JPH06342364A - Character string display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To array and display an actual character string consisting of plural characters at its corresponding position in its print output form by previously confirming the arrangement image of the character string from an area frame image in form corresponding to the optionally specified character output form. CONSTITUTION:An input part 1 is equipped with a function for inputting the character string, a function for inputting the attributes of the character string, a function for specifying the reference position of the character string, etc. A control part 2 controls the inputted character string, the attributes. the position. etc., through a RAM 3, and passes necessary information to a character string frame drawing part 4 and drives the drawing part 4 when the occupation area of the character string is set or shifted in position. Further, when a final layout request is made, the character string is converted into a KANA(Japanese syllabary)-KANJI(Chincesecharacter) font through a KANA-KANJI conversion part 5 according to the attributes. The imaged character string which is obtained as a result is set on a frame memory 6 by using the current character string position. Its contents are displayed on a screen after update is completed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a character string display device for displaying a character string consisting of a plurality of characters in an array on a display screen.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When displaying a character string composed of a plurality of characters on a display screen, conventionally, each time a character is input, the input character is actually displayed at a desired position on the display screen.
Therefore, when a plurality of input characters are input on the display screen, the plurality of input characters may not fit in a desired area on the display screen.

[0003]

As a result, it is necessary to change the character pitch and the character size of the character string input and displayed as described above and input the character string again. The operation was often complicated. An object of the present invention is, when displaying a character string composed of a plurality of characters in an array on a display screen, prior to actual character string display at a position where the character string is to be displayed, a display area for arranging the character string is provided. It is to be able to confirm.

[0004]

The means of the present invention are as follows. Storage means for storing a character string consisting of arbitrary plural characters, and specification means for arbitrarily specifying a character output form such as character size and character string direction (in the embodiment, attributes such as character string direction, character size, character pitch, etc. The character output form is specified by), and a plurality of characters stored in the storage means are expanded at a predetermined display position on the display screen in a form corresponding to the character output form specified by the specifying means. An area frame image indicating the area at the time of creating the area frame image is created, and the area frame image display means for displaying the created area frame image and a predetermined operation after the area frame image is displayed are displayed on the display screen. The area frame image is erased, and in the display area determined by the erased area frame image, each character stored in the storage means is output in the character output form designated by the designating means. It includes a character string display unit for column display, the.

[0005]

The operation of the means of the present invention is as follows. When the character output form is arbitrarily specified by the specifying device, the area frame image display device causes the plurality of characters stored in the storage device at a predetermined display position on the display screen according to the specified character output form. An area frame image showing the area when is expanded is created, and the created area frame image is displayed. Then, by a predetermined operation after displaying the area frame image, the character string display means deletes the area frame image displayed on the display screen, and at the same time, in the display area determined by the deleted area frame image, The characters stored in the storage means are arranged and displayed in the character output form designated by the designation means. Therefore, after checking the arrangement image of the character string consisting of multiple characters in advance with the area frame image of the form corresponding to the arbitrarily specified character output form,
The actual character strings can be arranged and displayed at the corresponding positions in the printout form, and the character strings can be arranged without error after confirming the display area in which the character strings are arranged.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The overall configuration of this embodiment is shown in FIG. In FIG.
Reference numeral 1 denotes an input unit, for the purpose of the present embodiment, a function of inputting a character string (by a character key or the like), a function of inputting an attribute of a character string (attribute will be described in detail later), It has a function of designating a reference position (for example, with a cursor, a mouse, etc.) and a function of requesting execution of layout and the like (with a return key, etc.).

Reference numeral 2 denotes a control unit of the entire apparatus, which manages input character strings, attributes, positions, etc. via the RAM 3, and sets necessary areas for setting character string occupied areas and moving positions. Information is passed to the character string frame drawing unit 4 to activate the drawing unit 4, and when a final layout request is made, the Kana-Kanji conversion unit 5 converts the character string into a Kana-Kanji font according to the attributes. And the resulting imaged character string is the character string position (cursor position) at that time.
To set on the frame memory 6.

After the contents of the frame memory 6 are updated by the control unit 2 and the character string frame drawing unit 4, they are read out by the display device 7 and displayed on the screen thereof. In the present embodiment, under the condition that the character string is displayed on the graphic screen of the display device 7, it is possible to instruct to change the display position and the attribute of the character string through the input unit 1, and the character string frame The drawing unit 4 newly creates a frame of a character string to be imaged according to the attribute related to the change, or moves the position of the frame of the character string and writes the frame on the frame memory 6.

The character string attributes are shown in FIG. 2 and will be described. The attributes that can be changed depend on the model, but in this embodiment, four types of attributes such as character size, character angle, character string direction, and character pitch can be changed. 16 kinds of 1 to 16 times, 4 kinds of angles of 0 °, 90 °, 180 ° and 270 °,
The direction of the character string can be selected from horizontal and vertical. The direction of the character string is "horizontal" when the lateral direction of the character matches the length direction of the character string.
"Vertical" is a mode in which the vertical direction of a character matches the length direction of a character string.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 4, and 5. First, draw a figure, here a triangle, as shown in Fig. 3 (1). This is done, for example, by designating three pairs of vectors (start point and end point) via the input unit 1 and requesting execution. As a result, the display device 7
A triangle is displayed on the screen (graphic area). Here, the attribute is specified. For example, three times the size,
The angle is 0 °, the direction is horizontal, and the pitch is zero.

Next, a character string, here, "triangle" is input. The "triangle" is displayed in the character string creation area (monitor area) on the screen of the display device (Fig. 3 (2)). The character string here is for confirmation only, and is displayed with a size of 1, an angle of 0, a lateral direction, and a pitch of zero, regardless of the attributes set previously. Next, when the return key is pressed to mean the end of the character string, as shown in FIG. 3C, the character string frame that matches the specified attribute is automatically created and displayed with the graphic cursor position as the reference. After that, by moving the graphic cursor position on the screen with the cursor key, the character string frame moves following the graphic cursor (FIGS. 3 (4) and (7)).

When the return key is pressed when the layout of the character string frame for the triangular figure reaches the desired relationship, the character string is font-converted according to the attributes and displayed (FIGS. 3 (5) and (8)). Further, it is possible to change the attribute of the character string while the character string frame is displayed in the figure.
An example of the changed display is shown in FIG. FIG. 5 shows a flow of creating and changing a character string frame. This is for executing the display shown in FIGS. 3 (3), (4), (6), and (7). It is executed by the control unit 2 and the character string frame drawing unit 4.

In the case of the initial setting of the character string frame, the number of characters of the input character string is calculated in response to the return key as the end signal of the character string (S1), and then the number of characters as the calculation result is given. The size of the character string frame is calculated using the given attributes, that is, the character size, the character pitch, the character angle, and the character string direction (S2). For example, the character string frame is defined by obtaining four vectors in the xy coordinate system.

Next, the four vectors describing the character string frame are moved in parallel to the given graphic cursor position (S3). Finally, the control unit 2 obtains 4
One vector is passed to the character string frame drawing unit 4 (S4). On the other hand, the character string frame drawing unit 4 scan-converts each of the given four vectors and draws a character string frame on the frame memory 6. This is executed, for example, by obtaining the point storage positions constituting the character string frame on the frame memory 6, reading them from the frame memory 6, reversing them, and returning them to the frame memory 6. In this case, the change amount of the contents on the frame memory 6 is very small, and the processing can be performed very quickly.

When there is an instruction to change the attribute during display, the attribute is read, and then the character box description process shown in S2 starts. When the cursor position is changed during the display, the character box shift process shown in S3 starts. The conventional character string frame erasing process precedes the drawing process in the character string frame drawing unit 4 for such an attribute change or a cursor position change. That is, the character string frame drawing unit 4 erases the previous character frame from the frame memory 6 before drawing a new character frame. This can be performed by scan-converting the four vectors that describe the previous character frame, re-inverting the contents of the obtained point storage positions, and restoring the original contents.

FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the character frame for each attribute and the graphic cursor. As can be seen from this figure, in the present embodiment, there are eight combinations depending on the angle of the character and the direction of the character string, and the character string frame is set in combination with the graphic cursor in a different mode according to each combination, Is displayed. In this example, the lower left coordinate of the first character of the character string is placed at the origin of the character string, and thus the graphic cursor coordinate. For example, a frame of a character string having an attribute of zero angle and horizontal direction is drawn in the horizontal direction, and the origin at the lower left of the frame coincides with the graphic cursor position (see also FIG. 3 (3)).

In the above embodiment, not only the character string frame is defined, but also the character string frame is scan-converted and set in the frame memory 6 and displayed on the display device 7, but it is displayed on the image. The display, etc., can be changed by using the character string whose font has been converted. This can be done, for example, as follows. First, an in-frame image in which font-converted characters are arranged in a character string frame is prepared. Next, the frame memory 6
Saves the graphic part in the character string frame in another memory. Finally, the in-frame image is transferred into the notched character string frame on the frame memory 6. When there is a change in the attribute or position, the conventional in-frame image erasing process precedes the above process. That is, the inside of the conventional character string frame on the frame memory 6 is cleared, and the saved partial image of the graphic is returned to the cleared area. In the case of this modification as well, the concept of the character string frame or the occupied area of the character string still exists, and it is merely invisible to the operator. In other words, it takes into consideration the imaged character strings that are "managed" by the invisible frame.

[0018]

According to the present invention, an arrangement image of a character string composed of a plurality of characters is confirmed in advance by an area frame image having a form corresponding to an arbitrarily designated character output form,
The actual character strings can be arranged and displayed at the corresponding positions in the printout form, and the character strings can be arranged without error after confirming the display area in which the character strings are arranged.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a character string attribute.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of a procedure of character string layout.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an arrangement of character string frames on an image for each attribute.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a main part of the operation of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Input unit 2 Control unit 3 RAM 4 Character string frame drawing unit 6 Frame memory 7 Display device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A storage unit for storing a character string composed of an arbitrary plurality of characters, a specifying unit for arbitrarily specifying a character output form such as a character size and a character string direction, and a predetermined display position on a display screen. An area frame image showing an area when a plurality of characters stored in the storage means is expanded in a form corresponding to the character output form specified by the specifying means is created, and the created area frame image is displayed. By the area frame image display means and a predetermined operation after displaying the area frame image,
The area frame image displayed on the display screen is erased, and the characters stored in the storage means are displayed in the display area determined by the erased area frame image. 2. A character string display device, comprising: a character string display means for arraying and displaying.