JP2014063439A - Plotting processor and method for controlling the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform the plotting of characters to a related character string plotting region by reducing a feeling of incompatibility on design when there exist a plurality of character string plotting regions.SOLUTION: For each character string plotting region, a first character size is determined on the basis of a predetermined character size, the size of the character string plotting region and the information of a character string to be plotted in the character string plotting region, and the group of a plurality of related character string plotting regions is extracted on the basis of the layout information of the character string plotting regions. For each character string plotting region, the second character size of the character string plotting region is determined from the plurality of first character sizes of the plurality of character string plotting regions in the extracted group, and the plotting of characters is performed by using the second character size.

Description

  The present invention relates to a character string drawing process.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a method of adjusting a character size or a character spacing in order to draw a character string in a limited drawing area in a graphical user interface of an apparatus (Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2). In these methods, the width and height of each character are reduced so that the entire character string is drawn in the drawing area from the width and height of the drawing area and the values of the width and height of each character.

JP 2007-47942 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-120286

However, in the related art, when there are a plurality of character string drawing areas, the character size is determined for each character string drawing area. Therefore, even in the related character string drawing areas, the character size may be different. Therefore, for example, in an alternative dialog screen for allowing the user to select one of them, the character size of one of the character strings increases, and the display is misleading as if the user is prompted to select one There was a case.
In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to reduce drawing discomfort in a related character string drawing area and enable drawing when there are a plurality of character string drawing areas.

  In order to solve the above problems, the drawing processing apparatus according to the present invention provides a character size, a size of the character string drawing area, and a character to be drawn in the character string drawing area for each character string drawing area. First character size determining means for determining a first character size based on column information, and a group for extracting groups of a plurality of related character string drawing regions based on layout information of the character string drawing region A second character size determining unit configured to determine a second character size of the character string drawing region for each character string drawing region from an extracting unit and a plurality of first character sizes of the plurality of character string drawing regions in the extracted group; Character size determination means and drawing means for drawing characters using the determined second character size are provided.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to draw a related character string drawing region with less design discomfort.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the drawing processing apparatus by 1st and 2nd embodiment of this invention. The figure which showed the module structure of the character drawing function in the drawing processing apparatus of 1st and 2nd embodiment. An example of the dialog screen displayed on the screen of a drawing processing apparatus. The flowchart which showed the outline of the character string drawing process in 1st embodiment. The flowchart which showed the detail of the process of S401. The figure which showed the baseline position of font data. The flowchart which showed the detail of the process of S402. An example of the dialog screen displayed on the screen of the drawing processing apparatus of 1st embodiment. An example of the text box screen displayed on the screen of a drawing processing apparatus. The flowchart which showed the outline of the character string drawing process in 2nd embodiment. The flowchart which showed the detail of the process of S1003.

<First embodiment>
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The following embodiments do not limit the present invention related to the scope of claims, and all combinations of features described in the present embodiments are essential to the solution means of the present invention. Not necessarily. In addition, about the same structure, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and demonstrated.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the drawing processing apparatus of this embodiment.

  In FIG. 1, a CPU 101 is a system control unit and controls the entire apparatus. The ROM 102 is a read-only memory that stores the control program of the CPU 101 and various fixed data. The RAM 103 is a rewritable memory composed of SRAM, DRAM, and the like, and stores program control variables and the like. Various setting parameters, various work buffers, and the like are also stored in the RAM 103. The display unit 104 is for displaying graphics such as characters and images using an LCD or the like. The operation unit 105 includes a keyboard, a pointing device, and the like, and is used by the operator to perform various input operations. A system bus 106 connects the units 101 to 105 so that they can communicate with each other.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a module configuration of a character string drawing function in the drawing processing apparatus of the present embodiment.

  The holding unit 201 corresponds to the ROM 102 and holds layout information necessary for displaying a screen. Layout information includes character string drawing area area information (size such as width and height), character string character information (character size, number of characters, etc.), drawing character string start coordinates, character string decoration information, Color information, semantic information of a character string drawing area, font data, and the like. The character string decoration information is information indicating visual decoration such as bold, italic, and drop shadow, and layout decoration such as right alignment, left alignment, and rotation angle. The semantic information of the character string drawing area is information indicating area attributes such as buttons, titles, and menus. In the present embodiment, the layout information is assumed to be layout information of a user interface (hereinafter referred to as UI) screen. In general, in the UI screen design definition, a character size is specified for each character drawing area and each screen. The character size included in the layout information corresponds to the original character size defined in the UI screen design. Further, it is assumed that the screen in this embodiment has a plurality of character string drawing areas.

  The first character size determination unit 203 determines, for each character string drawing area, a character that fits in the character string drawing area based on the area information of the character string drawing area and the character information constituting the character string to be drawn. Determine the size (first character size). The area information is size information such as the width and height of the character drawing area, and the character information is the number of characters and the size information of each character. Here, when a character string protrudes from the drawing area when drawing is performed with a predetermined character size (character size included in the layout information), a smaller character size is determined so as to fit in the character drawing area. The value of the character size may be a value having a unit such as points or pixels, or may be a character reduction ratio with respect to a predetermined character size. Further, reduction only in the X direction (horizontal direction) or reduction only in the Y direction (vertical direction) may be used.

  The group extraction unit 204 extracts related character drawing areas as a group based on the layout information. In addition, a related area list indicating the character drawing areas extracted as a group is created.

  The second character size determination unit 205 finally determines the character size to be drawn on the screen. Here, the drawing character size (second character size) is determined based on the first character size and the related area list.

  The drawing unit 206 acquires font data from the holding unit 201 and draws characters with the drawing character size (second character size) determined by the second character size determination unit 205. The font data is outline format or bitmap format font data.

  The display unit 208 displays the characters drawn by the drawing unit 206. Here, the UI screen is displayed using the characters drawn by the drawing unit 206 and the layout information.

  FIG. 3 is an example of a dialog screen displayed on the screen of the drawing processing apparatus. FIG. 3 is an example in the case where the present invention is not applied, and is a screen of an alternative dialog in which either the button 301 or the button 302 can be selected. In FIG. 3, the character string of the button 302 is reduced in the X direction so as to fit in the character string drawing area of the button. On the other hand, since the character string of the button 301 fits in the character string drawing area, it is drawn with a predetermined character size. As a result, the character of the button 301 becomes larger than the character of the button 302, and the alternative screen design balance is lost.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an outline of the character string drawing process in this embodiment. As shown in the figure, first, the group extraction unit 204 extracts a group of related character string drawing areas (related area group) from a plurality of character string drawing areas on the UI screen (S401). Here, one drawing area does not belong to a plurality of related area groups. Next, the second character size determination unit 205 determines the drawing character size (second character size) of each drawing region for each related region group (S402). Then, the drawing unit 206 draws a character string in each drawing area based on the drawing character size determined in S402 (S403). Detailed processing of S401 and S402 will be described later.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing details of the process of S401. The process of FIG. 5 is a process for creating a related area list meaning a related area group, and whether or not another character string drawing area is included in the related area group with respect to a certain character string drawing area. This is a process for making a judgment. The processing of FIG. 5 is executed for each character string drawing area, but this processing is not executed for character string drawing areas that already belong to any of the related area lists. For example, when the screen layout is created, information indicating that the character string drawing area A and the character string drawing area B are related may be given, and the character sizes may be matched based on the information. The processing of FIG. 5 determines the relevance of regions based on information about each character string drawing region without such explicit information.

  In FIG. 5, first, two character string drawing areas are selected from a plurality of character string drawing areas (S500). It is determined whether or not the Y coordinate values at the drawing start positions of the character strings in the two selected character string drawing areas are the same (S501). If it is determined that the Y coordinate values are not the same, the process ends. If it is determined in S501 that the Y coordinate values are the same, it is determined whether or not the character size predetermined in the character string drawing area is the same (S502). Here, if it is determined that the predetermined character sizes are not the same, the process is terminated.

  If it is determined in S502 that the predetermined character size is the same, it is determined whether the character string decoration information is the same (S503). As described above, the character string decoration information is information such as bold, italic, and right justification. Here, if it is determined that the character string decoration information is not the same, the process ends. If it is determined in S503 that the character string decoration information is the same, it is determined whether or not the difference in the baseline position of the designated font data is within a predetermined range (S504). The baseline position of the font data will be described with reference to FIG. If the designated font data is the same, the baseline position is naturally the same. If it is determined in S504 that the difference in the baseline position of the font data exceeds the predetermined range, the processing in FIG.

  If the difference in the baseline position of the font data is determined to be within the predetermined range in S504, it is determined that the two character string drawing areas selected in S500 are related, and the two character string drawing areas are related to each other. (S505) and the process ends.

  The processing in FIG. 5 is executed for all combinations in a plurality of character string drawing areas, and in S505, group extraction is performed on the plurality of character string drawing areas determined to be related.

  In FIG. 5, it is determined whether or not the region is a related region using four types of conditions. In addition to these, the X coordinate of the drawing start position, the width and height of the character string drawing region, and the color information of the character string Judgment may be made based on whether or not the language information such as Japanese and English matches. If there is semantic information such as buttons, menus, titles, and texts in each character string drawing area, it may be determined using whether or not they match. In S501 and S502, the determination is made based on whether or not they are the same, but the determination may be made based on whether or not the difference is within a predetermined range.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the baseline position of the font data. Reference numerals 601 and 603 denote frames meaning character string drawing areas. A broken line 602 indicates the baseline position of the Japanese font, and a broken line 604 indicates the baseline position of the English (Latin 1) font.

  In general, outline font data is designed based on a baseline position, and the baseline position may differ depending on the font. Japanese and Chinese fonts have relatively low baseline positions, and English (Latin 1) fonts are relatively high. In typesetting, etc., when characters using a plurality of types of fonts are present on the same line, they may be drawn with the same baseline position. When drawing so as to fit within a limited area such as a button on the UI screen, the relative position of the baseline with respect to the drawing area may be changed depending on the font used, as shown in FIG. The baseline position can be determined from the metric information such as ascend and descend included in the font data.

  On the UI screen, a character string using fonts having different baseline positions is less uncomfortable even if the character sizes are different. On the other hand, Latin 1 (English, etc.) and Latin 2 (Eastern European languages) have a small difference in baseline position, and the character size is different. In S504, the determination may be based on language names such as Japanese and English. However, in the character string drawing module, the language name information may be lost and only information such as more primitive font names may be acquired. The determination in step S504 based on the baseline position takes into account design rationality and convenience in module configuration.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing details of the process of S402.

  First, the provisional character size of each character string drawing area in the UI screen is determined (S701). The provisional character size is a character size that allows a character string to fit in the drawing area, and corresponds to the first character size described above. Next, the minimum provisional character size is determined and acquired for each area group (S702). Then, the information of the first character string drawing area in the UI screen is acquired (S703). After that, iterative processing is performed so that processing is performed on each character string drawing area.

  In S704, it is determined whether the character string drawing area acquired in S703 (or S711 described later) belongs to any area group. If it is determined in S704 that the character string drawing area belongs to any one of the area groups, it is determined whether or not the provisional character size of the character string drawing area is equal to or larger than a predetermined value (S705). Here, the predetermined value is a value determined in advance in the program, and corresponds to the maximum value of the character size drawn in the character string drawing area.

  If NO is determined in S704 or S705, the provisional character size is set as the drawing character size of the character string drawing region (S707). If it is determined in S705 that the provisional character size of the character string drawing area is equal to or larger than the predetermined value, it is determined whether or not the minimum provisional character size of the area group to which the character string drawing area belongs is equal to or larger than the predetermined value (S706). . Here, the predetermined value is the same as the predetermined value in S705. If it is determined in S706 that the minimum provisional character size of the area group is not equal to or larger than the predetermined value, the predetermined value is set as the drawn character size of the character string drawing area (S708). If it is determined in S706 that the minimum provisional character size of the area group is equal to or larger than the predetermined value, the minimum provisional character size of the area group is set as the drawing character size (S709). With the processing so far, the drawing character size of the first character string drawing area is determined.

  Subsequently, it is determined whether or not there is a next character string drawing area in the UI screen (S710). If it is determined that there is a next character string drawing area, information on the drawing area is acquired (S711), and the process returns to S704. Thereafter, the processing from S704 to S710 is repeated until the processing of all the character string drawing areas in the UI screen is completed. If it is determined in S710 that there is no next character string drawing area, the process is completed because all the character string drawing areas in the screen have been processed.

  By the processing in FIG. 7, the character strings in the character string drawing areas belonging to the same area group can be drawn with the same character size except when the character size is smaller than a predetermined value. Although it is unavoidable that the characters become smaller in order to fit the character string in the region, reducing the size even though there is a margin in the region causes a sense of incongruity in design. This is why the processing in FIG. 7 is distinguished from the processing when the character size is smaller than the predetermined value. In the process of FIG. 7, it is determined whether the character size is equal to or larger than a predetermined value, and the character is prevented from becoming smaller than necessary. However, when the margin is equal to or larger than the predetermined size based on the width and height of the drawing area. May be drawn with a character size that provides a margin of a predetermined size.

  In S705 and S706, it is determined whether the value is equal to or greater than the predetermined value. However, it may be determined whether the value is greater than the predetermined value.

  In FIG. 7, one type of provisional character size is determined in S701. For example, when different sizes are used for kanji and hiragana, two types of provisional character sizes for kanji and hiragana are determined. You may do it. In that case, the processing of S702 is performed for each provisional character size, and the evaluations of S705 and S706 are performed for two types of predetermined values for kanji and hiragana.

  FIG. 8 is an example of a dialog screen displayed on the screen of the drawing processing apparatus of the present embodiment. FIG. 8 shows a drawing result obtained by applying the processing of the present invention. As shown in the drawing, the buttons 801 and 802 have the same reduction ratio in the X direction of the character string because the Y coordinate of the start reference position of the character string drawing area matches. As a result, the text size of the alternative buttons is the same, and the design is balanced.

  On the other hand, although the Y coordinates of the character string drawing areas of the buttons 803, 804, and 805 match, the font data is drawn at different character sizes because the baseline position of the font data is different. In this case, although the character size is different, there is little discomfort in the design.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, a sense of incongruity in design can be reduced in the related character string drawing area. In particular, in a dialog screen such as an alternative, it is possible to reduce a case where a part of the character string in the related character string drawing area becomes large and causes misunderstanding of the user.

  FIG. 9 is an example of a text box screen displayed on the screen of the drawing processing apparatus. In such a multi-line text box, in the case of the embedded device UI, a character string is stored in the ROM 102 separately for each line, or a character string including a line feed code is stored in the ROM 102 in advance. That is, in the example of FIG. 9, the character string drawing area is divided in each line, and there are a total of three character string drawing areas.

  Reference numeral 901 denotes a drawing result at the time of non-reduction. Reference numeral 902 denotes a drawing result reduced at the same rate for each character string drawing area. Reference numeral 903 denotes a drawing result using the second character size reduced to fit in the area in each line. 904 is a result of applying the present invention. In particular, the character strings in the second and third lines are an example in which YES is determined in S705 of FIG. 7 and NO is determined in S706.

  There are individual differences in the design of the drawing result, but generally there is a tendency as follows. Although the image 902 is uniformly reduced, the user receives the impression that the characters are unnecessarily reduced in the second and third lines. In 903, the character string on the third line is conspicuously large, and the balance is not good. In the second and third lines, 904 is drawn with a character size using a predetermined value, so there is no impression that it is unnecessarily small, and the drawing result is balanced as a whole.

  In the present embodiment, an alternative dialog or a text box is shown as an example, but the present invention can be applied to various screen designs such as a menu screen and a front screen having a plurality of character string drawing areas. In other words, the present embodiment can be applied to any screen that has a plurality of character string drawing areas.

<Second Embodiment>
Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  The configuration of the drawing processing apparatus of this embodiment is the same as that shown in FIG. The module configuration of the character string drawing function in the drawing processing apparatus of this embodiment is the same as that shown in FIG.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an outline of the character string drawing process in this embodiment. In the figure, S1001, S1002, and S1004 are the same as S401, S402, and S403 in FIG. 4, respectively. In the present embodiment, after the drawing character size is determined in S1002, the drawing character size is corrected in S1003. This correction is for maintaining the size relationship of the character strings. For example, the title character string is larger than the button character string, and the name character string is larger than the address character string to maintain the screen design.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing details of the processing of S1003.

  In this embodiment, in S1001, an area group is created based on a designated character size (predetermined character size). That is, the designated character sizes of the drawing areas belonging to the same area group are the same. In the present embodiment, there is an area group to which only one drawing area belongs. That is, all character string drawing areas belong to one of the area groups. FIG. 11 shows processing when there are two area groups on the screen. Here, the area groups are called group A and group B, respectively. In FIG. 11, only the drawing area whose drawing character size is determined in S709 of FIG. 7 is the target of character size correction. Since the character size determined in S707 or S708 is already a small size (predetermined value), it is not subject to correction.

  As shown in FIG. 11, first, the designated character size M and drawing character size P of group A are acquired (S1101). Next, the designated character size N and drawing character size Q of group B are acquired (S1102). Here, the drawing character sizes P and Q are the drawing character sizes determined in S709.

  Subsequently, the designated character size M of group A and the designated character size N of group B are compared (S1103). If it is determined in S1103 that N is larger than M, the drawing character size P is compared with the drawing character size Q (S1104). If it is determined that P is larger than Q, the drawing character size P is corrected so that P is smaller than Q (S1105), and the process is terminated. If it is determined in step S1104 that Q is larger than P, the size relationship of the drawn character size is maintained, and the process is terminated without correction.

  If it is determined in S1103 that M is larger than N, the drawing character size P is compared with the drawing character size Q (S1106). If it is determined in S1106 that Q is larger than P, the drawing character size Q is corrected so that Q is smaller than P (S1107), and the process is terminated. If it is determined in step S1106 that P is greater than Q, the drawing character size relationship is maintained, so that the process is terminated without correction.

  With the processing in FIG. 11, the size relationship between the character groups can be maintained except when the character size is smaller than a predetermined value. Even when there are three or more area groups, the size relationship between the area groups can be maintained by sequentially performing the processing of FIG. In the present embodiment, the processing for maintaining the magnitude relationship has been described, but the character size ratio may be maintained.

  In these embodiments, the drawing processing apparatus has been described as an example. However, the present invention is applicable to any apparatus having a display unit, such as a printing apparatus, a digital camera, a copying machine, a multifunction peripheral, a scanner, and a television. .

  The present invention may be realized by software. That is, a recording medium in which software program codes are recorded may be supplied to a system or apparatus, and a CPU of the system or apparatus may read and execute the program codes stored in the recording medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a flexible disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a magnetic tape, a memory card, and the like can be used. The present invention can also be applied to a case where an operating system or the like running on a computer performs part or all of actual processing based on an instruction of a program code, and a function is realized by the processing.

Claims (18)

A first character size is determined for each character string drawing area based on a predetermined character size, the size of the character string drawing area, and information on the character string to be drawn in the character string drawing area. 1 character size determining means;
Group extraction means for extracting a group of a plurality of related character string drawing areas based on layout information of the character string drawing area;
Second character size determining means for determining, for each character string drawing area, a second character size of the character string drawing area from a plurality of first character sizes of the plurality of character string drawing areas in the extracted group. When,
A drawing processing apparatus comprising drawing means for drawing a character using the determined second character size.   The drawing processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first character size is a character size such that the character string fits in the character string drawing area.   The drawing processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a determination unit configured to determine whether the character string drawing area belongs to any group.   If the determination means determines that the character string drawing area belongs to any group, the second character size determining means may include a plurality of first character strings in the plurality of character string drawing areas in the group. The drawing processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein any one of the character sizes is determined as the second character size.   The second character size determining means determines a minimum first character size among the plurality of first character sizes of a plurality of character string drawing regions in the group as the second character size. The drawing processing apparatus according to claim 4.   If the determination means determines that the character string drawing area does not belong to any group, the second character size determining means determines the first character size of the character string drawing area as the first character size. The drawing processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a character size of 2 is determined. When the determination unit determines that the character string drawing area belongs to any group, the first character size of the character string drawing area is determined to be greater than or equal to a predetermined value;
When it is determined that the first character size of the character string drawing area is smaller than a predetermined value, the second character size determining means sets the first character size of the character string drawing area to the second character size. The drawing processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the character size is determined. When the determination unit determines that the character string drawing area belongs to any group, the first character size of the character string drawing area is determined to be greater than or equal to a predetermined value;
When it is determined that the first character size of the character string drawing area is equal to or larger than a predetermined value, the smallest first character size among the plurality of first character sizes of the plurality of character string drawing areas in the group is determined. Determine whether the character size of 1 is greater than or equal to a predetermined value,
When it is determined that the minimum first character size among the plurality of first character sizes of the plurality of character string drawing regions in the group is smaller than a predetermined value, the second character size determining means The drawing processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined value is determined as the second character size. A method for controlling a drawing processing apparatus,
The first character size determining means, for each character string drawing area, based on a predetermined character size, the size of the character string drawing area, and information on the character string to be drawn in the character string drawing area. A first character size determining step for determining a character size of 1;
A group extracting step of extracting a group of a plurality of related character string drawing areas based on layout information of the character string drawing area;
The second character size determining means determines the second character size of the character string drawing area for each character string drawing area from the plurality of first character sizes of the plurality of character string drawing areas in the extracted group. A second character size determining step to determine;
A drawing processing apparatus control method, wherein a drawing means includes a drawing step of drawing a character using the determined second character size.   The control method of the drawing processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the first character size is a character size that fits the character string in the character string drawing area.   The method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the determination unit includes a determination step of determining whether the character string drawing area belongs to any group.   If it is determined in the determination step that the character string drawing region belongs to any group, the second character size determining step includes a plurality of first character strings in the plurality of character string drawing regions in the group. 12. The method according to claim 11, wherein one of the character sizes is determined as the second character size.   In the second character size determining step, a minimum first character size is determined as the second character size among a plurality of first character sizes of a plurality of character string drawing regions in the group. The method for controlling a drawing processing apparatus according to claim 12.   If it is determined in the determining step that the character string drawing area does not belong to any group, the second character size determining step sets the first character size of the character string drawing area to the first character size. 12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the character size is determined to be 2. When it is determined in the determination step that the character string drawing area belongs to any group, it is determined whether the first character size of the character string drawing area is equal to or larger than a predetermined value;
When it is determined that the first character size of the character string drawing area is smaller than a predetermined value, the second character size determining step sets the first character size of the character string drawing area to the second character size. 12. The method of controlling a drawing processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the character size is determined as follows. When it is determined in the determination step that the character string drawing area belongs to any group, it is determined whether the first character size of the character string drawing area is equal to or larger than a predetermined value;
When it is determined that the first character size of the character string drawing area is equal to or larger than a predetermined value, the smallest first character size among the plurality of first character sizes of the plurality of character string drawing areas in the group is determined. Determine whether the character size of 1 is greater than or equal to a predetermined value,
When it is determined that the minimum first character size among the plurality of first character sizes of the plurality of character string drawing regions in the group is smaller than a predetermined value, the second character size determining step The method according to claim 11, wherein the predetermined value is determined as the second character size.   The program for functioning a computer as each means which the drawing processing apparatus of any one of Claims 1 thru | or 8 has.   A computer-readable storage medium storing the program according to claim 17.

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