JP2008310032A - Mark display device, printer, mark display method, font database, program and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mark display device of element type font which can suppress increase in the font data capacity and will not cause blurred characters to be produced in a rasterized data of a prescribed size or smaller of the character. <P>SOLUTION: The mark display device 100 comprises a font database 31 for storing an element list 311 which causes the elements of predetermined total constitutional numbers to correspond to mark identification information for identifying marks and a shape list 312 which causes contour information defining element contour that are associated with the element identification information of the element; and a rasterized data plotting means 29a, which produces the contour by using the contour information and plots the rasterized data, according to the sizes of the mark from the contour, wherein the font database 31 causes the elements of the number, fewer than the total constitutional numbers, to be associated with the mark of the prescribed size or smaller. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a symbol display device that outputs a symbol, and more particularly to a symbol display device, a printer, a symbol display method, a font database, and a program using an element-type font that represents a symbol by combining a predetermined number of elements. And a storage medium.

  The application program executed on the computer outputs raster data corresponding to character codes such as characters, symbols, numbers, and the like (hereinafter simply referred to as characters) input from an input device such as a keyboard to an output device such as a display. Based on raster data display methods, fonts such as bitmap fonts, outline fonts, and element fonts have been proposed.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of raster data output from a bitmap font into a 12-dot × 12-dot bitmap (hereinafter referred to as a dot map to distinguish it from a broad bitmap). The raster data in FIG. 1 displays the character “A” in a fill pattern for each dot.

  The font data of the bitmap font stores glyph information indicating whether or not to fill each dot in association with the character code. Bitmap fonts reduce the jaggies that appear in raster data at the time of enlargement, so that glyph information of various character sizes for the same character is stored in the font data, so the storage capacity of the font data increases. .

  On the other hand, in the outline font, the outline of a glyph (visualized symbol shape) is divided into a number of line segments, and each line segment is expressed by a curve determined by a function called a Bezier curve. The rasterizer extracts glyph information based on the input character code and draws an outline according to the Bezier curve. Then, raster data is generated by filling the outline to be applied to each dot of the dot map determined according to the character size. Outline fonts can handle different character sizes with one glyph information because of the nature of representing glyphs as a function, and basically enlargement / reduction of characters is easy.

  However, in outline fonts, contours drawn according to a Bezier curve are applied to each dot in the dot map and painted, so if the character size is small (the number of dots is small), so-called character collapse of raster data with a complicated shape occurs. .

  FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating an example of character collapse of the outline font. In FIG. 2A, a character string “problem avoiding problem” is displayed from 8 points to 24 points. The point is a unit of character size, and the size of the dot map (number of vertical and horizontal dots) is determined according to the number of points. As shown in FIG. 2 (a), when the character size is small, the number of dots for displaying the character shape is insufficient in some parts such as “mongae” and “title”, and the character is crushed. I'm stuck.

  In order to avoid the character collapse, font data of different bitmap fonts are prepared for the same character with an outline font having a predetermined character size or less (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Since this font data is displayed on a dot map with an insufficient number of dots, a part of the character shape is simplified, so that even if the character size is small, character collapse can be avoided. FIG. 2B shows an example of raster data in which characters having a character size equal to or smaller than a predetermined size are displayed in a simplified manner. In FIG. 2B, the character string “problem avoiding problem” is displayed from 8 points to 24 points, but from 9 points to 20 points is the character string displayed by the bitmap method. For example, character rasterization is avoided by displaying raster data that does not display a part of the “gate” of the character “question” in a bitmap font.

  However, if the font data of the bitmap font is mounted on the font data of the outline font in this way, the storage capacity of the font data increases. For this reason, it is difficult to mount it on a device having a limited storage capacity, such as a mobile device, and the personal computer also occupies the capacity of the hard disk.

  Element type fonts also divide the glyph outline into a number of line segments and display each line segment as a curve defined by a function called Bezier curve. Element type fonts have glyph information for each element that constitutes a character. Different from outline font. FIG. 3A shows an example of a character element. Almost all characters can be composed of about 10 structural units, such as vertical line 101, horizontal line 102, left payment 103, right payment 104, and the like. Actually, in consideration of the balance of line width and raster data, all characters are composed of several hundred elements, but glyph information corresponding to this element can be used in common for each character. Even when compared with font data of outline fonts not included, the storage capacity can be reduced.

FIG. 3B shows an example of different characters configured using elements in common. “Out”, “charcoal”, and “bend” all include parts with the letters “mountain”. Therefore, by storing glyph information of parts such as radicals that are commonly used for many characters such as “mountains”, font data can be further reduced in the element type font. For example, when counting by the number of elements, “Out” is 7 elements, “Charcoal” is 10 elements, “Bend” is 11 elements, but when “Mountain” is regarded as one element, “Out” is 2 elements, “charcoal” is 7 elements, “bend” is 6 elements, and the storage capacity can be reduced as parts common to the character system appear.
JP 05-173539 A

  However, even in the element method font, the outline of each element is the same as the outline font in that it is applied to each dot of the dot map that is determined according to the character size, so that the character is the same as the outline font. If the size is small, so-called character collapse occurs in raster data of complicated glyphs. If the font data of the bitmap font is installed in the font data of the element system font as in the outline font, the storage capacity increases, which is not preferable because the advantages of the element system font cannot be utilized.

  In view of the above problems, the present invention suppresses an increase in the capacity of font data and does not cause character collapse in raster data having a character size equal to or smaller than a predetermined size. Symbol display device, printer, symbol display method, font database, It is an object to provide a program and a storage medium.

  In view of the above problems, the present invention provides an element list in which a predetermined number of elements are associated with symbol identification information (for example, a character code) for identifying a symbol, and element identification information (for example, an element number) of the element. A shape database (for example, the glyph information list 312) in which the contour information that defines the contour of the element is associated with the font database (for example, the font data 31) stored, and the contour information is used to generate the contour. In a symbol display device (for example, the symbol display system 100) having raster data drawing means for drawing raster data according to the size of the symbol from the contour, It is characterized by associating a smaller number of elements.

  According to the present invention, since the number of elements smaller than the total number of elements is displayed for a symbol having a size smaller than a predetermined size, the raster data having a character size smaller than the predetermined size is not crushed, and a bitmap font is provided. Therefore, the increase in the font data capacity can be suppressed.

  To provide a symbol display device, a printer, a symbol display method, a font database, a program, and a storage medium for an element type font that suppresses an increase in the capacity of font data and does not cause character collapse in raster data of a predetermined character size or less. it can.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  4A and 4B show examples of perspective views of the symbol display system 100. FIG. 4A and 4B, the symbol display system 100 is configured by a computer system. A symbol display system 100 in FIG. 4A includes a computer main body 11, a display 12, a keyboard 13, and a pointing device 14. A printer 15 that prints characters and the like on paper is connected to the computer main body 11. As shown in FIG. 4B, the symbol display system 100 may be a built-in device such as a portable mobile device such as a mobile phone, a PHS, and a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), an in-vehicle device, and the like.

  The computer main body 11 operates based on an OS (Operating System) installed in advance, and various functions of the OS can be used by an API (Application Program Interface) provided by the OS. For example, in Windows (registered trademark), an API called GDI (Graphic Device Interface) can absorb differences in hardware such as the display 12 and the printer 15 and output the symbols of this embodiment from these output devices. To do. The symbols include two-dimensional information transmission display such as letters, numbers, alphabets, pictograms, etc., but in the present embodiment, description will be made on characters.

  The printer 15 only needs to form character raster data output from the computer main body 11 on a sheet by a known printing method such as laser or ink jet.

  The symbol display system 100 of the present embodiment uses glyph information in which some elements are omitted for a character size of a predetermined size or less, thereby displaying characters of a character size of a predetermined size or less (hereinafter referred to as a small size character). Prevent crushing characters. Further, since font data of bitmap font is not used when displaying small size characters, the storage capacity of the font data 31 is not increased.

  In the present embodiment, the glyph refers to a shape that visualizes the information transmission display, and the raster data is a bitmap that is determined by applying the visualized shape to the dot map and filling / not painting for each dot. Say.

  First, the character size will be described. Whether or not a character is crushed is determined according to the number of dots in a dot map made up of vertical and horizontal dots provided for rendering one character in raster data, and the shape of the raster data. Therefore, although the small size character is not uniquely determined, the number of dots that the character is crushed is determined for each character (raster data). Therefore, in the present embodiment, the raster number is less than the number of dots determined for each character. When drawing data, a character of that size is called a small size character.

  By the way, in many application programs (hereinafter referred to as AP), the character size can be specified by the number of points, etc., but the same number of points depends on the setting of DPI (dot per inch) indicating how many dots can be hit per inch. Even so, the number of dots is different. For example, the number of 12-point dots with a screen setting of 96 DPI (96 dots per inch) is 16 dots, and the number of 12-point dots with a screen setting of 120 DPI (120 dots per inch) Becomes 20 dots. Therefore, in this embodiment, the character size is designated by the number of dots.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of a block diagram of the symbol display system 100. The symbol display system 100 includes a RAM 21, a ROM 22, a drive device 23, an input device 24, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) 25, a NIC (Network Interface Card) 26, a display control device 27, and a storage device, which are mutually connected by a bus. 28 and CPU 29.

  The RAM 21 is a working memory for temporarily storing the OS, AP, and data, and the ROM 22 stores a program for starting the OS, such as BIOS, and a setting file. The drive device 23 is configured so that the storage medium 30 can be attached and detached. The drive device 23 is used when writing APs and data to the storage medium 30, and reads the APs and data recorded on the storage medium 30 to store the storage device 28 and the like. To send. The input device 24 is a device for inputting various operation instructions from the user, such as the keyboard 13 and the pointing device 14. The USB 25 is an interface for connecting to the printer 15. The NIC 26 is an interface for connecting to a network such as the Internet or a LAN. The display control device 27 draws on the display 12 such as a liquid crystal with a predetermined resolution and the number of colors based on the screen information instructed by the program. For example, a GUI (Graphical User Interface) screen is formed, and various windows and data necessary for operation are displayed on the display 12.

  The CPU 29 provides various functions by loading a program such as an OS or AP from the storage device 28 and executing it, and comprehensively controls processing performed by the symbol display system 100.

  The storage device 28 is a non-volatile memory such as an HDD (hard disk drive) or a flash memory, and stores files such as an OS, an AP, and a driver. In the present embodiment, font data 31 and a bitmap drawing program 32 are stored. When the CPU 29 executes the bitmap drawing program 32, raster data drawing means 29 a is generated that generates the outline of the element using the font data 31 and draws raster data corresponding to the size of the symbol from the outline.

  If the symbol display system 100 is a computer system as shown in FIG. 4A, the font data 31 and the bitmap drawing program 32 are distributed while being stored in the storage medium 30, or downloaded from the network and stored in the storage device 28. Installed on. If the symbol display system 100 is an embedded device as shown in FIG. 4B, the symbol display system 100 is installed and shipped in advance in the ROM 22 or the storage device 28, or downloaded from the network and installed in the storage device 28. The storage medium 30 is an optical disk such as a DVD-ROM, a semiconductor memory such as a USB memory, and a magnetic disk such as a floppy disk.

  The font data 31 of the symbol display system 100 of the present embodiment is characterized in that it stores glyph information for small-size characters. First, the font data 31 of element-based fonts that are not limited to small-size characters is used. explain.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the font data 31. FIG. 6A shows the glyph information list 312 and FIG. 6B shows the element list 311. In FIG. 6, the character “轟” (character code: 8D8C) is taken as an example. In the glyph information list 312, one glyph information is registered for each element. The glyph information is one or two control points for controlling the positions of the two end points and the curve of the curve. Thereby, the shape of the Bezier curve can be specified.

  Each element is given an element number for identification. Raster data is drawn using the glyph information of element 1 for characters including the horizontal line element 1 in the glyph.

  In the element list 311, element numbers are registered in association with character codes. In the element list 311, element numbers used for drawing raster data of each character are registered. Therefore, if a character code is known, an element number necessary for raster data is extracted. In addition, the element number is associated with arrangement information for determining the arrangement (for example, the starting point) of the element. Each arrangement information indicates, for example, coordinates in the dot map with a predetermined origin as a reference.

  Therefore, referring to the element list 311 based on the character code, the element number required for the raster data is found, and the arrangement of each element is extracted from the arrangement information, so that raster data of the glyph of the character can be generated.

  Raster data drawing means 29a generates raster data with reference to font data 31 and is generally called a rasterizer. The raster data drawing unit 29a is provided as a part of the OS function depending on the OS, but is designed in principle with the font data 31.

  For example, when the drawing of the character “轟” is requested from an AP such as a word processor, the raster data drawing unit 29a refers to the font data 31 based on the character code (8D8C) and the character size (for example, 21 dots). Based on the character code 8D8C of “轟”, the element list 311 is referred to and two elements (elements 1 and 2) are extracted. The raster data drawing unit 29a extracts the glyph information of the elements 1 and 2 from the glyph information list 312, and draws the respective contours.

  In a predetermined number of dot maps, 15 horizontal lines are arranged according to the arrangement information of 15 elements 1 and 9 vertical lines are arranged according to the arrangement information of 9 elements 2 and are filled from the correspondence between each dot and the outline. Raster data is generated by filling power points. The font data 31 may include hinting information indicating the width and height of the glyph.

  Through the above procedure, raster data of the character “轟” shown in FIG. 7 is obtained. A position indicated by a circle indicates a position specified in the arrangement information of the element 1, and a position indicated by a triangle indicates a position specified in the arrangement information of the element 2.

  The filled raster data is transmitted to the display control device 27 and displayed at the position indicated by the AP of the window displayed on the display 12.

  When characters are printed by the printer 15, the raster data painted by the raster data drawing unit 29a is transmitted to the printer 15 for each page designated by the AP, for example, and the printer 15 prints it as it is. When the printer 15 includes the raster data drawing unit 29 a and the font data 31, the AP transmits the typeface, character size, and character code (document data) to the printer 15. The printer 15 receives the typeface, character size, and character code, the raster data drawing means 29a of the printer 15 draws the outline of each element, and fills the outline to be applied to each dot determined according to the character size. To generate raster data.

  The symbol display system 100 according to the present embodiment is characterized by the font data 31, and will be described below with reference to examples.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of the font data 31 of this embodiment. FIG. 8A shows the glyph information list 312. The glyph information list 312 is the same as FIG. 6A. On the other hand, the element list 311 shown in FIG. 8B is different from FIG. 6B in that it includes arrangement information having different numbers depending on the character size.

  In FIG. 8B, the character size is divided into three character sizes of 10 dots to 13 dots, 14 dots to 19 dots, and 20 dots or more, and a character with a larger character size has a smaller character size. Share placement information.

  Arrangement information is registered for each character size. Four arrangement information of element 1 and five arrangement information of element 2 are set for 10 dots to 13 dots, and 9 of element 1 is set for 14 dots to 19 dots. The pieces of arrangement information and the seven pieces of arrangement information of element 2 are registered, and 14 pieces of arrangement information of element 1 and nine pieces of arrangement information of element 2 are registered for 20 dots or more. Therefore, when the character size is large, such as 20 dots or more, it is the same as FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 8 (b), characters having a larger character size do not share arrangement information of a smaller character size, but independent arrangement information may be registered for each character size. Also in this case, if the character size is small, the element arrangement information is also reduced. By storing the independent arrangement information, the glyph can be freely changed.

  As described above, the fact that the character arrangement is small for a character having a small character size means that the number of elements is small if the character size is small even for the same character, so that character collapse can be prevented.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a procedure for the raster data drawing means 29a to draw raster data. The raster data drawing unit 29a obtains the character code and the character size from the AP together with the raster data drawing request (S10). If the typeface is specified, typeface information may be acquired.

  The raster data drawing means 29a refers to the element list 311 based on the character code and extracts the element number of the element used for the glyph of the character code (S20). In the case of the character code 8D8C, element numbers 1 and 2 are extracted.

  Next, the raster data drawing unit 29a refers to the element list 311 based on the character size, and extracts arrangement information corresponding to the character size (S30). For example, if it is 10 dots, 4 pieces of arrangement information are extracted by element 1, and 5 pieces of arrangement information are extracted by element 2.

  Next, the raster data drawing means 29a refers to the glyph information list 312 and extracts the glyph information of the element corresponding to the element number (S40). In element numbers 1 and 2, glyph information of vertical lines and horizontal lines is extracted.

  Next, the raster data drawing means 29a draws the outline of each element based on the glyph information, and determines the dot to be filled by applying it to the dot map based on the arrangement information (S50). When the dots determined to be painted are painted, raster data corresponding to the character code 8D8C and the character size is generated (S60).

  10A shows raster data of “の” having a character size of 10 to 13 dots, FIG. 10B shows raster data of “轟” having a character size of 14 to 19 dots, and FIG. c) shows raster data of “轟” having a character size of 20 dots or more. According to the arrangement information of the character size of 10 dots to 13 dots, there are 4 horizontal lines (element 1) and 5 vertical lines (element 2). Data corruption can be prevented.

  According to the arrangement information of the character size of 14 dots to 19 dots, there are nine horizontal lines (element 1) and seven vertical lines (element 2). The data can be prevented from being crushed, and when the character size is slightly increased, the number of elements can be increased to obtain raster data having a shape close to the original raster data “轟”.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 10C, raster data can be displayed without omitting elements if the character size exceeds a predetermined value.

[Modification]
The arrangement information of each element may be registered in the element list 311 integrally. FIG. 11 shows an example of the font data 31 of this embodiment. The glyph information list 312 shown in FIG. 11A is the same as that shown in FIG. 8A, but the element list 311 has arrangement information for each character size and is arranged integrally with the two elements 1 and 2. Information is stored. It should be noted that 4 arrangement information of element 1 and 5 arrangement information of element 2 in 10 to 13 dots, 9 arrangement information of element 1 and 7 arrangement information of element 2 in 14 to 19 dots, For 20 dots or more, 14 pieces of arrangement information of element 1 and 9 pieces of arrangement information of element 2 are registered.

  Since the arrangement information is the same as that in FIG. 8B, the raster data drawn based on the arrangement information in FIG. 11B is the same as in FIGS. 10A to 10C.

  According to the present embodiment, it is possible to prevent the raster data of small-size characters from being crushed while maintaining the characteristics of the element type font having a small storage capacity of the font data 31. For example, if the same thing is configured with an outline font, glyph information for one entire character is required for each character size, but in this embodiment, the glyph information list 312 is common to all characters and character sizes, so the increase in capacity is Only the part related to the arrangement information. Therefore, an increase in the storage capacity of the font data 31 can be suppressed to a minimum.

  In the first embodiment, the raster data is prevented from being crushed by the arrangement information of the element list 311. In this embodiment, the symbol display system 100 that prevents the raster data from being crushed by the glyph information list 312 will be described.

  FIG. 12 shows an example of the font data 31 of this embodiment. The element list 311 in FIG. 12B is common regardless of the character size, but the glyph information list 312 in FIG. 12A registers display information in addition to glyph information for each element.

  Display information designates element arrangement information to be displayed with the character size for each character code. For example, when element 1 is used for 8D8C (轟), the character size of 10 to 13 dots indicates that the elements “A, B, C, D, and E” of the arrangement information are displayed, and 14 to 19 dots are displayed. The character size indicates that the elements “A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and I” are displayed in the arrangement information, and the elements of all arrangement information are displayed in the character size of 20 dots or more. It shows that

  The display information A to I may be the arrangement information itself, or may be an identification number (for example, a serial number) of the arrangement information in the element list 311. When the display information is the arrangement information itself, it is effective for a glyph having a complicated shape whose shape changes greatly according to the character size. When the display information is the identification number of the arrangement information, an increase in storage capacity can be suppressed.

  If the font data 31 of FIG. 12 is used, since a small number of elements are designated for a small character size for each character code, it is possible to prevent character collapse of raster data.

  FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a procedure for the raster data drawing means 29a to draw raster data. The raster data drawing unit 29a obtains the character code and the character size from the AP together with the raster data drawing request (S10). If the typeface is specified, typeface information may be acquired.

  The raster data drawing means 29a refers to the element list 311 based on the character code and extracts the element number of the element used for the glyph of the character code (S20). In the case of the character code 8D8C, element numbers 1 and 2 are extracted.

  Next, the raster data drawing means 29a refers to the glyph information list 312 and extracts the glyph information of the element corresponding to the element number (S40). In element numbers 1 and 2, glyph information of vertical lines and horizontal lines is extracted.

  Next, the raster data drawing unit 29a extracts display information corresponding to the character size for each element from the glyph information list 312 based on the character size (S42). For example, if it is 10 dots, 4 pieces of arrangement information are extracted by element 1, and 5 pieces of arrangement information are extracted by element 2.

  Next, the raster data drawing means 29a draws the outline of each element based on the glyph information, and determines the dot to be filled by applying it to the dot map based on the arrangement information (S51). When the dots determined to be painted are painted, raster data corresponding to the character code 8D8C and the character size is generated (S60). By such processing, raster data shown in FIGS. 10A to 10C is drawn.

  According to the present embodiment, character collapse of raster data of small size characters can be prevented while maintaining the characteristics of the element type font with a small storage capacity of the font data 31. In this embodiment, since the element list 311 is common regardless of the character size, the increase in capacity is only in the portion related to the display information. Therefore, an increase in the storage capacity of the font data 31 can be suppressed to a minimum.

  In the second embodiment, display information for each character code and character size is provided in the glyph information list 312. In this embodiment, a symbol display system 100 that provides display information for each element to prevent the raster data from being crushed will be described. .

  FIG. 14 shows an example of the font data 31 of this embodiment. The element list 311 in FIG. 14B is common regardless of the character size, but the glyph information list 312 in FIG. 14A registers display information corresponding to the character size in association with each element. .

  For example, since the glyph of the character “轟” has 14 horizontal lines, elements 1.1 to 1.14 are registered in the glyph information list 312 in order to set whether or not to display each. Elements with the same 1's place are the same glyph. The elements 1.1 to 1.14 are associated with the arrangement information of the element list 311 and the arrangement is determined for each element 1.1 to 1.14.

  In addition, in the elements 1.1 to 1.14, target characters including the element in the glyph are registered. The display information indicates whether each element can be displayed according to the character size. For example, element 1.1 is displayed with 10 dots or more, and element 1.3 is displayed with 14 dots or more (in other words, element 1.3 is not displayed with 13 dots or less). Therefore, the presence or absence of display can be designated for each element according to the character size.

  FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a procedure for the raster data drawing means 29a to draw raster data. The raster data drawing unit 29a obtains the character code and the character size from the AP together with the raster data drawing request (S10). If the typeface is specified, typeface information may be acquired.

  The raster data drawing means 29a refers to the element list 311 based on the character code and extracts the element number of the element used for the glyph of the character code (S20). In the case of the character code 8D8C, element numbers 1 and 2 are extracted.

  Next, the raster data drawing unit 29a refers to the glyph information list 312 and extracts glyph information based on the element number and the character size (S43). Since the element number may be treated as the same element if the 1's place is the same, the raster data drawing means 29a extracts glyph information permitted to be displayed in the character size of the display information from the elements 1.1 to 1.14. To do.

  Next, the raster data drawing means 29a extracts arrangement information corresponding to the extracted glyph information, draws the outline of each element based on the glyph information, and applies it to the dot map to determine the dots to be filled (S50). When the dots determined to be painted are painted, raster data corresponding to the character code 8D8C and the character size is generated (S60).

  Through the above processing, for example, raster data of “轟” shown in FIG. 16 is drawn. In FIG. 16, by omitting some horizontal lines of “car”, rendering of raster data without being crushed is realized with a dot map having a small number of dots.

  According to the present embodiment, it is possible to prevent the raster data of small-size characters from being crushed while maintaining the characteristics of the element type font having a small storage capacity of the font data 31. Since the elements 1.1 to 1.14 are common to all characters including the horizontal line, the increase in the storage capacity of the font data 31 can be minimized.

  In the present embodiment, a priority order to be displayed for each element is determined, and when all the elements cannot be displayed because the character size is small with respect to the character glyph, the symbol display system 100 that displays only the elements having a priority order higher than a predetermined value. Will be described.

  Considering the arrangement of horizontal line elements in a dot map of 10 × 10, it is necessary to arrange every other line so that raster data is not crushed. Therefore, if two lines of the dot map are consumed by one horizontal line. Think. Therefore, although 10/2 = 5 horizontal lines can be arranged, in many raster data, only one dot is provided with a blank line, so there are substantially only 9 dots of “10-1”. Four horizontal lines can be arranged from 9/2 = 4 (cut off). The same applies to the vertical lines. Therefore, it is possible to calculate how many horizontal lines and vertical lines can be displayed from the character size.

  Therefore, if priority is set for each element in the font data 31 in accordance with the character size, raster data that is free of character collapse even if the character size is small can be displayed by extracting the element having a high priority.

An example of calculating the displayable number is shown.
10-dot display: (10-1) / 2 = 4 lines 11, 12-dot display: (11-1) or (12-1) / 2 = 5 lines 13, 14-dot display: (13-1) or (14 -1) / 2 = 6 lines 15, 16 dots display: (15-1) or (16-1) / 2 = 7 lines 17, 18 dots display: (17-1) or (18-1) / 2 = Eight 19, 19 dot display: (19-1) or (20-1) / 2 = 9 In addition, there are slanted elements such as “Left payment” and “Ten”. What is necessary is just to calculate the displayable number by an appropriate calculation formula. In addition, when the displayable number of horizontal and vertical lines is affected by such radicals (elements), it can be displayed in the same way by subtracting that amount from the number of dots (in the above formula, the numerator value decreases) The number can be calculated.

  FIG. 17 shows an example of the element list 311 of this embodiment. An element number and arrangement information are associated with the character code. In the arrangement information, the number of elements of the element and the arrangement information of each element are stored together with the priority (1 or 2 in the figure).

  For example, when “轟” is displayed with 10 dots, the displayable number of the element with the element number 1 is 4, so that the priority order is 1 (A, A), 1 (C, C) (D, D), 1 Elements (E, E), 1 (F, F), (G, G) (H, H) are extracted and displayed. The reason why the arrangement information is 7 instead of 4 is that a plurality of elements arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction (for example, the first side of the lower left car and the first side of the lower right car) can be arranged in one row. is there.

  By the way, if all elements with priority 1 can be displayed but not all elements with priority 2 can be displayed, it may be better to display the elements only when all elements with the same priority can be displayed. . This is because the priority order of the elements is determined so as to be preferable raster data with the naked eye. Therefore, according to the displayable number calculated from the character size, even if more elements can be displayed, if all the elements with the same priority cannot be displayed, all the elements with the same priority can be displayed. Is displayed.

  In addition, some characters preferably display as many elements as possible according to the priority order. Therefore, even if the elements are displayed in the order of higher priority order (in the case of the same priority order, the placement order of the placement information). Good. Which display method should be adopted is set for each character. In FIG. 17, the priority order is shown in two stages, but the priority order may be set more finely.

  Furthermore, in FIG. 17, the priority order is set within the same element, but the priority order between elements may be determined. Although there is no conflict between the horizontal line and the vertical line, for example, since the diagonal element and the horizontal line compete, it is possible to draw raster data that is preferable to the naked eye by setting priorities between the elements.

  Therefore, when drawing raster data, a predetermined priority order between elements is extracted, and the number of dots to be consumed is determined from elements with a high priority order. Elements with a low priority order are already consumed from the character size. By determining the displayable number from the value obtained by subtracting the number of dots, it is possible to draw raster data that achieves both prevention of character collapse and visibility according to the character size.

  FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing a procedure for the raster data drawing means 29a to draw raster data. The raster data drawing unit 29a obtains the character code and the character size from the AP together with the raster data drawing request (S10). If the typeface is specified, typeface information may be acquired.

  The raster data drawing means 29a refers to the element list 311 based on the character code and extracts the element number of the element used for the glyph of the character code (S20). In the case of the character code 8D8C, element numbers 1 and 2 are extracted.

  Next, the raster data drawing unit 29a calculates the displayable number based on the character size (S31). This determines the number of arrangement information that can be displayed for each element.

  Next, the raster data drawing unit 29a extracts the displayable number of arrangement information for each element in descending order of priority (S32). Thereby, arrangement information to be displayed for each element is determined.

  The raster data drawing unit 29a refers to the glyph information list 312 and extracts the glyph information of the element corresponding to the element number (S40). In element numbers 1 and 2, glyph information of vertical lines and horizontal lines is extracted.

  Next, the raster data drawing means 29a determines the dots to be filled by drawing the outline of each element based on the glyph information and applying it to the dot map (S50). When the dots determined to be painted are painted, raster data corresponding to the character code 8D8C and the character size is generated (S60).

  According to the present embodiment, the priority of each element is determined, and the elements are displayed in descending order of the priority corresponding to the displayable number calculated according to the character size, thereby maintaining the characteristics of the element-based font. It is possible to prevent the raster data of small size characters from being crushed.

It is a figure which shows an example of raster data. It is a figure which shows an example of the character collapse of an outline font. It is a figure which shows an example of the element of a character. It is an example of the perspective view of a symbol display system. It is an example of the block diagram of a symbol display system. It is a figure which shows an example of font data. It is a figure which shows an example of the raster data which is a drawing result of an element system font. (Example 1) which is a figure which shows an example of font data. FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure in which raster data drawing means draws raster data (Example 1). The raster data of “轟” that varies depending on the character size is shown. It is a figure which shows an example of font data (Example 1 modification). (Example 2) which is a figure which shows an example of font data. FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure in which raster data drawing means draws raster data (second embodiment). (Example 3) which is a figure which shows an example of font data. FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for rendering raster data by raster data rendering means (third embodiment). It is a figure which shows the raster data of "" where some elements were abbreviate | omitted. (Example 4) which is a figure which shows an example of font data. FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure in which raster data drawing means draws raster data (Example 4).

Explanation of symbols

11 Computer Main Body 12 Display 13 Keyboard 14 Pointing Device 15 Printer 21 RAM
22 ROM
23 Drive device 24 Input device 25 USB
26 NIC
27 Display control device 28 Storage device 29 CPU
29a Raster data drawing means 30 Storage medium 31 Font data 32 Bitmap drawing program 100 Symbol display system 311 Element list 312 Glyph information list

Claims (14)

The element identification information of the element is associated with the symbol identification information for identifying the symbol, the element list in which the element identification information is associated with the arrangement information of the element, and the outline of the element is defined in association with the element identification information A font database storing shape lists associated with contour information;
Raster data drawing means for generating the outline using the outline information and drawing raster data according to the size of the symbol from the outline;
In a symbol display device having
The font database is
According to the size of the symbol, the number of the arrangement information associated with the element identification information is variable.
A symbol display device characterized by that. The element list is
Corresponding to the symbol identification information of the same symbol, the arrangement information different in number according to the size of the symbol,
The symbol display device according to claim 1. The shape list is
Corresponding to the element identification information, the symbol identification information and the arrangement information different in number according to the size of the symbol for each symbol identification information,
The symbol display device according to claim 1. The associated arrangement information is the arrangement information of an element to be drawn when outputting a symbol of the size.
The symbol display device according to claim 3. The shape list is
Correlating the symbol identification information and display information for designating whether or not the sub-element is drawn based on the size of the symbol to the sub-element identification information further identifying the element identification information according to the arrangement of the elements;
The symbol display device according to claim 1. The element list is
The drawing priority is stored for each arrangement information,
The raster data drawing means extracts a predetermined number of the placement information in descending order of priority according to the displayable number of the elements calculated according to the size of the symbol, and only the elements of the extracted placement information are extracted. Draw raster data,
The symbol display device according to claim 1. An output device for outputting the raster data drawn by the raster data drawing means;
The symbol display device according to claim 1, comprising:   The symbol display device according to claim 7, wherein the output device is a display or a printer. An element list in which a predetermined number of elements are associated with symbol identification information for identifying a symbol, and a number of elements smaller than the total number of elements is associated with a symbol of a predetermined size or less; A font database that stores a shape list that correlates contour information that defines the contour of the element in association with element identification information;
Means for receiving symbol identification information for identifying a symbol from a computer;
Raster data drawing means for generating the outline using the outline information and drawing raster data corresponding to the size of the symbol from the outline;
And a printing unit that prints the raster data drawn by the raster data drawing unit. Raster data drawing means
The element identification information for identifying the symbol is associated with the element identification information of the element, the element identification information is associated with all the arrangement information of the element, and the outline of the element is associated with the element identification information. With reference to the font database storing the shape list that associates the contour information that defines the
Generating the contour using the contour information, and rendering raster data according to the size of the symbol from the contour;
Outputting the rendered raster data to an output device;
A symbol display method for a symbol display device.   A program for causing a computer to execute the symbol display method according to claim 10.   A computer-readable storage medium storing the program according to claim 11. The element identification information for identifying the symbol is associated with the element identification information of the element, the element identification information is associated with all the arrangement information of the element, and the outline of the element is associated with the element identification information. A font database storing a shape list associated with contour information for determining
According to the size of the symbol, the number of the arrangement information associated with the element identification information is variable.
Font database characterized by   A computer-readable storage medium storing the font database according to claim 13.

Images