Showing papers on "Page layout published in 1992"

Method and apparatus for automated page layout of text and graphic elements

Abstract: A method for automated layout of text elements and artwork on a greeting card. A system for automatically carrying out the method for generating the layout of text elements and artwork on a greeting card includes a memory device for storing a plurality of artwork specifications, each artwork specification including information describing a piece of artwork and a plurality of constraints describing the layout of text elements in relation to the piece of artwork. The system further includes an input device for selecting one of the artwork specifications in the memory and a device for selecting the text elements of the greeting card. A processor, coupled to the memory device and the input device selectively manipulates the text elements and the artwork specification to generate a greeting card layout in accordance with the plurality of constraints of the selected artwork specification. An output device, either a video display or printer, is provided to display the generated greeting card layout.

A modelling of interactive facilities layout designer reasoning using qualitative patterns

Abstract: SUMMARY A modelling of interactive facilities layout designer reasoning for the purpose of improving the quality of solution currently available in the layout literature. Some of the constraints which are laborious to explore interactively, are enumerated by automated reasoning. The facilities layout design task is conceived as a multi-agent collaborative reasoning problem. The described approach is fundamentally different from previous approaches in three ways: (i) The reasoning is focused on the automated identification and rectification attempts on a set of qualitative patterns (termed qualitative layout anomalies or QLAs). (ii) The problem is solved by context-based reasoning, with each context originating from a different starting solution. The contexts allow one to jump into interesting regions of the solution space, (iii) An automated interface of the reasoning process and linear optimization is developed to solve the layout problem. This makes it more convenient to enumerate the solution space mor...

Visible language: Multimodal constraints in information presentation

Abstract: Ever since the very beginning of serious work in the field (at least since McDonald's Ph.D. work [McDonald 80]), a widely supported view of the natural language generation process is that it involves decision making under constraints: constraints imposed by the context of language production, and by the linguistic resources available to the language producer. Who could disagree? But, very surprisingly, this view is rarely taken to its logical conclusion. There have been a few pieces of research that have looked at the computer production of language in time-limited situations, with the effects this has on what can be said and how it can be said (see, for example, Hovy's Ph.D. work [Hovy 88], or some of the work now being carried out by Jean Carletta and Richard Caley at Edinburgh); but no current research takes account of the physical manifestation of the written word, and the constraints imposed by the medium of communication. There is research in multimedia generation that has started to address the apportioning of information between the graphical and the linguistic, and how the two interact asking questions, for example, such as how forms of reference are affected when a picture is part of the message conveyed (as reported in the papers of Reithinger and Claassen in this volume). But, strangely, the result is still 'disembodied' text generators which take no real account of issues such as page layout and the use of space. We don't have a theory of these things let's refer to them collectively as the layout dimension and worse: we don't have a theory of how this layout dimension interacts with the language dimension. But interact they do. Everyone is familiar with the situation: an eight page conference paper to write, and just a few lines of text end up on page nine. You start rewording the text to pull those renegades onto the previous page, looking for paragraphs which end in a line containing only one word; or you turn information presented in a bulleted list into body text, with appropriate use of punctuation marks to indicate the rhetorical structure previously carried by the layout. With a modern text processing system, and modulo some liberal interpretation of the layout guidelines, you have other alternatives: the line spacing can be changed, the column width changed, or the point size of the references reduced a little. All these possibilities interact; they are raw materials that copy-writers and graphic designers have been playing with for years. The layout is a resource just as the language itself is.

Page layout method and its device

Abstract: PURPOSE:To provide the page layout method which integrally manages plate formats and signature allotment charts within a computer, can automatically execute the page layout of manuscripts per page in accordance with the data on the plate formats and signature allotment, lessens the manpower of plate making operations, improves the efficiency thereof and eliminates operation errors and its device. CONSTITUTION:This method has a stage 23 for setting the data on machine plate formats by inputting the data necessary for forming one sheet of plate by subjecting the page information for plural pages, such as sequence of the pages to be allotted to the plate, to page layout, a signature allotment setting stage 24 for forming signature allotment data in accordance with at least the data on the number of the total page layouts per print and the data on the number of the page layouts per plate and a machine plate information forming stage 26 for forming the machine plate information necessary for plate making by allotting the previously formed page information in accordance with the data on the machine plate formats and the signature allotment.

An automated pipe-route planner in three dimensional plant layout design

Abstract: The authors simulated a problem entitled 'the automated pipe route planner in three-dimensional plant layout design into a nonlinear programming model' by using Rosenbrock's rotating direction method for unconstrained optimization. In this method, the coordinate system is rotated in each stage of minimization in such a manner that the first axis is oriented towards the locally estimated direction of the valley and all the other axes are made mutually orthogonal and normal to the first axis. The proposed method of knowledge based route planning for pipes provides a tool for pipe route finding problems in a layout plan. The iterative algorithm to produce the optimal solution is presented. >

Device for supporting vlsi layout design

Abstract: PURPOSE:To facilitate synthetic support for the automatic design of an VLSI by providing this VLSI layout design supporting device with a means for automatically designing the VLSI based upon layout data and a design tool group stored in a storage means and a means capable of instructing the change of the layout data by a conversational format. CONSTITUTION:A design tool group consists of a logical design supporting system 15 and a layout design supporting tool 20. The system 15 executes VLSI function design and logical design based upon applied specifications and supports a stage for designing a logical circuit with a gate level. The tool 20 consists of a layout editor 21, an on-line layout inspection tool 22, a layout compactor 23, an inspection tool 24, a standard cell type automatic layout tool 25a, a macro-cell type automatic layout tool 25b, a floor planner tool 26, an LDL layout C language expression tool 27, and a conversational type automatic wiring tool 28. A total data base 30 stores hierarchical design information.

Layout method for integrated circuit

Abstract: PURPOSE:To provide a method of computer-assisted automatic layout design to realize an optimum layout of components for an integrated circuit on a layout. CONSTITUTION:Connections between individual components in a circuit diagram, together with the areas of the components, are applied to determine a template 1 that includes a transistor plate 4 for transistor layout, resistor plates 2 and 5 for resistor layout, and a capacitor plate 3 for capacitor layout. Then, the height of the individual plates is determined. Based on the height of each plate, the components are deformed and arranged according to the plate.

Layout design method and device for milimeter wave or microwave ic

Abstract: PURPOSE: To set layout optimization data to a minimum amount of data required for IC design by computing dummy IC layout data graphically based on a design rule defined in conformity with a manufacturing process when manufacturing ICs to be designed and preparing an IC manufacturing mask pattern. CONSTITUTION: When a designer inputs a preparation command for a mask pattern from an input device 13, a mask pattern generation means 10c receives this command and reads out layout data which represents a dummy IC (layout pattern) from a data file storage device 40. From a disk device 12 is read out arithmetic operation processing data prepared based on a design rule in an actual manufacturing process (manufacturing device and manufacturing environment). This layout data is graphically computed based on the computing processing data, thereby producing IC manufacturing mask patterns on the screen of a CRT display. COPYRIGHT: (C)1994,JPO&Japio

Storyboarding: an advance organizer suited for constructing visually informative text

Abstract: Visually informative text is complex text. It involves complex typesetting in regard to typeface and font mixes, body-copy formatting, and page layout and grid design. It is much influenced by writing teams which are enabled by microcomputer technology. Its complex organization means moving from books produced by printers to books crafted by book designers. The advantage of visually informative text is that it results in complex documents, designed for reading by different kinds of readers. But such de-centred writing, when combined with complexity of format and subject matter, necessitates complex, multi-layered planning. The current advance organizers are inadequate for dealing with this level of complexity in the writing up process. What is needed is a more "advanced" advance organizer, one designed to assist writers who have to deal with writing assignments that are complex both because of their complicated construction and because of interactivity among their writers during their composition and development.

Hybrid-Type Approach for Plant Layout Design with a Constraint-Directed Search and a Mathematical Optimization Technique.

Abstract: A hybrid-type approach for plant layout design is pressented with a constraint-directed search procedure and a mathematical optimization technique. In layout design, a plant must be arranged to satisfy spatial constraints imposed by its components. In our approach, the whole space of a plant building is divided into the finite compartments with a modular size in order to separate the description of the layout into the combinational part and the dimensional part. According to this, the approach consists of two steps. In the first step, a constraint-directed search procedure is applied for fixing the combinational relations among plant components so as to satisfy the spatial layout conditions. In the second step; an optimization technique is applied for determining the actual dimensions of compartments so as to minimize the size of a plant building considering the size of components. In the optimization, mixed-integer programming and sequential linear programming are combined and the formulation is carried out automatically from the result of the first step. This hybrid approach has been applied to the design of a nuclear power plant in order to check its validity and effectiveness.

Circuit layout design supporting device

Abstract: PURPOSE:To support the layout design of a circuit with a little crosstalk generation by displaying the possibility of the crosstalk generation and a signal propagation path in the case of the crosstalk generation while overlapping them onto a layout diagram CONSTITUTION:When a designer designates a signal source by a signal source designating means 11, a designation part 4 obtains designation data 5 by designating data connected to the designated signal source from graphic data 3 obtained by transforming a layout diagram 1 at a data transformation part 2 A detection part 7 obtains a detected result 8 by detecting data not satisfying the design rule of a rule file 6 from the graphic data 3 with respect to the designation data 5 A display part 9 generates a dummy layer showing the signal propagation path in the case of the crosstalk generation based on the detected result 8 and the graphic data 3 and displays a layout diagram 10 overlapping the dummy layer onto the layout diagram 1

Method for page layout of structured documents

Abstract: This method for page layout of documents containing text and graphics is implemented by a formatting module. It carries out, firstly, reading of the generic logic structure of the specific logic structure and of the generic page layout structure in order to create, step by step, the specific page layout structure according to a plurality of recursive page layout processes. Application: formatting and reprocessing of structured documents.

COALA: A Manufacturing Plant Layout Approach

Abstract: The design of modern manufacturing systems must rely on very efficient solutions. Manufacturing plant layout design is no exception. It must be based on optimal (or near-optimal) solutions taking into account the traffic of parts, handling costs and the location of the machines. In this paper, we present COALA, a manufacturing plant layout system. It consists of four modules: a preprocessing module for the analysis of the problem at hand, a manufacturing cell design module to group machines into cells, a machine layout module for intra-cell design, i.e. positioning the machines within a cell, and a cell layout module to position the cells on the factory floor. For each module, the problem is stated and the solution adopted is presented.

Fundamental Methods for Computer - Aided Layout Design (Layout CAD)

Abstract: レイアウ ト設計 とは, (1)回 路接続条件:論 理的接続関係 (2)幾 何学的条件:製 造プロセスより決 まるもの (配線幅,ホ ールサイズ,配 線間隔,ホ ール間 隔,配 線-ホ ール間隔) (3)電 気的条件:延 滞時間,雑 音 等の条件 を守 る範囲で,与 えられたボー ドサイズ内 に,ま たは,可 能な限 り小 さいボー ドサイズに納ま るように,チ ップや素子の配置 と信号線,電 源線の 配線経路 を決めることである。 人間の設計手法は,複 雑な条件,あ いまいな目的 関数を巧みに考慮 しているが,コ ンピュータでの自 動化を前提 とした場合は,コ ンピュータの処理に向 いた設計手法を確立する必要がある。 自動レイアウ ト設計の核 となっているのは,配 置 と配線のふたつ である。理想的には,レ イアウト設計 は配置設計 と 配線設計 に二分すべきではないが,レ イアウ ト設計 が非常に難しい組み合わせ問題(NP-完 全問題)に 属 しているために計算時間の観点か ら別々に分 けて 処理せざるをえない。しかし,こ のように配置設計 と配線設計 に分けても,そ れぞれが依然として難 し い組み合わせ問題に属 し,最 適解を見つけるには可 能性をしらみつぶしに探す以外 に手段はないとされ ている。そこで,真 の最適解でな くても,実 用的に 耐えられる解を早 く求めるというヒュー リスティッ ク算法(行 き当たりばった り法)の 導入が必要 とな る。以下に,こ れらの2つ の設計問題に関しての基 本的アルゴリズムを述べる。

Computer-Aided Layout Design

Abstract: The location of the facilities in a plant may heavily influence production — first of all material handling — costs. In this paper concepts and methods developed and implemented in a program system of optimal layout design for a Hungarian bus factory are presented. The basic ideas of two new approximate solution methods for the Quadratic Assignment Problem are outlined: a construction algorithm based on cluster-analysis and an iterative improvement algorithm based on feasible directions. These algorithms were incorporated in an interactive program system developed for IBM PC/AT compatible computers and tested on several problems known from the literature. The computational results are very good, e.g., for the Steinberg test problem solutions were obtained which seem to be the best ever found. Our experiments suggest that in many real-life situations computer program systems can provide effective tools to support layout design.

Layout design system for integrated circuit

Abstract: PURPOSE:To effectively utilize a region which has been vacant in a partial circuit by a prior art system and to improve component density by embedding wirings in a high-order circuit during layout design of a partial circuit by a hierarchical layout design system CONSTITUTION:This system comprises a circuit dividing process 1 where a circuit is divided according to applied layout models, an embedding selection processing 2 where wirings to be embedded in a partial circuit region are selected and sequentialized, a partial circuit layout processing 3 where a partial circuit is layout-designed, an unwiring discharge processing 4 where wirings which cannot be embedded during layout design of each partial circuit, and a high-order circuit layout processing 5 where a high-order circuit is layout- designed

Method of laying cells of semicustom semiconductor integrated circuit

Abstract: PURPOSE:To make it possible to achieve wiring layout in a semicustom semiconductor integrated circuit at a wiring ratio of 100% by registering as a layout block in the computer a block that satisfies specific requirements, in the method of laying out cells for layout design using the computer. CONSTITUTION:Requirements for registering a block as layout block are that the number of cells in the block be less than a reference value of N1, the ratio of the number of external terminals in a block to the number of nets in the block is less than a reference value N2, and that the block be used repeatedly more than the reference number of times N3. An layout block X having the same construction of the block 10-14 which satisfies the above requirements for registration and each of which consisting of cells A, B, and C. Next, using cells A, B, and C in the cell library a layout block X is generated as layout object. Further, this layout block is registstered in the computer that carries out automatic layout. This layout block X is treated similarly to the cells in the automatic layout.