from Al to A4 or 1
Is this the shape data? In this case, the paper with the difference is being sent to nothing. 1 This situation will be explained in detail based on the drawings.

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FIG. 5 is a layout diagram showing an example of the conventional drawing data input order;
FIG. 6 shows a layout diagram printed on a sheet of paper on a drawing table according to the drawing size in the drawing data input order shown in FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 shows the layout diagram after the page break in FIG.

Generally, the drawing data output from the host system is configured so that a plurality of drawings of any size are drawn at random. If an attempt is made to faithfully draw this using a drawing device, paper usage efficiency will be extremely poor. This situation will be explained below.

That is, as shown in FIG. 6, a sheet of paper 1 that is continuously fed out is placed on a drawing table, and the width W of this sheet of paper 1 is determined based on the maximum size of the drawing, for example, according to JIS.
In the case of A size according to the standard, one slightly larger than AO size is provided.

When the A2 size drawing data shown in FIG. 5 is output from the host system to the drawing device in such a state, as shown in FIG.
The image is printed on the edge of paper 1. At this time, since the A2 size drawing is AO size 1, an A2 size blank portion remains. After the drawing is drawn in this person's 2-size drawing, it is sent out from the drawing table with an A2-sized blank section left, and the next new drawing is to be dealt with.

Next, when the A3 size drawing data is output to the drawing device, the A2 size drawing data continues from the final end of the A2 size drawing in the same way as the previous A2 size drawing arrangement. Drawings will be issued.

Furthermore, A3. A4. A4. . . . The size drawing data is also output in the same manner as described above.

However, as shown in FIG. 6, as the drawing size becomes smaller, blank areas increase when paper 1 is sent out from the table, which is extremely inefficient in terms of paper usage. FIG. 7 shows a method that improves this point.

In FIG. 7, similarly to the example in FIG. 6, the long side of the AO size drawing is the width W of the paper l.

In order to reduce the blank area when feeding out the paper l, the position where the long side of the AO size drawing is divided into two, that is, the TW position, is determined as the temporary origin QIo.

First, when the A2 size drawing data shown in FIG. 5 is given to the drawing device, an A2 size drawing is printed at the position explained in FIG. At this time, the difference from the method shown in FIG. 6 is that the paper l does not move even after the drawing is output, but moves after the next drawing data is output. Therefore, the following data,
That is, when A3 size drawing data is given to the drawing device, an A3 size drawing is printed at the position of the temporary origin qQ with the elongated side oriented in the direction of movement of the paper l. The arrangement of the next drawing data differs depending on the previous drawing size and the drawing size before the previous drawing. In other words, as shown in the figure, the origin Qo
The A2 drawing issued on the side is his origin Q; the A2 drawing issued on the side
Since it is larger than 3 drawings, the beginning of the next drawing A3' is printed at the origin Q1 at the final end of the drawing A2. On the other hand, if it is smaller, the drawing is drawn at a temporary origin next to the final end of the drawing drawn at the temporary origin, at a position corresponding to the aforementioned origin in the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction A. In other words, since the A4 drawing indicated by ■ is smaller than the A3 drawing indicated by ■, the top of the next A3 drawing indicated by Orthogonal origin Q
3 will be published. Similarly, the same thing can be said when viewed from the temporary position side, comparing the drawing size drawn from the temporary origin point two times before with the drawing size drawn from the origin point before that, At right angles to the direction of progress A of the larger drawing, the leading part of the next drawing is drawn at the last end of the larger drawing. For example, the leading part of the A3 drawing in ■ is larger in the A3 drawing in ■ than the A4 drawing in ■. The first part of the drawing marked ■ is displayed at the tentative point Q'I.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention □Even in this apparatus, the paper is still fed out from the drawing table with many blank pages. In order to solve this problem, program processing on the host system side is being considered, but the paper usage efficiency is still not desirable.Also, even if the problem is solved on the host system side, The processing load increases,
In addition, it may be necessary to perform separate program processing on the host system side for drawing output devices with different functions for drawing sizes, and in some systems, such as the Turkey CAD system, the host system may be directly connected to the drawing output device. In any case, solving problems on the host system side has not been a desirable method, as it has little flexibility, and incorporating a processing program to solve the problem would increase the size of the device and increase costs.

Therefore, the present invention was devised to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to provide means for solving the problems not on the host system side but on the drawing output device side. An object of the present invention is to provide a drawing output method for a plotter drawing apparatus that further improves paper utilization efficiency.

The method for achieving the above objective is (i) The first means of obtaining drawing size data from the host system or externally to display the drawing size before inputting the drawing data. (2) The maximum size drawing fits within the maximum drawing range of the drawing table, and the maximum size drawing is divided into the necessary small size drawings that are divided into the basic units, and the maximum size drawing is divided into board patterns. (3) a third means for associating the drawing size data with the second means and determining whether or not to perform 90 rotations; (4) a drawing obtained by the third means; Each of the fourth means for nesting size data on a drawing table is provided in the plotter drawing device.

The operation will be explained in detail below using examples with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a layout diagram showing one embodiment of the plotting data input order related to the plotting method of the plotter plotting device according to the present invention;
The figure is a layout diagram printed on paper according to the drawing size in the order of drawing data input in Figure 1, the second figure is a processing flowchart of drawing size data, and Figure 4 is a drawing with the minimum size drawing as the basic unit, and the board on the drawing table. A state diagram divided into grids is shown.

First, a schematic explanation of the drawing issuing method according to the present invention will be given.

That is, the difference from the conventional method is that, as shown in Fig. 1, drawing size data (hereinafter simply referred to as size data) is provided before the drawing data, and this size data is used to determine the size of the micro Processed by firmware on the processor using a unique algorithm. That is, as shown in Fig. 3, the maximum size drawing corresponding to the correspondence table is divided and the pieces of the required minimum size drawing are given to the parts formed on the turtle pieces, fur pieces, and uneven pieces, and they are nested vertically. This is the drawing method.

Next, such a method will be described in detail with reference to examples according to the flowchart shown in Figure 4.

First, in (2)-ζ, the size data S1 shown in FIG. 1 is given from the host system (not shown) or externally to the firmware included in the drawing device.

Furthermore, this size data St is given to ■, where 90
It is determined whether rotation is necessary or not, and the result is stored in memory.

That is, this situation will be explained in detail.

In Fig. 3 1ζ, A size is used among the drawing number types A size or B size specified in the JI8 standard, and the paper on the drawing table is the maximum size drawing of A size (I
It is slightly larger than AO. This AO size drawing is equally divided into bound frames from 0 to φ15 using the required minimum size drawing A4 as a basic unit and placed on the firmware.

Here, when lζ and size data S1 are given, this data S1 is placed horizontally on the divided AO size drawing with the X direction as the elongated side and the Y direction as the rectangular side, with the origin P as the reference position. Then, it is calculated how many frames the drawing size of the size data S1 uses. In this case comana 0. Φ1. φ4. 4 frames divided by 5 are used. Further, the image is placed vertically with the origin P as a reference position, and the number of used frames is calculated. This is it. And the key point of 900 rotations/
As for unnecessaryness, priority is given to the one with the smaller number of frames, in which case it will be placed horizontally and the determination result will be stored in memory.

Thereafter, size data St, Ss, . . . , Be are sequentially determined. That is, when size data S2 is given, the number of frames used when placed horizontally is ◆0. ◆1, 44
.

φ5 4 frames, number of frames used when placed vertically is 0. φ1
2 frames, so it will be placed vertically. The size data S3 is placed vertically like the size data S2. Size data S4
is 1 frame with the number of horizontal frames + 0, and the number of vertical frames is φ0. Φ1
From the second frame onwards, it will be placed horizontally. Hereafter, size data Sm
, 8a, Sr, Ss, and Sm are placed in the same manner as the size data 84 g 8m +.as * 8s * 8'l.

Then, each determination result is stored in memory.

Next, in (2), based on the determination result in (2), the table amount using the basic length as a unit in the X and Y directions shown in FIG. 3 is calculated. That is, in (2), the available area is searched by referring to the table. This means that the initial state of the correspondence table on the firmware is "0" when it is not used, and "1" when the corresponding area is used, and the frames from 0 to Φ15 are filled in according to the size data. . For example, if size data 81 is given, iζ is determined to be placed horizontally, and the frame to be used is Φ0.
Φ1°4. Five areas are used, and each is stored as a corresponding area. Next, in ■, the corresponding ridge area is −co÷
A determination is made as to whether or not there is a remaining number. If there is a remaining number, the drawing setting position is determined in (2) and the correspondence table is turned ON. In other words, there are still a number of frames left in the A2 size drawing, and the corresponding area of the next size data S2 is stored in memory, and 89 frames are sequentially stored from the given size data SS.
Depending on the size data, for example, if the size data S9 shown in FIG. 1 is A3 size instead of A4 size, the corresponding area is stored in memory up to A3 size.
If you postpone drawing the size drawing and fill it with an A4 size drawing from the drawing size to be drawn in the next table, or if you feed the paper with it blank and the A4 size drawing appears later, One method is to turn the sheet of paper with a blank area upside down and fill in the blank area.

゛ Next, in (■), the origin offset value of the drawing is calculated. In other words, since the actual paper position has been determined in accordance with the table in the program before ■, the reference position of each drawing shown in Fig. 2, that is, the X mark shown at the intersection of the frames in Fig. 3. The position can be determined, and this position is required when drawing on paper, and this absolute position is determined.

Also, if there are no frames remaining in ■, the drawing output process is executed in ■, for example, in the case of a pen plotter, paper is fed and a new sheet of unprinted paper is prepared, or in the case of an electrostatic plotter, a new sheet of unprinted paper is prepared. A process of interrupting the storage of drawing data and outputting the drawing is performed. After that, in step ■, the table is initialized, that is, in preparation for drawing the next step, the corresponding area that has been stored as rlJ is
oJ is cleared and preparations are made for dealing with the available area in the next step shown in (3). .

After the @ processing, the process of drawing the graphic data on paper is performed.

On the other hand, in step (2), it is determined whether 90° rotation is necessary or not, and the memorized value is given as a part number indicating whether or not figure rotation is necessary as a post-processing of the drawing data shown in Φ, and the determination is made here. If a 90° rotation is required, for example in the case of the A3 diagram shown on paper 1 in Figure 2, then in the following A replacement instruction is issued, and then, in step (3), the sign of the X-direction movement amount is inverted to positive or negative in order to reduce the load on firmware processing. For example, if the X direction is the positive pole and the Y direction is the negative pole, the X direction is the negative pole, and the Y direction is the positive pole. As a result, in the second case, the A3 drawing is placed vertically, or drawing is performed in the same state as when the drawing is placed horizontally.

Then, at □・e, move to the X direction of the table.

The amount of movement in each Y direction is calculated, and the calculated offset value, that is, the reference position as the origin of the drawing, is added. For example, the offset value for A3 size in the size data S2 is the position of the X marks of frames +2 and +3. Thereafter, in step (3), the corresponding data is drawn in the state of each drawing arrangement on the paper 1 shown in FIG. Note that if it is not necessary to perform the 90' rotation in (2), proceed to the part shown in (e).

(E) Effects of the Invention As stated above, the present invention has the advantage that in the conventional method, when the paper is fed from the table after drawing, there are many blank areas, and the paper usage efficiency is not favorable. Since this is done on the host system side, there are various problems such as an increase in processing load and the need to perform separate program processing on the host system side for drawing output devices with different drawing sizes and functions. He made something possible that was flawed. In particular, the drawing device side divides the maximum size drawing corresponding to the table into the required minimum size drawings to form a board pattern, gives the drawing size data to the frame of this minimum size drawing, and then divides the maximum size drawing corresponding to the table into the necessary minimum size drawings, gives drawing size data to the frame of this minimum size drawing, and then The nesting process, which determines whether a drawing is unnecessary and places the drawing in each 8-indexed frame, further improves paper usage efficiency compared to conventional methods.

Therefore, the plotting method of the plotter plotting device according to the present invention is a very useful method in this device having a rask method or a vector method.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a layout diagram showing an example of the plotting data input order according to the plotting method of the plotter plotting device according to the present invention, and FIG. Figure 4 is a state diagram in which the minimum size drawing is the basic unit and the drawing table is divided into board grids, and Figure 5 is the conventional drawing data input method. A layout diagram showing an example of the order, Figure 6 is a layout diagram printed on paper on the drawing table according to the drawing size in the order of drawing data input in Figure 5, and Figure 7 is a layout diagram showing an example of the order.
The figure is shown after improvement. l...paper, 81-S9...drawing size data, +O-+15...frame.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a plotter drawing device having a raster system or a vector system for inputting drawing data and outputting figure data, a first means for obtaining drawing size data for displaying a drawing size before inputting the drawing data; a second means for partitioning the maximum size drawing into board grids using as a basic unit a necessary minimum size drawing in which the size drawing falls within the maximum drawing range of the drawing table and the maximum size drawing is divided; a third means for associating the drawing size data with the means and determining whether or not to rotate the drawing by 90 degrees; and nesting the drawing size data obtained by the third means on the drawing table. Fourth
A plotter output method for a plotter diagram output device, comprising: means.