JP2789604B2 - Multi-area input device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coordinate input device, and more particularly to a coordinate input device for designating a processing area of image data.

[Prior Art] In recent years, image processing techniques have been applied in various fields due to the progress of digital image processing techniques. In particular, in the field of printing devices, application of digital image processing has enabled image processing with a designated area,
Conventionally, the work manually performed at the stage of manuscript has been greatly automated.

"Problems to be Solved by the Invention" As a request for an input device for specifying an area, a conventional coordinate input device simply outputs only coordinate values. This had to be done on the (body) side.

"Means for solving the problem" Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems,
A coordinate input device for inputting an input coordinate point of an area to be input, an area mode switch for selecting and specifying an area mode of an area formed by the area coordinate points input by the input device,
The present invention proposes a multi-region input device including a region code output device that generates and outputs region code data from coordinate values of region coordinate points input by the coordinate input device.

[Operation] In the multi-region input device of the present invention, the generation and output of the region code data are processed on the input device side, and the processing result is output to the host side.

"Examples" Hereinafter, details of the present invention will be described based on illustrated examples.
FIG. 1 shows a block configuration. The digitizer 1 inputs a coordinate signal by abutting a tip portion of the signal detector 2 (for example, see Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 53-37163 and 55-31943). Is arranged. An arbitrary point of the digitizer 1 is brought into contact with the signal detector 2 to specify the coordinate value of the contour point of the area to be input and the value of the area mode to the area coordinate output device 4 by specifying one of the area mode switches 3. Output. Here, the region is a closed loop formed by straight lines parallel to the horizontal and vertical directions of the digitizer 1 and having a contour that does not intersect with itself, and the region mode indicates designation of processing for the input region. Code.

The area coordinate output device 4 generates an area from the contour point coordinate values and the area mode value of the area input from the digitizer 1,
The area coordinate frame data is output to the area code output device 5. Here, the area coordinate frame data refers to data representing one area frame composed of a set of an area mode and area contour point coordinate values. In addition, the area coordinate output device 5 performs checking of the constraint condition for the area and the like.

The region code output device 5 performs region division based on a plurality of region coordinate frame data input from the region coordinate output device 4 based on the priority of the region mode, and outputs region code data to the host 6. Here, the area code data refers to a code string representing the start and end of each area corresponding to the image line data constituting the image frame on a one-to-one basis, and a no-change point. At this time, there is no overlap of the areas, and if there is an overlap of the areas at the time of input of the original area, an area having a higher priority is left.

Next, the operation of each unit will be described. Digitizer 1
The coordinate values and the area mode input by the operator with the signal detector 2 are output as they are to the area coordinate output device 4 as codes. The area coordinate output device 4 generates area coordinate frame data by interpreting a coordinate value sequence consisting of a plurality of coordinate values input from the digitizer 1 as one area frame until the next area mode code is input. . At this time, the subsequent digitizer 1 satisfies the constraint on the shape of the area.
Whether the portion formed by the two coordinate values is a horizontal line or a vertical line is determined based on the inclination of the line segment, and the coordinate point is rounded. That is, if the inclination of the line segment is larger than 45 degrees, the input coordinate value of the next digitizer 1 is rounded so as to be a vertical line, and if not, the next digitizer 1 is formed so as to be a horizontal line.
Round the input coordinate value of. Further, when a newly input line segment intersects with an already input line segment, an input error is displayed to prompt re-input.

The area code output device 5 generates area code data by interpreting a set of area coordinate frame data input until the operator inputs processing start as one multiplex area specification.

First, a polygon overlap check is performed as preprocessing. Explaining the closed loop of the area illustrated in FIG. 2, an array of the maximum number of bytes in the Y direction is prepared as a memory for storing coordinate values. This array is cleared to 0, and 1 is set as a flag at the Y coordinate value of the changing point of the digitizer 1 designated by the signal detector 2. A point next to the Y coordinate value of the final change point, that is, the Y coordinate value obtained by adding 1 is additionally registered. At this time, in the change points shown in FIG. 2, the black circles indicate the data as they are, and the circles indicate the line segment data. This is a means for identifying the beginning and end of a line segment.

In order to recognize the direction in which the line segment changes at the change point, the approach direction and output direction of the line segment at the change point are represented by numbers in four directions from 0 to 3, and the following equation (numerical value of approach direction × 4) + Numerical value of output direction = development direction ... (1) Applying clockwise, 3,4,9,14 when clockwise.

The expression (1) can be applied to the other directions to obtain the development direction and the change point pattern value.

FIG. 4 shows an example of an actual output. When two polygonal areas overlap with each other, the coordinate values of the inflection point Y are sequentially input from top to bottom in the drawing, and the first Is defined as A between the Y coordinate value and the second Y coordinate value, followed by B between the second and third Y coordinate values, and sequentially named C, D, F, and F. In this state, the output lines of the polygonal area for each of the sections A to F are shown in the lower part of FIG. Therefore, in the section A, the X direction 1-2 of the polygon area is output, and in the section B, the X direction 1-2 of the polygon area and the X direction 5-7 of the polygon area are output. Then, the output line shown below is output.

Next, in the area code data, the displacement data of the Y coordinate value of the inflection point is created by adjusting the direction of each continuous line segment.
Line segments parallel to the direction are deleted. Further, X change point data in the Y coordinate value change section is searched for by comparing all lines entering the Y coordinate value change section, and the X coordinate value is recorded as change point data. This process is performed for each closed loop data, and a change point data sequence of the line is created by superimposition. At this time, the final transmission address and the change point pattern value are stored.

In the present embodiment, the area is restricted, but the area can be expanded to an arbitrary polygon, and an arbitrary nested structure can be used if the overlapping of the area modes can be handled by image processing. In this embodiment, the digitizer, the area output device, and the area code output device are separated from each other. However, multiplex processing by one CPU can be performed. Further, by making the region mode a logical operation between the regions, it is possible to take the sum or difference when the region is a set of points, and the processing on the host (main body) side can be significantly reduced. it can.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, by adding an area code generation function to a coordinate input device (digitizer) that has conventionally been able to output only coordinate values, the host (main body) This can reduce the processing on the side and improve the throughput by parallel processing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram, FIG. 2 is a closed loop of a region, FIG. 3 is a directional development diagram, and FIG. 4 is an output state diagram. 1 digitizer, 2 signal detector, 3 area switch, 4 area coordinate output device, 5 area code output device

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-58-149579 (JP, A) JP-A-61-276012 (JP, A) JP-A-63-124120 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int) .Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G06F 3/03-3/037

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A coordinate input device for inputting an input coordinate point of an area to be input; an area mode switch for selecting and specifying an area mode of an area formed by the area coordinate points input by the input device; An area code output device that generates and outputs area code data from the coordinate values of the area coordinate points input by the input device, wherein the area code output apparatus includes an area that includes contour point coordinate values and area mode values of a plurality of areas. A multi-region input device for performing region division based on a region code from coordinate frame data and outputting region code data.