JP2000235383A - Device and method for processing character - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device and a method for processing character by which a high speed expansion processing can be realized by eliminating the process, that discriminates whether a divided processing for plural polygons is necessary or not, in a bit map expansion processing based on outline font data. SOLUTION: A dividing discrimination flag discriminates whether it is necessary to divide character data into plural polygonal data or not in order to conduct a bit map expansion by hardware. The flag is held to be made correspond to individual character data stored in an outline font data storing section and the necessity of the dividing is determined based on the dividing discrimination flags (S1 through S3). By this configuration, a dividing discrimination processing step by means of a conventional scan line operation is eliminated and a high speed expansion processing is realized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a character processing device and a character processing method for reading outline font data and developing a bitmap based on the read font data. In more detail, in the bitmap expansion performed based on the read font data, a determination flag as to whether or not the font data needs to be divided into a plurality of polygons and processed needs to be associated with each outline font data. Depending on the configuration
The present invention relates to a character processing device and a character processing method that can omit sequential execution of division determination processing for read font data and enable high-speed expansion processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An outline of a procedure for developing outline font data into a bitmap format will be described with reference to FIG. To develop the outline font data into a bitmap format, the outline font data of the requested character is first read from a secondary storage device or the like.
The read outline font data is shown in FIG.
First, matrix conversion is performed to convert the read outline font data into a designated size as shown in FIG. 1B. Further, after the portion represented by the curve as shown in FIG. 1C is converted into polygonal data which is approximated by a straight line, a process of filling is performed for each scan line and developed into a bit map (FIG. 1).
(D)). However, there is a problem that such a development process takes time.

There are several conventional techniques for solving this problem. For example, one of them is to register data obtained by expanding outline font data into a bitmap format in a cache. In this configuration, when bitmap data with the same font type, character code, and character size registered in the cache is requested again, the bitmap data registered in the cache is copied instead of performing bitmap expansion processing again. It is devised to reduce the processing time by adopting a configuration.

However, since the bitmap data has a large data size per character, the above-described cache registration method limits the number of characters that can be registered in the cache and reduces the character hit rate (the success rate of reading from the cache). There is. As a configuration for solving this, there is a character generation circuit described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-287297. This is to register polygon data obtained by linearly approximating the outline data in the cache.Since polygon data has a small data size, more characters are registered in the cache than when registering conventional bitmap data. It is possible to save memory and speed up.

[0005] By the way, a general method of developing polygon data obtained by linearly approximating outline data into a bit map is to first linearly approximate the curve portion of the outline font data to generate polygon data, and then generate the polygon data. The coordinates of the intersection between each side of the polygon and each scan line of the output device are represented by DDA (Digital Differentia).
lAnalyzer: digital difference analyzer), and further, sorting by the X coordinate value for each scan line to obtain the correspondence between the start point and the end point of the fill,
A line segment parallel to the scan line corresponding to the section is drawn on the memory.

In such a graphic drawing process, the operation for bitmap development is a heavy process because it involves the calculation of intersections and sorting by DDA for each side, which is a major factor that lowers the overall processing speed. Become. Therefore, high-speed processing by dedicated hardware is often achieved. However, these processes are relatively simple, for example, in the case of a convex polygon as shown in FIG. 2 (a), but in the case of including a concave portion as shown in FIG. In the case where the intersection of the sides is included as in the above, there are a plurality of pairs of the start point / end point for each scan line, and a process of sorting the obtained intersections to find a correspondence is further required. Become. If there is no restriction on the complexity of the input graphic, there is no limit to the number of intersections that occur, and it is very difficult to configure a sort circuit with hardware.

As an attempt to solve such a problem, as shown in FIG. 3, a polygon is divided into partial figures such as trapezoids (including squares and triangles) whose bases are parallel to the X-axis, which do not require sorting. There is a method of executing processing based on each divided polygon. FIG. 3A shows polygon data obtained by linearly approximating a portion represented by a curve, and FIG.
Shows a division line for dividing the polygon data into partial figures. FIG. 3C shows one divided partial figure (trapezoid). Bitmap expansion is performed based on each partial figure to obtain the output of FIG. As prior art showing a configuration for performing processing based on such a concept, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 60-74086 and
There is a technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-248176.

Further, the expansion processing unit has 2N DDA circuits and a sort circuit capable of sorting 2N data,
As a prior art showing a configuration in which the number of drawing line segments in each scan line is divided into polygons limited to N or less and processed.
There is Japanese Patent Application No. 9-302403.

[0009]

Although various techniques as described above have been devised, all of the determination processes for determining whether or not it is necessary to divide polygon data generated from outline font data are performed. It is necessary to check whether the number of edges exceeds 2N (corresponding to the number of DDA circuits) for the scan line of, and it takes time. In the conventional processing device, all the required characters are sequentially divided into Since the configuration requires execution of the determination processing, the problem that the entire processing time is prolonged cannot be avoided.

The present invention has been made in view of such a point. According to the character processing device and the character processing method of the present invention, it is necessary to divide the character data into a plurality of polygons in which the number of drawing line segments is limited to a predetermined number in each scan line in correspondence with each of the character data. This is a configuration in which a flag indicating whether or not there is a flag is set in advance. With this configuration, it is possible to provide a character processing apparatus and a character processing method that realize high-speed expansion processing by omitting division determination processing for each character, which is an essential processing process in a conventional apparatus.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a character processing apparatus for achieving the above object. That is, according to the present invention, in a character processing device that develops outline font data into a bitmap, the outline font data is stored and managed, and when the outline font data is subjected to a bitmap development process based on the outline font data, division into a plurality of polygon data is performed. A font information management unit that manages the division determination flag indicating whether it is necessary or not according to each outline font data, and executes a linear approximation of the part represented by the curve in the outline font data read by the font information management unit A linear vector generating unit that converts the polygon data into polygon data by dividing the polygon data generated by the linear vector generating unit into a plurality of polygon data as necessary; One or more polygon data generated by any of the division processing units A development processing unit to deploy the bitmaps, characterized in that it comprises a font cache unit for storing polygon data divided by the division processing section.

Further, in the character processing device of the present invention,
The division determination flag indicates whether the number of crossing sides of the scan line of the linear vector generated based on each of the outline font data stored in the font information management unit is equal to the number of parallel sides of the digital difference analyzer ( A flag is set to indicate that division is required when the number exceeds 2N corresponding to the number of DDAs, and is set to indicate that division is unnecessary when the number of intersection sides is 2N or less.

Further, in the character processing device of the present invention,
The division processing unit, when the division determination flag corresponding to the outline font data for which output is requested indicates that division is necessary,
The number of crossing sides of the straight line vector in the scan line to be processed is counted, and the counted number of crossing sides is compared with the number 2N of the configuration of the DDA unit included in the expansion processing unit. The present invention is characterized in that an edge of a portion where the scan line is located is divided, and division is performed until the number of intersection sides in all scan lines becomes 2N or less.

Further, according to the character processing device of the present invention, in a character processing device for developing outline font data into a bit map, the outline font data is stored and managed, and at least a part of the outline font data is stored in a plurality of polygons in advance. A font information management unit that stores and manages the divided polygon data divided into data, and a linear approximation of a part represented by a curve in the outline font data read by the font information management unit to execute the polygon data conversion. A straight line vector generation unit for performing conversion, a development processing unit for expanding the polygon data generated by the straight line vector generation unit into a bitmap, and a font cache unit for storing the polygon data generated by the straight line vector generation unit It is characterized by.

Further, in the character processing apparatus according to the present invention, the font information management unit generates outline font data for storing divided polygon data previously divided into a plurality of polygon data based on the outline font data. The number of intersecting sides in the scan line of the linear vector to be processed is 2N, the number of parallel-operable digital difference analyzers (DDA) provided in the expansion processing unit.
The outline font data is more than.

Further, the character processing method of the present invention is a character processing method for developing outline font data into a bitmap, wherein the outline font data is divided into a plurality of polygon data in the bitmap development processing based on the outline font data. Reading a division determination flag indicating whether or not the outline data is necessary in the font information management unit, and converting the outline data into polygon data by linearly approximating the curve expression part in the outline font data read in the font information management unit A straight line vector generation step, a division processing step of dividing the straight line vector generated in the straight line vector generation step into a plurality of polygon data when the division determination flag indicates the necessity of division, a straight line vector generation step or the division processing A development processing step of deploying the one or more polygon data generated in steps a bit map,
Storing the polygon data divided in the division processing step in the font cache unit.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of a character processing apparatus and a character processing method according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

[0018]

[Embodiment 1] FIG. 4 is a block diagram for explaining the principle of operation of a character processing apparatus and a character processing method according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the character processing apparatus according to the present invention includes an input unit 1, a control unit 2, a font information management unit 3, a straight line vector generation unit 4, a division processing unit 5, a font cache unit 6, And an expansion processing unit 7 and an output unit 8. Hereinafter, the outline and operation of each component of the present embodiment will be described.

In the character processing apparatus shown in FIG. 4, the input unit 1 sends a font ID representing a font type, a character code, and a character size to the control unit one by one according to a user's instruction or an external input.

The control unit 2 transfers the font ID, the character code, and the character size of the character requested to be output to the font cache unit 6. If the corresponding character data is registered in the cache, the received data is transferred to the font cache unit 6. Expansion processing unit 7
And expand the bitmap. If the corresponding character data is not registered in the cache, the font information management unit 3 first determines the outline data of the corresponding character and whether the outline data needs to be divided into a plurality of polygons. Then, the division determination flag added corresponding to the outline data is read, and the straight line vector generation unit 4 executes straight line approximation. Next, when it is determined by the division determination flag that division is necessary, the vector generated by the straight line vector generation unit 4 is divided into polygon data by the division processing unit 5, and finally the polygon data is registered in the cache. At the same time, the expansion processing unit 7 performs bitmap expansion.

The font information management unit 3 reads outline data corresponding to the requested font ID and character code, performs matrix conversion, and transfers the matrix data to the control unit 2. Further, a division determination flag for determining whether it is necessary to divide the polygon into a plurality of polygons is read and transferred to the control unit 2 in the same manner.

When the outline data read by the font information management unit 3 includes a curve, the straight line vector generation unit 4 performs a process of approximating the curve portion with a minute straight line vector.

The division processing unit 5 includes the linear vector generation unit 4
The straight line vector generated by the font information management unit 3
, The division determination flag added corresponding to each outline data to determine whether it is necessary to divide the read outline data into a plurality of polygons indicates “true”. "
Is satisfied, the image is divided into partial polygons in which the number of drawing line segments in each scan line is limited.

The font cache unit 6 registers the vector data divided by the division processing unit 5 in a cache.
Next, when data of the same font ID, character code, and character size is requested, the corresponding data is read from the font cache and transferred to the control unit 2. The expansion processing unit 7
The data divided by the division processing unit 5 or the data read from the font cache unit is developed into a bitmap and transferred to the control unit 2. The output unit 8 transfers the data that has been bit-mapped by the expansion processing unit 7 to an output device such as a printer or a display device. Thereby, printing and display are performed. The outline of the character processing device of the present invention has been described above.

Next, the flow of processing in the character processing apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In S1 shown in FIG. 5, the input unit 1 shown in FIG.
, The information of the font ID, character code, and character size is obtained. In S2, it is checked whether or not the corresponding character data is registered in the font cache unit 6. If the character data is registered, the process proceeds to S8, and if not, the process proceeds to S3. S3
Then, data corresponding to the requested character is read by the font information management unit 3 and matrix conversion is performed. In S4, the straight line vector generation unit 4 linearly approximates the curved portion of the outline data that has been subjected to the matrix conversion. In S5, if the division determination flag read in S3 is "true", the process proceeds to S6, and if "false", the process proceeds to S7. S
In step 6, the linearly approximated data is converted by the division processing unit 5 into a vector having a limited number of edges for each scan line.
In S7, the data subjected to the necessary division processing and the information of the font ID, the character code, and the character size are transferred to the font cache unit 6 and registered in the cache. In S8,
The data corresponding to the requested character is read from the font cache unit 6, and the process proceeds to S9. In S9, the expansion processing unit 7 bitmap-expands the vector in which the number of edges is limited for each scan line. In S10, the data that has been bit-mapped by the expansion processing unit 7 is transferred to the output unit. Such an operation is repeated for the number of input characters.

Next, the details of the main part of the character processing device according to the present invention will be described. First, the font information management unit 3 shown in FIG. 4 will be described in detail. FIG. 6 shows the configuration of the font information management unit 3. Font information management unit 3
Is the outline data reading unit 31 as shown in FIG.
An outline font data storage unit 32, a division determination flag reading unit 33, and a division determination flag storage unit 34
And a matrix conversion unit 35.

First, in the outline data reading unit 31,
Font data corresponding to the font ID and the character code transferred from the control unit 2 are read from the outline font data storage unit 32, and the read font data is converted into a predetermined character size by the matrix conversion unit 35. Next, the division determination flag reading unit 33 reads the division determination flag from the division determination flag storage unit 34. Finally, the font data subjected to the matrix conversion and the division determination flag are transferred to the control unit 2.

Next, the outline font data storage unit 3
FIG. 7 shows a configuration example of No. 2. The outline font data is obtained by associating a font ID representing a font type with font data, and has a structure such as a font I representing a font type as shown in FIG.
Map data specifying a map of D and font data,
Further, FIG. 7 designated by the map of FIG.
Data having a character code and character data pointers associated with each other as shown in FIG. 7B, and character data as shown in FIG. 7C designated by the pointer in FIG. With such a configuration, character data for each font is associated with each other. FIG.
The number of drawing commands held in the character data of (c) indicates the number of drawing commands included in data for one character. Also,
The drawing command represents a command for moving the current point, drawing a straight line, drawing a curve, and the like.

Next, an example of the configuration of the division determination flag storage unit 34,
That is, FIG. 8 shows a configuration of data stored in the division determination flag storage unit 34. The division determination flag is a flag for determining whether or not it is necessary to divide the font data read from the font information management unit 3 into a plurality of polygons when developing the font data. If it is necessary to divide the read font data, a flag of "true" is added, and if it is not necessary to divide the font data, a flag of "false" is added to all the font data. The division determination flag is determined in advance as to whether the font data managed by the font information management unit 3 needs to be divided, and a map as shown in FIG. This is stored in the storage unit 34. FIG. 8 shows the division determination flags “true” and “fal” for each character code in each font for two fonts, font 1 and font 2.
The example in which "se" is associated is shown.

The division determination flags "true" and "fa"
“lse” is added corresponding to each of the outline font data managed by the font information management unit 3 and stored in the division determination flag storage unit 34 shown in FIG. The division determination flag determines the number of intersecting sides in a scan line of a linear vector generated from individual outline font data stored in the font information management unit 3 by using a digital differential analyzer capable of operating in parallel provided in the expansion processing unit 7. (D
DA), and is set in advance based on the comparison.

When the number of digital difference analyzers (DDA) that can be operated in parallel provided in the expansion processing unit 7 is 2N, the scan line of the linear vector generated from the outline font data managed by the font information management unit 3 When the number of intersection sides is 2N or less, a division determination flag of "false" indicating that division is unnecessary is associated with the outline font data, and when the number of intersection sides exceeds 2N, "true" that indicates division is required. A flag is associated with the outline font data. Explaining with reference to FIG. 8, for example, the character code "0X4270" in the font 1 is associated with the division determination flag "true". This is because the character code "0X4
The number of intersecting sides on the scan line of the straight line vector generated from the outline font data corresponding to “270” exceeds 2N, indicating that division is necessary. Similarly, the character code “0X4272” in the font 1 has a division determination flag “falses”.
"e" is associated with it. This indicates that the number of intersecting sides on the scan line of the straight line vector generated from the outline font data corresponding to the character code "0X4272" is 2N or less, and that division is unnecessary.

As described above, according to the character processing apparatus of the present invention, for each of the outline font data managed by the font information management unit 3, each side of the polygon constituted by the linear vector generated from the outline font data and the output device And the number of intersections with each scan line and the DDA (Digit
al Differential Analyzer:
Digital difference analyzer) part number 2N
Based on the comparison result, the necessity of dividing the polygon data based on the outline data is determined in advance, and a division determination flag based on the determination is added corresponding to each outline data. Configuration of the expansion processing unit 7,
The operation will be further described later.

Next, the straight line vector generator 4 will be described in detail. When a curve is included in the outline font data read by the font information management unit 3, the straight line vector generation unit 4 performs a conversion process for approximating the curved portion to a straight line vector. This straight line vector generation unit 4
In the conversion processing in, flatness (flatnes) indicating the accuracy when the error approximates the curve with a straight line
s) A process of approximating with a minute straight line vector is performed so that the accuracy is not more than the accuracy specified by the value.

For example, a Bezier curve represented by four control points as shown in FIG. 9A is used as a curve vector. In this case, the process of generating a straight line vector is as shown in FIG.
As shown in (1), the midpoint between the control points is obtained, and divided into two vectors having four control points. Next, such division is repeated for each vector. The height (distance d) becomes flatness (f) by recursive division of this Bezier curve.
At this point, the division is completed. Then, the start point and the end point of each of the divided Bezier curves are connected in order, thereby completing the generation of the straight line vector. The straight line vector generated by such a method is transferred to the control unit 2.

Next, the division processing section 5 will be described in detail. The division processing unit 5 divides an edge of a portion where the number of sides intersecting the scan line exceeds 2N (corresponding to the number of DDA circuits in the expansion processing unit 7), and makes the number of edges 2N or less. Here, as an example, Japanese Patent Application No. 9-3024
The outline will be described using the algorithm described in No. 03.

The operation of the division processing unit 5 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, S50 shown in FIG.
In step 1, Yc representing the scan line to be processed is set to the minimum value Ymin of the range where the edge exists. Next, in S502, if there is an edge starting from Yc, the process proceeds to S503; otherwise, the process proceeds to S506. S503
Then, the number of edges starting from Yc is added to the count. Next, in S504, it is checked whether the count (count) exceeds 2N. If the count exceeds 2N, the process proceeds to S505. If the count does not exceed 2N, the process proceeds to S506.
Move on to In S505, the dividing process is performed so that the number of edges is 2N or less (corresponding to the number of DDA circuits in the expansion processing unit 7). Next, in step S506, if there is an edge ending at Yc, the process proceeds to step S507; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S508. In S507, the count (c
subtract the number of edges ending at Yc from (out). Next, in S508, it is checked whether or not Yc is equal to Ymax, which is the maximum value of the range in which the edge exists, and if they are equal, the process ends. If not, the process moves to S509. Next, in step S509, the value of Yc is increased by 1, and the process returns to step S502. In this way, the edge of the portion where the number of sides crossing the scan line exceeds 2N is divided. Further, the division is repeated until the number of sides becomes 2N or less in all the scan lines, and the divided vector data is transferred to the control unit 2.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of processing when N = 4. Since the number of sides exceeds 2N (that is, 8) in the scan line whose y coordinate is y1 in FIG.
The data is divided into the data shown in FIG. 11B and the data shown in FIG. As a result, all scan lines Ymin
Since the number of sides is less than or equal to 2N in .about.Ymax, the division is terminated, and the respective vector data are transferred to the control unit 2.

In the character processing device of the present invention, FIG.
As shown in (a), outline font data in which vector data having a configuration in which the number of sides exceeds 2N (that is, 8) on a scan line is generated, the font information is associated with the division determination flag "true" described above. It is stored in the management unit 3 and can determine whether or not division is necessary when reading outline font data.

On the other hand, all scan lines have two sides.
For outline font data for which vector data having a configuration of N (ie, 8) or less is generated, the above-described division determination flag “false” is held in the font information management unit 3 in association with the outline font data. Therefore, the division processing in the division processing unit 5 described with reference to FIG. 10 is not performed.

Next, the font cache unit 6 shown in FIG.
Will be described in detail. FIG. 12 shows the configuration of the font cache unit 6. The font cache unit 6 is configured as shown in FIG.
As shown in (1), it comprises a font cache control unit 61 and a font data storage unit 62.

The operation of the font cache unit 6 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the operation of reading character data from the font cache unit will be described. In S601 shown in FIG. 13, the font cache control unit 61 sends a font ID, a character code,
Get font size information. In step S602, it is determined whether the corresponding font data is registered in the font data storage unit 62. If registered, the process proceeds to step S603. If not, the process proceeds to step S605. In S603, the start address at which the corresponding font data is stored is assigned to the pointer Pt. In S604, the value of the counter that stores the number of hits to the cache is increased by one. S
At 605, since the corresponding font data is not registered in the font data storage unit 62, NULL is substituted for the pointer Pt. In S606, the pointer Pt is transferred to the control unit 2.

Next, the operation of registering character data in the font cache unit will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In S611 shown in FIG. 14, a font ID, a character code, a character size, and character data are acquired from the control unit 2. In step S612, the size of the character data is checked to determine whether there is sufficient memory available in the font data storage unit. If there is available memory, the process proceeds to step S614; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S613. In step S <b> 613, the data in the font data storage unit 62 is deleted from the data with the smaller counter value, and the process is repeated until a sufficient free memory for registering the character data can be secured. In step S614, the font data, the character code, and the character size information acquired in step S611 are used as keys to register character data and a counter initialized to 0 in the font data storage unit. Here, when the necessary free memory is exhausted in the font data storage unit 62,
The method of deleting data with the least number of hits in the cache has been described.How to delete from the data with large size, the method of deleting from the data registered first, etc.
Various methods are possible without changing the configuration of the present invention.

Next, the expansion processing section 7 shown in FIG. 4 will be described. The expansion processing unit 7 performs bitmap expansion of the vector data received from the control unit 2. Here, as an example, an outline thereof will be described according to an algorithm described in Japanese Patent Application No. 9-302403.

As shown in FIG. 15, the development processing section 7 calculates 2N DDAs (Digital Di) for calculating coordinates of intersections between each side of the polygon and each scan line of the output device.
(referential Analyzer) unit 71,
A sorting unit 72 for sorting 2N data output from the DDA unit 71 by X coordinate values, and a memory drawing unit for obtaining a start point / end point pair from the sorted result and drawing the interval between them in a memory with a specified drawing color 73.

The operation of the expansion processing unit 7 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, in step S701, a variable Yc representing a scan line to be processed is set to the minimum value Ymin of the Y coordinate of the polygon existing range. Next, in step S702, the XDA value of the intersection of the current scan line Yc and each side is calculated using the DDA unit 71 to update Xc. Next, in step S703, the DDA unit 71 in which the sides are set outputs all the values of Xc to the sorting unit 72, and the sorting unit 72 sorts them in ascending order.
Output to the memory drawing unit 73. Next, in S704,
The X coordinate values sorted by the memory drawing unit 73 are 2
Take out each one, make a pair, and paint the horizontal line between the pair. Next, in S705, Yc is increased by one. Next, in S706, it is checked whether or not this Yc value is larger than the Y coordinate maximum value Ymax of the polygonal existence range. If it is larger, the process is terminated. If not, the process returns to S702 and the process of Y = Yc is performed. To continue. Here, it has been described that Xc is updated and sorted every time for Ymin to Ymax. However, since it is necessary to sort only when addition / deletion / intersection of a side occurs, a scan line where addition / deletion / intersection occurs occurs. It is also conceivable to divide the polygon into trapezoids by using, and to make sorting unnecessary.

As described above, the character processing apparatus and method according to the present invention provide a DDA (Dig) for calculating the coordinates of the intersection of each side of a polygon with each scan line of the output device.
ital Differential Analyze
r) The necessity of dividing polygon data based on outline data is determined in advance based on the number of components 2N of the part, and a division determination flag based on this determination is added in association with the individual outline data. This eliminates the need for the division necessity determination process for the read outline data, thereby improving the processing speed.

Embodiment 2 Next, a second embodiment of the character processing apparatus of the present invention will be described. The second embodiment is the first embodiment.
In the outline font data storage unit of the character processing apparatus described in the above, data divided into a plurality of polygons having the number of intersecting sides of 2N or less in each scan line is stored. This is a character processing device that can omit processing and can perform higher-speed expansion processing.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram for explaining the operation principle of the character processing apparatus and the character processing method according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 17, the character processing device of this embodiment
It has an input unit 1, a control unit 2, a font information management unit 3, a straight line vector generation unit 4, a font cache unit 6, a development processing unit 7, and an output unit 8. The configuration and operation of each unit other than the control unit 2 and the font information management unit 3 are the same as those described in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted. Hereinafter, the configurations and operations of the control unit 2 and the font information management unit 3 of the present embodiment will be described.

First, the operation of the control unit 2 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The control unit 2 first operates as shown in FIG.
In S221 shown in FIG. 8, information on the font ID, character code, and character size is obtained from the input unit. In S222, the information of the font ID, character code, and character size obtained from the input unit is transferred to the font cache unit 6 to check whether the data of the requested character is registered in the cache. In S223, it is checked whether the data of the corresponding character is registered in the cache. When the pointer Pt acquired from the font cache unit 6 is “NULL”,
This means that it is not registered in the cache, and the process proceeds to S224. Also, the pointer Pt indicates “NUL
If the value is other than "L", it means that it is registered in the cache, and the flow shifts to S227. In S224, the requested character information is transferred to the font information management unit 3, and data obtained by matrix conversion of the corresponding outline data is obtained.
In S225, the outline data acquired in S224 is transferred to the straight-line vector generation unit 4, and data obtained by linearly approximating the curved part is acquired. In step S226, the vector data and character information acquired in step S225 are transferred to the font cache unit 6 and registered in the cache. In S227, data corresponding to the character requested from the font cache unit 6 is read from the memory indicated by the pointer Pt. S2
In 28, the vector data acquired in S225 or S227 is transferred to the expansion processing unit 7, and the bitmap expanded data is obtained. In S229, the bitmap data acquired in S228 is transferred to the output unit 8.

Next, the font information management section 3 will be described in detail. FIG. 19 shows the configuration of the font information management unit 3. As shown in FIG. 19, the font information management unit 3 includes a divided outline data reading unit 36, a divided outline font data storage unit 37, and a matrix conversion unit 35.

First, the divided outline data reading unit 36
Then, the font data corresponding to the font ID and the character code transferred from the control unit 2 are read from the divided outline font data storage unit 37. Next, the read font data is converted into a predetermined character size by the matrix conversion unit 35. Finally, the font data subjected to the matrix conversion is transferred to the control unit 2.

Next, the configuration of the divided outline font data storage section 37 is shown in FIG. FIG. 20 shown in FIG.
(A), (b), and (d) have the same structure as that of FIG. The divided outline font data storage unit 37 in the second embodiment stores data having a structure in which a map representing the division information in FIG. 20C is added to the data structure in the first embodiment. That is, a map representing the division information as shown in FIG. 20C is added to the outline font data that has been subjected to necessary division in advance. The number of divisions in the division information shown in FIG. 20C represents the number of divisions of data for one character, and the number of divisions is 1 when the data is not divided and 2 when the data is divided into two. Also, pointers indicating character data are provided by the number of divisions, and each point to the beginning of the character data as shown in FIG.

As described above, in the character processing device and the character processing method according to the second embodiment of the present invention, polygon data based on outline data is divided in advance and registered in a cache as a plurality of polygon data and stored. With this configuration, the divided polygon data registered in the cache can be output. Therefore, not only the division determination processing but also the division processing itself from the outline data can be omitted, and the development processing speed is further improved.

[0055]

As described above, according to the character processing apparatus and the character processing method of the present invention, a process of dividing character data into a plurality of polygon data based on outline data in order to develop a bitmap by hardware. A flag for determining whether or not it is necessary is added in association with each character data, and the necessity of division is determined based on this flag. Deployment processing can be performed.

Further, the character processing device and the character processing method of the present invention have a configuration in which outline font data that needs to be divided is preliminarily divided and registered in the cache in the font information management unit. The division processing itself from the outline data can be omitted, and the development processing speed is further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a method of developing outline data into a bitmap in a character processing device.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing various polygons.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a method of developing a bitmap from polygon data in the character processing device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of the character processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the overall processing flow of the character processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a font information management unit in the character processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of data stored in an outline font data storage unit in the character processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of data stored in a division determination flag storage unit in the character processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating recursive division processing of a Bezier curve in the character processing device.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a division processing unit in the character processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of division processing of a division processing unit in the character processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a font cache unit in the character processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of reading data from a font cache unit in the character processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of registering data in a font cache unit in the character processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a development processing unit in the character processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a rasterization processing unit in the character processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration (second embodiment) in the character processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a control unit in the character processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a font information management unit in the character processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a configuration of data stored in a divided outline data storage unit in the character processing device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Input part 2 Control part 3 Font information management part 4 Straight line vector generation part 5 Division processing part 6 Font cache part 7 Expansion processing part 8 Output part 31 Outline data reading part 32 Outline font data storage part 33 Division judgment flag reading part 34 Division Determination flag storage unit 35 Matrix conversion unit 36 Divided outline data reading unit 37 Divided outline font data storage unit 61 Font cache control unit 62 Font data storage unit 71 DDA unit 72 Sorting unit 73 Memory drawing unit

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A character processing device for developing outline font data into a bitmap, storing and managing the outline font data, and dividing the font data into a plurality of polygon data when performing the bitmap development process based on the outline font data. A font information management unit that manages a division determination flag indicating whether or not the outline font data is associated with each of the outline font data, and performing a linear approximation of a curve expression portion in the outline font data read by the font information management unit. A straight line vector generation unit that performs conversion to polygon data, a division processing unit that divides the polygon data generated by the straight line vector generation unit into a plurality of polygon data as necessary, One or more polygons generated by any of the division processing units Character processing apparatus comprising: an expansion processing unit to deploy over data in the bit map, a font cache unit for storing polygon data divided by the division unit. 2. The development processing unit according to claim 1, wherein the division determination flag is provided with the number of intersection sides of a scan line of a straight line vector generated based on each of the outline font data stored in the font information management unit. If the number exceeds 2N corresponding to the number of digital differential analyzers (DDA) that can be operated in parallel, the flag indicates that division is necessary, and if the number of intersection sides is 2N or less, the flag is set to indicate that division is unnecessary. The character processing device according to claim 1, wherein 3. The division processing unit counts the number of intersection sides of the straight line vector in a scan line to be processed, when a division determination flag corresponding to outline font data requested to be output indicates division is necessary. By comparing the counted number of intersection sides with the number 2N of constituents of the DDA unit included in the expansion processing unit, an edge of a portion where the number of intersection sides exceeds 2N is divided, and the number of intersection sides in all scan lines is divided. Is 2N
3. The character processing device according to claim 1, wherein the character processing device has a configuration for performing division until the following is achieved. 4. A character processing apparatus for developing outline font data into a bitmap, wherein the outline font data is stored and managed, and at least a part of the outline font data is divided into a plurality of polygon data in advance. A font information management unit that stores and manages the data, a straight line vector generation unit that performs conversion to polygon data by executing a straight line approximation of a curve expression portion in the outline font data read by the font information management unit, A character processing device comprising: a development processing unit that develops polygon data generated by a straight line vector generation unit into a bitmap; and a font cache unit that stores polygon data generated by the straight line vector generation unit. 5. The parallel information operable digital difference analyzer (DD) provided in the expansion processing unit, wherein the number of crossing sides of a scan line of a linear vector generated based on outline font data is provided in the font information management unit.
5. The character processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein for the outline font data exceeding the number 2N of A), divided polygon data divided into a plurality of polygon data in advance is stored. 6. A character processing method for developing outline font data into a bitmap, comprising: a step of dividing the outline font data into a plurality of pieces of polygon data in a bitmap development process based on the outline font data; A step of reading the determination flag in the font information management unit, a step of generating a straight line vector for converting the outline data into polygon data by linearly approximating a curve expression part in the outline font data read in the font information management unit, A division processing step of dividing the straight line vector generated in the straight line vector generation step into a plurality of polygonal data when the division determination flag indicates that the division is necessary; 1 and more expansion processing step of deploying the polygon data in the bitmap, the character processing method characterized by a step of storing the polygon data divided in the dividing process step in the font cache part.