JP2001312267A - Character display device and character display method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize a character display device which is capable of displaying character data of various sizes without increasing the memory capacity. SOLUTION: This character display device, such as an electronic book player, has a font memory means for storing font data by each of characters and displays the characters on an LCD 16 of a main body display section 12 in accordance with the font data read out of this font memory means. The font memory means is provided with a font reducing means which stores the font data of fixed sizes and processes the font data of the fixed sizes to reduce the same.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a character display device and a character display method, and more particularly to a character display device and a character display method capable of displaying a variable-size font from a fixed-size font storage.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The present invention can be used for all electronic devices which display characters, but will be described for an electronic book player which is one of the effective applications. First, the hardware form of the electronic book player will be described.
An electronic book player uses an 8 cm CD-ROM as a storage medium.
This is an information retrieval device using a ROM. FIG. 1 shows an external view of an example of the electronic book player. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a main body, reference numeral 11 denotes a main body base, reference numeral 12 denotes a main body display unit, reference numeral 13 denotes a keyboard, reference numeral 14 denotes a speaker, reference numeral 15 denotes a slot, and reference numeral 16 denotes an LCD.

The apparatus main body 10 is configured to be able to be folded and stored, and a main body base 11 is provided with a key input section including a keyboard 13, a slot 15 for inserting an electronic book, a speaker 14 for generating sound, and the like. I have. The main body display unit 12 is provided with a display unit including a backlight such as an LCD 16 as a display element.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the electronic book player. 2, reference numeral 17 denotes an electronic book (8 cm CD-ROM), reference numeral 18 denotes a key input unit, reference numeral 19 denotes a display unit, reference numeral 20 denotes a power supply circuit, reference numeral 2
1 is an optical disk drive, 22 is a data processing unit, 23 is an interface, 24 is a CPU, 25
Denotes a ROM, 26 denotes a RAM, 28 denotes a display control device, and 29 denotes a VRAM.

In FIG. 2, an electronic book (8 cm CD-ROM) 17 as a storage medium is mounted on an optical disk drive 21 when used. The optical disk drive 21 has a mechanism for opening and closing a shutter provided in a caddy of the electronic book 17, and further includes a spindle motor for rotating and driving the electronic book 17, an optical pickup for reading information of the electronic book 17, and an optical pickup. The electronic book disk 17 has a thread motor or the like for moving the CD-ROM disk in the radial direction.
, And reads data from the electronic book disk 17. Further, the optical disk drive 21 has servo circuits such as a spindle servo for controlling a spindle motor, a thread servo for controlling a thread motor, a tracking servo for controlling tracking, and a focus servo for controlling focus, and processes read signals. A signal processing circuit and the like are provided.

The data read through the optical disk drive 21 is subjected to demodulation processing by the data processing section 22. The demodulated data is sent to the CPU 24 via the interface 23. The CPU 24 has RO
M25 and RAM 26 are connected. ROM
25 stores a program for causing the CPU 24 to perform the operation and control of the entire system. on the other hand,
Data such as variables is written in the RAM 26.
Further, the optical disk drive device 2 is controlled by the CPU 24.
1 is controlled.

The CPU 24 is connected to receive a signal from a key input unit 18 (corresponding to the keyboard 13 or the like in the main body base 11 in FIG. 1). The key input unit 18 is arranged as shown in FIG. FIG.
, 31 is a power ON key, 32 is a function key, 33 is an alphabet key, 3
4 is a YES / NO key, 35 is a cursor key, 36 is a character enlargement key, 37 is a character thickness key, 3 is
8 is a bookmark key. Of these keys, the power ON key 31 and the character enlarging key 36 will be described later, but the other keys are not directly related to the present invention, so detailed description will be omitted. The signal from each key is CP
By being supplied to U24, control and search of the entire electronic book player are executed.

The display data from the CPU 24 is supplied to a display control device 28 via the interface 23. The display control device 28 is connected to a video RAM (VRAM) 29 for display, and the display data supplied to the display control device 28 is temporarily stored in the VRAM.
29 is written. Then, the display data read from the VRAM 29 by the display control device 28 is converted into a display signal by the display control device 28, and the display unit 19 (corresponding to the LCD 16 in the main body display unit 12 in FIG. 1)
Will be displayed. Characters to be displayed on the display unit 19 are stored in the ROM 25 as data. This data is a fixed size font of 16 × 16 dots, and is held in a data format in which one dot is assigned to one bit. FIG. 5 shows an example of a character font. The font data amount of “a” is 32 bytes. With this data amount, if all JIS codes are retained, about 25
The data amount reaches as much as 6 kbytes.

The power supply circuit 20 includes a battery (dry cell), a rechargeable battery, or a rectifier for rectifying an AC power supply. For example, by pressing the power ON key 31 in FIG. 3, the power supply circuit 20 is turned on. Naturally, the power supply circuit 20 is turned off when the power plug of the rectifier or the power jack on the electronic book player side is removed or the battery or rechargeable battery is removed from the battery box.
The electronic book (8 cm CD-ROM) 17 is turned off when the electronic book (8 cm CD-ROM) 17 is removed from the slot 15 in FIG. In addition, when power is supplied to the electronic book player, the power supply circuit 20 is turned off by closing or opening the main body display unit 12 side of the main body 10 in FIG.
It is turned on and off.

Next, the operation of the electronic book player will be described with reference to the operation flowchart shown in FIG. According to the method described above, the power supply circuit 2
When 0 is turned on, each IC is initialized in step 4-2, a startup screen is displayed on the LCD 16 in step 4-3, and then a document search screen is displayed in step 4-4. By specifying on the document search screen, a search method is selected in step 4-5, and the screen shifts to an input screen in step 4-6. When an input is made on this screen, the process proceeds to step 4-7, and a search is started. When the search is started, a corresponding list of the corresponding data is displayed in step 4-8.
At 9, the description is displayed.

If the description includes image data or sound, the user can view the image or hear the sound by selecting the icon. If you want to search for another data (word), step 4
Returning to the input screen of -6, a search can be performed again by inputting again. If it is desired to perform a search using another search method, the process returns to the selection of the search method in step 4-5, and the search method is selected again to start the search. If the user wants to search another document (dictionary, dictionary), the user returns to the document search screen in step 4-4 and selects another document, thereby making it possible to search for a different document. In each scene, the information displayed to the user may be text information or image information, but text information is mainly provided in many cases.

In order to provide a function of changing the font size of a character according to conditions in an electronic device (here, an electronic book player) that performs the above-described character display, font data of that size is usually provided. It will be installed, but if you try to display various sizes,
This means that a large-capacity ROM must be prepared. In addition, in the case where only a fixed-size font can be displayed, when displaying an item having a large amount of information, the operation of sending a screen (page) must be repeated, and the operation becomes frequent, and the user becomes inconvenienced. This makes the device difficult to use.

[0013]

As described above, in a conventional electronic device for displaying characters, character data is usually stored in a fixed-size font, so that character data of various sizes is displayed. Then, there is a problem that a large storage capacity is required. In addition, there is a problem in that if the character size is fixed and displayed, the number of displayed pages increases and operability deteriorates. The present invention solves these problems by a relatively simple method, realizes a character display device capable of displaying character data of various sizes without increasing the storage capacity, and a character display method used therefor. Is the challenge.

[0014]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a font storage means for storing font data for each character, and displays characters based on font data read from the font storage means. In the character display device, the font storage means is provided with font reduction means for storing fixed-size font data and reducing the fixed-size font data. Further, in a character display method for displaying characters based on font data read from font storage means for storing font data for each character, a font reduction method for reducing fixed-size font data read from the font storage means. It is characterized by having a process. As a result, without increasing the storage capacity,
A character display device capable of displaying character data of various sizes and a character display method used therein can be realized.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a character display device and a character display method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention relates to an RO that stores character font data by creating character font data reduced from the fixed size character font data in an electronic device that stores and holds character font data of a fixed size.
The present invention relates to a character display device that realizes a font size conversion function capable of changing a character size even if the capacity of M is small, and a character display method used therefor.

FIG. 1 is an external view of an electronic book player as an example of an electronic apparatus to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the electronic book player, FIG.
The operation flowchart of the electronic book player is shown in FIG. FIG. 5 shows an example of a character font stored in the electronic book player. For these figures,
Since the prior art has been described above, it will not be described in detail here. In this electronic book player, various operation methods are conceivable for the user to change the font size. Here, the font size is changed by pressing a key. The character enlarging key 36 in FIG. 3 has a function to operate the function. As a result, the user can change the font size at each occasion.

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of changing the character font size. If it is not detected in step 6-1 that the character enlargement key 36 has been pressed, the apparatus waits for an operation request from the next user while keeping the display. Step 6
If it is detected in step 1 that the character enlargement key 36 has been pressed, a font size designation screen is displayed in step 6-2, and the user designates the size with a font size designation flag. Thereafter, the apparatus performs font reduction processing to the designated size in step 6-3, and displays the reduced character font in step 6-4. After displaying the character font, it waits for the next operation request from the user.

When a fixed-size character font is reduced, the amount of information is naturally reduced. Further, since there is no mutual relationship between the information dots since the data dots are not stored in the vector format, there is a possibility that the fonts will be different after conversion. In addition, when the calculation is performed in units of dots, the amount of calculation increases, so that a CPU that is not suitable for such a calculation field increases the load and takes time to display. To avoid these problems as much as possible,
In the conversion according to the present invention, 1) conversion is performed in units of 4 bits. 2) Use a conversion table. Are used. With such a method, the load on the CPU is reduced, and conversion can be performed at higher speed even if the ROM capacity is small.

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of the conversion process of the font reduction process in step 6-3 in FIG. FIG.
Shows an example of the conversion table. The conversion table is equivalent to the number of 16 bits divided every 4 bits instead of one,
That is, four are prepared. The conversion table in FIG.
This is an example of a conversion table for converting a 16 × 16 dot font into a 12 × 12 dot font in a reduced manner, and indicates the 0th to 15th fonts. If the reduced sizes are different, it may be necessary to change the number of conversion tables. In this description, since the size is reduced to 12 × 12, there are four conversion tables in the X direction (corresponding to 〜 in FIG. 10 described later). There are two conversion tables in the Y direction (corresponding to those in FIG. 13 described later), and the remaining two are two of the conversion tables in the X direction (FIGS. 10 and 13). , Which corresponds to

The details of the processing will be described below. FIG.
When the font reduction process is started, a reduction process in the X direction is performed in step 7-1. As shown in FIG. 9, the font data has a total of 16 lines (rows).
A line is 16 bits, that is, 2 bytes. This is divided into four of four bits as shown in FIG. If you read the black part of the font as 1 and the white part as 0,
The data of the first line (row) is 0000 and 0x0
(Hexadecimal 0), the conversion table 0 for
The value of the th is converted data. The data of the next first line (row) is 0x4 (hexadecimal number 4) because it is 0100, so the fourth value of the conversion table for data is set as the converted data. , Are similarly processed.

Next, in step 7-2, X for 16 lines is obtained.
It is determined whether or not the reduction process in the direction has been completed. If not, the process returns to step 7-1 to continue the reduction process in the X direction. When all 16 lines are completed, they are converted as shown in FIG. 11 so that they are superimposed left-justified to form a 16 × 16 size as shown in the right diagram of FIG.

Next, at step 7-3, as shown in FIG.
Rotate 0 °. In step 7-4, the font data rotated by 90 ° is divided into four bits as shown in FIG. 13 as in step 7-1, and converted into respective 4-bit values from the conversion table. Obtain the corresponding conversion table value and use it as the value after conversion. Also in this case, the processing is performed for all 16 lines through step 7-5,
After being converted as shown in FIG. 14, this time, it is right-justified and superimposed to a size of 16 × 16 as shown in the right diagram of FIG. 14. Then, in step 7-6, as shown in FIG.
This time, the rotation is performed again by 90 ° in the direction to return to the original position.
Thus, the reduction processing ends. Finally Figure 1
As shown in the right diagram of FIG. 5, by writing the font reduced to the designated size at a predetermined location on a display device such as an LCD, the reduced font can be displayed.

In the above description, the reduction from the 16 × 16 dot font to the 12 × 12 dot font has been described. However, by changing the value held in the conversion table, conversion into various sizes is possible. However, as a matter of course, when the size is reduced, the dot information of the font decreases, so that it may be difficult to see with complicated kanji or the like having a large number of strokes. In the above description, the font reducing means for reducing the fixed-size font data is provided. However, it is also possible to consider the direction of expanding the font by selecting the value of the conversion table. Although the above description has been made with reference to the character display device of the present invention, a character display method used in the character display device is also an object of the present invention. further,
In the above, an example in which the present invention is applied to an electronic book player has been described. However, it is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to all electronic devices that display characters, such as other devices with a built-in CPU and information display devices. Absent.

[0024]

As described above, the first aspect of the present invention has font storage means for storing font data for each character, and displays characters based on the font data read from the font storage means. In the character display device, the font storage means is provided with font reduction means for storing fixed-size font data and reducing the fixed-size font data. As a result, a character display device capable of displaying character fonts of various character sizes with a small storage capacity can be realized. As a result, the display size can be easily changed, so that the display mode is switched according to the situation at the time, a large amount of character information is displayed in the limited display space of the character display device, or a large character size is easy to see. Or to build.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the font reduction unit divides the fixed-size font data into unit data of a plurality of bits for each line, and the unit divided by the division unit. Reduction conversion table means for performing a reduction conversion on data based on a conversion table, superimposition synthesis means for superimposing left-justified or right-justified reduced conversion data which has been reduced and converted by the reduction conversion table means, and superimposing synthesis means And rotating means for rotating the data superimposed and synthesized by 90 °. As a result, processing can be performed with a relatively small load on the CPU, so that a character font having a different character size can be displayed at high speed without using a high-speed CPU, and character fonts having various character sizes can be displayed. Can be realized. Further, since the character size is easily switched by key operation, it is possible to realize a character display device which is easy to operate and can display various character sizes which are easy for the user to use.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a character display method for displaying characters based on font data read from font storage means for storing font data for each character. It is characterized by having a font reduction process of reducing font data of a size. Thus, a character display method capable of displaying character fonts of various character sizes with a small storage capacity can be realized. Since the display size can be easily changed, the display mode is switched according to the situation at the time, a large amount of character information is displayed in the limited display space of the character display device, or a large character size and an easy-to-view screen are constructed. Or become possible.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect, the font reduction step includes a line reduction conversion step in which fixed-size font data is reduced and converted for each line, and data after the line reduction conversion step. A column reduction conversion step of performing a reduction conversion for each column. As a result, font data of different sizes can be obtained from font data of a fixed size independently using the same processing method, and conversion processing can be performed with shorter processing software.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect, the font reduction step is a division step of dividing fixed-size font data into unit data of a plurality of bits for each line, and a unit divided in the division step. A reduced conversion process that converts data based on a reduced conversion table, a superimposition synthesis process in which reduced conversion data converted in the reduction conversion process is superimposed left-justified or right-justified, and a superposition synthesis process is performed. And rotating the combined data by 90 °. This makes it possible to reduce the font size with relatively little arithmetic processing, so that it is possible to display character fonts of different character sizes at high speed without using a high-speed CPU. Can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of an electronic book player to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram of the electronic book player shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an arrangement diagram of a key input unit of the electronic book player shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a basic operation of the electronic book player shown in FIG. 1;

5 is an example of a character font stored in the electronic book player shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is an operation flowchart when a character size is changed in the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a character font reduction process according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an example of a character font conversion table.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing definitions of lines of character font data.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a division process of character font data.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing character font data conversion processing and left-justified synthesis processing.

FIG. 12 shows a character font data 90 after the processing of FIG. 11;
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a rotation process.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a character font data division process after the process of FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing a character font data conversion process and a right-justified combining process after the process of FIG. 12;

FIG. 15 shows a character font data 90 after the processing of FIG. 14;
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a rotation process.

[Explanation of symbols]

10: electronic book player main body, 11: main body base, 12
... Main body display unit, 13 ... Keyboard, 14 ... Speaker, 1
5 Slot, 16 LCD, 17 Electronic book (8c
mCD-ROM), 18 key input unit, 19 display unit, 20 power supply circuit, 21 optical disk drive,
22 data processing unit, 23 interface, 24 C
PU, 25 ROM, 26 RAM, 28 Display control device, 29 VRAM, 31 Power ON key, 32 Function key, 33 Alphabet key, 34 Y
ES / NO key, 35 ... cursor key, 36 ... character enlargement key, 37 ... character thickness key, 38 ... bookmark key.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A character display device having font storage means for storing font data for each character and displaying characters based on font data read from the font storage means, wherein the font storage means has a fixed size font. A character display device comprising: a font reduction unit that stores data and performs a reduction process on the fixed-size font data. 2. The font reducing unit includes: a dividing unit that divides the fixed-size font data into unit data of a plurality of bits for each line; and a unit that reduces the unit data divided by the dividing unit based on a conversion table. Reduced conversion table means for converting; reduced synthesis data reduced and converted by the reduced conversion table means; 2. The character display device according to claim 1, further comprising a rotation unit for rotating the data by 90 degrees. 3. A character display method for displaying characters based on font data read from font storage means for storing font data for each character, wherein the fixed-size font data read from the font storage means is reduced. A character display method comprising a font reduction process. 4. The font reduction step includes: a row reduction conversion step of performing a reduction conversion of the fixed-size font data for each row; and a column reduction step of performing a reduction conversion of the data after the row reduction conversion for each column. 4. The character display method according to claim 3, further comprising a conversion step. 5. The font reduction step includes: a division step of dividing the fixed-size font data into a plurality of bits of unit data for each line; and a step of dividing the unit data divided in the division step based on a reduction conversion table. A reduction conversion step for converting; a superimposition synthesis step in which the reduced conversion data converted in the reduction conversion step is superimposed left-justified or right-justified; 4. The character display method according to claim 3, further comprising a rotation step of rotating the character.