JPH0778622B2 - Layout scanner device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a layout scanner apparatus 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 device which 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. And this kind of layout scanner system is sold by many manufacturers,
It is an extremely innovative 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., once used photographs are subjected to image processing such as enlargement / reduction / rotation, In many cases, trimming is changed and reused or reused. Such work is generally called the former as a plate-making work and the latter as a plate-making work using a database.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, frequently used (diverted or reused) color photographs or the like can be stored in a recording medium such as a magnetic tape or a magnetic disk and reused. And at this time, enlargement
Processing such as reduction and rotation is possible, but it takes time and productivity is low. That is, as a cause of this, when a color photograph is used for printing, in general, there is almost no case where full trimming is performed, and in most cases, 30 to 40% is cut. However, the current layout scanner system does not take any measures against such a problem, and simply accesses the entire area with a photo file name or the like regardless of the size of the trimming size. 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.

On the other hand, in this type of layout scanner system, when trying to smoothly operate the database system, in the conventional system, the image information stored as a database is brought to the system by full trimming and operated. As a problem of such a system, firstly, for example, when performing a plate collecting operation on a layout scanner, image information to be calculated may be considerably larger than information other than a necessary portion (trimming). Therefore, the layout calculation time is unnecessarily long (also when the target image information is scaled or rotated), and secondly, the image information can be created for other media such as CDROM and CDI. It can be difficult. Therefore, recently, as a method for solving such a problem, a system having a trimming processing + magnification processing function of image information has been considered. However, considering practical use, there are quite a few cases in which the scaling process is substantially unnecessary only by trimming. For example, this is the case when it is desired to make a plate with the same resolution and the same magnification as when building a database, such as in a catalog. In such a case, even if trimming is necessary, scaling is hardly necessary (for example, when the magnification is x1%, 0.99 <x <1.01), but scaling processing is performed. However, there is a problem that the processing speed is reduced due to the extra processing time. Further, the more the scaling process is performed, the more the image quality deteriorates. Furthermore, when operating with the same resolution and magnification as when capturing an image, we want to calculate the trimming area by assuming that the magnification during operation is 1.0, but it is not always the desired size due to a slight difference in magnification and digital error (rounding error). However, in such a case, it becomes very difficult to perform a normal plate-making operation on the layout scanner without scaling processing. That is. The consistency between the data management information that the system has in advance and the image data is lost.

As described above, in the conventional layout scanner system, the image processing is performed up to the area other than the necessary area, and the scaling processing is performed until the scaling is substantially unnecessary only by trimming. Not only is the storage medium capacity of the system used more than necessary, and the processing time is extremely long, the quality after image processing deteriorates, resulting in a reduction in work efficiency, which is important in the print production process. There was a problem in trying to improve the quality of plate making, which occupies a position, and shorten 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 problems, and automatically determines a necessary (processing) area in a document and does not need scaling processing by simply trimming. By not performing scaling processing on objects, it is possible to greatly reduce the amount of information and memory required when performing various types of image processing, as well as to greatly improve processing speed, and to arrange after image processing. It is an object of the present invention to provide a layout scanner device which can be automatically performed and can prevent deterioration of image quality due to scaling processing.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention corresponding to claim 1 is an image storage unit that stores image information and reference point position information of the image information in association with each other in advance as a database. , Trimming information fetching means for fetching reference point position information and trimming position information defining an arbitrary trimming region of the image information, and a trimming image formed of the trimming region are made to match an arbitrary output size. Output magnification fetching means for fetching the output magnification, and reference point position information and trimming information fetching in the image storing means when the output magnification fetched from the output magnification fetching means is outside the allowable range. The trimming area of the image information is read based on the reference point position information, the trimming position information, and the output magnification taken in from the means. Trimming coordinates for calculating, and when the output magnification is within the allowable range, reference point position information in the image storage means, reference point position information and trimming position information fetched from the trimming information fetching means, and Based on the output size,
The same size trimming coordinates for reading the trimming area corresponding to the output size when the output magnification is corrected to the same size are calculated, and the image storage information of the image storage information is calculated based on the trimming coordinates or the same size trimming coordinates. An image processing means for reading out the trimming area from the image storage means is provided.

The image processing means may be configured to determine whether or not the output magnification is within the allowable range by comparing the capture magnification at the time of capturing an image with the output magnification (normally, the capture magnification is Although it is constant at the same size, this configuration is used when changing the capture ratio).

In the invention according to claim 2, the image processing means has a function of arranging the trimming image based on the trimming position information fetched from the trimming information fetching means.

[Operation] Therefore, in the layout scanner device according to the first aspect of the present invention, the image storage means for storing the image information and the reference point position information of the image information in association with each other in advance is provided, and the trimming information acquisition means is provided. Captures reference point position information and trimming position information that define an arbitrary trimming area in the image information, and an output magnification capturing means captures an output magnification that matches a trimmed image including the trimming area with an arbitrary output size, Image processing means
When the output magnification taken in from the output magnification taking means is out of the allowable range, the reference point position information and trimming information in the image storage means, the trimming position information and the output magnification are taken in. The trimming coordinates for reading the trimming area in the image information are calculated based on the above, and when the output magnification is within the allowable range, the reference point position information and the trimming information fetching means in the image storage means are fetched. Based on the reference point position information and the trimming position information and the output size, the same size trimming coordinate for reading the trimming area corresponding to the output size when the output magnification is corrected to the same size is calculated, and the trimming coordinate or the like is calculated. The trimming area of the image information is read from the image storage means based on the double trimming coordinates. Note that the image processing means, even if the capture magnification is not a normal value (normal size),
Whether or not the output magnification is within the allowable range can be determined by comparing the acquisition magnification and the output magnification. In this way, when storing image information as a database, by adding coordinate information of at least one reference point related to trimming in addition to various attributes such as a file name as in a normal database, image processing is performed. It is possible to automatically calculate and process the area to be trimmed of the image information to be targeted and the reference point for the arrangement. This allows
The image processing size can be greatly reduced to reduce the information amount and the memory amount and the processing speed can be increased, and the arrangement after the image processing can be automatically performed. Furthermore, when diverting (operating) an image stored as a database, when the product of the resolution and the magnification when the image is diverted (operating) is almost the same as the product of the resolution and the magnification when the image is captured, trimming is performed. By calculating the trimming start and end points and determining the trimming area so that the subsequent size will be the predetermined size, the scaling process for scaling after trimming is deleted, and the image processing speed is reduced. It is possible to further improve the image quality and prevent deterioration of the image quality. Further, in the invention according to claim 2, the image processing means arranges the trimming image based on the trimming position information fetched from the trimming information fetching means, and therefore, the same action as that according to claim 1 is achieved. be able to.

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

In the layout scanner system, which is equipped with an editing function that performs color separation of color originals and at the same time the final finishing layout, that is, a full-page typesetting function, color originals are placed on the scanner drum in order to operate the system as efficiently as possible. It is extremely important to paste at a predetermined 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 such a color document as a database of digital images, 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. It is something to add. 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 it is not possible to determine whether the entire color photograph or only a part of the color photograph is used when it is reused or diverted. 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.

Furthermore, the present invention also considers the necessity of scaling processing after trimming when determining the new trimming size (required image area). That is,
Whether the product of resolution and magnification at the time of diversion (operation) of the image is almost the same as the product of resolution and magnification at the time of capturing this image determines whether or not the scaling processing after trimming is necessary. (That is, the resolution and magnification at diversion (operation) are
There is no need for scaling processing, not only when the resolution and the magnification at the time of import are almost the same, but also when the product of the resolution and the magnification is almost the same at the time of import and at the time of diversion (operation) even if the resolution and the magnification are different. To determine. ) As a result, when there is no need for the scaling process, the coordinates of the area to be trimmed are calculated from the coordinate information of the reference point P of the image information so that the size after trimming becomes a predetermined size. The start and end points of trimming are calculated.

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

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 which is an image input means, a magnetic disk 2, a digitizer 3 which is an interactive input means, a graphic display 4, a magnetic disk 5 or Floppy disk 6, magnification angle setting device 7 and floppy disk 8 which are magnification angle calculating means, color display 9 which is image displaying means, optical disk 10 which is image storing means, capture magnification capturing means and trimming. It is composed of a computer 11 which is an information fetching means, an output magnification fetching means and 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 and the mask information shown on the layout-designated paper or the block copy,
This is also displayed 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 setting device 7 measures the magnification and inclination angle of the document in the finished state,
In addition, this is stored in the floppy disk 8.

On the other hand, the optical disc 10 stores the image information output from the color scanner 1 as a database by adding coordinate information of at least one reference point regarding trimming to the image information. Also, the computer 11
Is a function for reading out image information and position information stored on the magnetic disk 2 and the magnetic disk 5, respectively, and displaying this information on the color display 9 based on the magnification and tilt angle information stored on the floppy disk 8. , Whether or not the product of resolution and magnification at the time of diversion (operation) of the image is almost the same as the product of resolution and magnification at the time of importing the image determines whether or not the scaling process after trimming is necessary. If there is a need for a function to perform trimming and scaling processing after trimming, the coordinates of the area to be trimmed is calculated from the coordinate information of the reference point of the image information to be image-processed stored in the optical disc 10 and trimmed. When the start and end points of the image are calculated, the scaling processing is performed, and when there is no need for the scaling processing after trimming, the image processing stored in the optical disk 10 is performed. From the coordinate information of the reference point of the image information to be processed, calculate the coordinates of the area to be trimmed so that the size after trimming will be a predetermined desired size in a form that compensates for the digital error (rounding error). ,
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, position information such as plate-making size and mask information shown on the layout-designated paper or block copy is read by an appropriate means such as the digitizer 3 and stored in the magnetic disk 5 or the floppy disk 6, and a graphic display is made. 4 is displayed above. 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 is stored in the optical disc 10 as a database with the coordinate information of one reference point P regarding trimming added to this image information.

On the other hand, in the computer 11, based on the reference point position information designated as the address information of the trimming image and the trimming position information, the coordinate information of the reference point P of the image information to be image-processed stored in the optical disc 10 is obtained. The image processing is performed by calculating the coordinates of the region to be trimmed, calculating the trimming start point S and the trimming end point E, and performing the image processing. 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 between the line indicating the mask displayed on the color display 9 and the color-separated image information so that the color-separated image information is automatically located at a predetermined position. After being arranged, the image information and the position information are combined. By performing such image processing on each color-separated image, the positions of all images to be output on one film are determined,
It is output as a platemaking film. If necessary, a color hard copy machine (not shown) may be used to output the color hard copy.

Further, in this case, it is necessary to perform the scaling processing after trimming depending on whether or not the product of the resolution and the magnification when the image is diverted (used) is substantially the same as the product of the resolution and the magnification when the image is captured. Presence / absence is determined. As a result, when it is necessary to perform the scaling processing after trimming, the coordinates of the area to be trimmed is calculated from the coordinate information of the reference point P of the image information to be image-processed stored on the optical disc 10. The scaling point is calculated by calculating the trimming start point S and end point E. On the other hand, when it is not necessary to perform the scaling processing after trimming, the optical disc based on the reference point position information and the trimming position information designated as the address information of the trimming image and the predetermined size (output size).
Based on the coordinate information of the reference point P of the image information to be image-processed stored in 10, the size after trimming becomes a predetermined size, that is, the size after trimming is desired after scaling. The coordinates of the area to be trimmed so as to have the size are accurately calculated in a form that compensates for the digital error (rounding error), and the trimming start point S and end point E are calculated. Briefly, the coordinates of the area to be trimmed are compensated so that a predetermined size can be obtained even if the scaling process is not executed (equivalent to the case where the scaling process of 1 time is executed). Calculated. For example,
In this calculation, if the images have the same resolution and slightly different magnifications when the images are captured and reused, the finishing magnification is
When 1.01 times, the coordinates of the area to be trimmed is compensated so as to be enlarged corresponding to 1.01 times, and when the finishing magnification is 0.99 times, the coordinates of the area to be trimmed is reduced corresponding to 0.99 times. Have been compensated for. here,
The predetermined size is the magnification, resolution and size (length) for outputting the plate-making film with the output machine 12.
The image size (line × column) obtained from
This size is a size obtained by adding a preliminary amount to the size measured from the designated layout paper or the block copy.

This point will be specifically described. That is, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), the trimming area to be trimmed from the image information A stored on the optical disc 10 is set to B, and as shown in FIG. 4 (b), the image at the time of diversion (operation) is used. Let C be the information area. Here, for example, the size of the trimming area B after the calculation is set to 600 lines to 1200 lines → 601 lines, 100 columns to 1000 columns → 901 columns, and the size of the image information area C at the time of diversion (operation) is set. , 600 lines × 900 columns, the calculated size of trimming area B is 600 lines to 1199 lines → 600 lines, 1
From the 00th column to the 999th column → Change to the 900th column and trimming is performed.

As described above, in the layout scanner system of the present embodiment, when storing the image information of a color photograph as a document as a database, at least the trimming-related information other than various attributes such as a file name is stored in the same manner as a normal database. The coordinate information of one reference point P is added, the coordinates of the area to be trimmed are calculated from the coordinate information of the reference point P of the image information to be image-processed, and the trimming start point S and end point E are calculated. Since the image processing is performed by the image processing, it is possible to automatically calculate and process the area to be trimmed of the image information to be subjected to the image processing and the reference point for the arrangement. 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 perform the arrangement after image processing.

That is, in FIG. 3, for example, when printing the size of a captured color photograph, the resolution is 12 lines / mm,
The sizes in the X and Y directions are 15 cm and 10 cm.
The trimming size (the size of the broken line in FIG. 3) when reusing the color photograph stored in the database is 10 cm and 6 cm in the X and Y directions. Here, in the conventional image processing method, all images are accessed regardless of the size of the trimming size. When the data amount in this case is calculated, it becomes (150 × 12) × (100 × 12) × 4 = 3640000 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.

Further, in this embodiment, when the image information stored as the database is diverted (used), the product of the resolution and the magnification when the image information is diverted (used) is the product of the resolution and the magnification when the image information is taken. When it is almost the same, the coordinates of the area B to be trimmed are calculated so that the size after trimming becomes a predetermined size, and the start point S and the end point E of trimming are calculated. Enlargement of image information after trimming during image information operation
It is possible to eliminate the scaling processing for reduction, further improve the image processing speed by that amount, and prevent deterioration in image quality due to the scaling processing.

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 possible to use it for many times 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 occupies an important position in the printed matter production process, It is possible to shorten the delivery time. Further, it is possible to automatically perform the arrangement after the image processing. Furthermore, if the product of the resolution and the magnification at the time of diverting (operating) the image information is almost the same as the product of the resolution and the magnification at the time of importing this image information, the scaling change of the image information after trimming is changed. Since the doubling process is deleted, it is possible to further improve the image processing speed by that amount and prevent deterioration of image quality due to the scaling process.

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.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a necessary area (to be processed) in a document is automatically determined, and a portion that does not require the scaling processing is simply not trimmed. As a result, it is possible to greatly reduce the amount of information and the amount of memory required when performing various types of image processing, significantly improve the processing speed, and automatically perform the arrangement after image processing. It is possible to provide a layout scanner device capable of preventing deterioration of image quality due to scaling processing.

[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 is a view for explaining the operation in the same embodiment. It is a conceptual diagram for doing. 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 (2)

[Claims] 1. An image storage unit that stores image information and reference point position information of the image information in advance as a database in association with each other, reference point position information and a trimming position that define an arbitrary trimming area of the image information. Trimming information fetching means for fetching information, output magnification fetching means for fetching an output magnification for matching the trimming image formed of the trimming area with an arbitrary output size, and the output magnification fetching means When the output magnification taken in is out of the allowable range, based on the reference point position information in the image storage means and the reference point position information taken in from the trimming information taking means, the trimming position information, and the output magnification. When the trimming coordinates for reading the trimming area of the image information are calculated, and the output magnification is within the allowable range, The reference point position information in the image storage means, the reference point position information and trimming position information captured from the trimming information capturing means, and the output size when the output magnification is corrected to the same size. An image for calculating a trimming area for reading a trimming area corresponding to the output size, and reading the trimming area of the image information from the image storage means based on the trimming coordinate or the trimming coordinate. A layout scanner device comprising: a processing unit. 2. The layout scanner device according to claim 1, wherein the image processing unit arranges the trimming image based on the trimming position information fetched from the trimming information fetching unit.