JP2552412Y2 - Word processor - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a word processor that uses image data such as characters read by an image scanner as a free font when printing.

[Prior Art and its Problems] In general, when a word processor wants to use a character pattern other than a previously stored character font as a print pattern, it is necessary to create a free font by inputting an external character pattern.

In this case, the font pattern must be created by inputting one dot pattern at a time, and creating a new font is very time-consuming and troublesome.

Therefore, a font creating means for reading a character pattern drawn on a predetermined sheet using an image scanner and converting the character pattern into a dot pattern to make a free font has been put to practical use.

However, in the case of the font creating means using the image scanner, a frame previously drawn on the predetermined sheet is converted into a predetermined number of dots (for example, 24 × 24 dots) to define the size of the font pattern. Because
When drawing a character having a desired shape on the sheet, it is very difficult to set the character size with respect to the size of the frame, and drawing a plurality of character patterns to the same size requires skill.

In addition, the font creating means cannot use a desired print character or the like as a free font as it is.

[Purpose of the invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems.
Any character pattern can be read as image data without having to draw a desired character pattern on a predetermined sheet, and it is possible to use it as a free font of a predetermined character size. It is another object of the present invention to provide a word processor which can create dot patterns of characters of the same size and can easily create dot patterns of a plurality of characters of the same size.

[Gist of the Invention] That is, the word processor according to the present invention comprises a reading means for reading image data, a detecting means for detecting the number of vertical and horizontal dots of a read pattern from the image data read by the reading means, and a detecting means. Determining means for determining whether the number of detected vertical and horizontal dots is larger or smaller than a predetermined number; and determining that the number of detected dots is larger than the predetermined number by the determining means. In this case, a dot thinning process is performed, and if it is determined that the number is smaller than the predetermined number, a dot insertion process is performed. Dot pattern creating means for creating a dot pattern, input means for inputting code data, and code data input by the input means And a dot pattern created by the dot pattern creation means and storing the dot pattern created by the dot pattern creation means in association with each other, and reading the corresponding dot pattern stored in the storage means in accordance with the code data input by the input means. And a reading means for outputting.

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the external structure of a manual type word processor. The apparatus main body 1 is large enough to be gripped by a user, and a key input section 2 and a display section 3 are provided on the front of the apparatus main body 1. Provided. The key input unit 2
Starting with the character input keys 4a, 4b,... And the kanji conversion key 5 necessary for creating a character string, the free font input key 6 operated when reading and inputting a free font as image data, and printing using the free font A free font print key 7 and the like which are operated when performing the operation are provided.

Further, a reading unit 8 and a printing unit 9 are provided at a lower portion of the apparatus main body 1. In the lower part of the apparatus main body 1 provided with the reading section 8 and the printing section 9, rollers 10a and 10b which slightly protrude from the lower surface of the apparatus main body 1 and rotate as the apparatus main body 1 moves on a document or print paper are provided. Be provided. An encoder disk 11 meshes with a gear (not shown) fixed coaxially with the rotation axis of the roller 10a. On the encoder disk 11, a number of slits 12a, 12b,... Are formed concentrically and radially. These slits 12a, 12b, ...
Although not shown, a light emitting element and a light receiving element are arranged on both sides of the formation position, and the light projected from the light emitting element is received by the light receiving element through the slits 12a, 12b,. That is, the encoder 13 is composed of the encoder disk 11, the slits 12a, 12b,...
A pulse signal (encoder pulse) is output from the light receiving element according to the rotation of the encoder disk 13, and this pulse signal becomes a movement amount detection signal of the apparatus main body 1.

On the other hand, in the reading section 8 between the rollers 10a and 10b, an LED 14 for illuminating the surface to be read,
A line-type image sensor 15 having a resolution of 48 dots (8 dots / mm) for optically reading image data illuminated by the camera is provided. The image sensor 15 repeatedly performs the reading operation in accordance with the output of the encoder pulse accompanying the reading scanning in the direction of the arrow X of the apparatus main body 1, and performs the reading processing of the image data on the surface to be read.

A thermal print head 16 with a resolution of 48 dots (8 dots / mm) is provided in the print section 9 between the rollers 10a and 10b, with a heat-generating section of the tip slightly protruding from the lower surface of the apparatus main body 1. For the ribbon take-up shaft 17 and the ribbon supply shaft 18 that are simultaneously arranged above the print head 16,
The ink ribbon cassette 19 is mounted by fitting the ink ribbon take-up spool and the feed-out spool. In this case, the rotation of the ink ribbon take-up spool in the ink ribbon cassette 19 causes the ink ribbon 20 fed from the feed spool to sequentially contact the leading end heating portion of the thermal print head 16 and be wound.

Here, the rotational force of the roller 10b accompanying the movement of the apparatus main body 1 on the print paper is determined by the gears 21 and 22 and the ribbon winding shaft 17.
Is transmitted to the ink ribbon take-up spool of the ink ribbon cassette 19 via the

That is, the thermal print head 16 repeatedly generates heat in accordance with the output of the encoder pulse accompanying the print scan of the apparatus main body 1 in the direction of the arrow Y, and performs print processing for each line of print data. In this case, the double-byte print size is 24 × 24 dots, and the small-size print size is 12 × 12 dots.

That is, the character data input by the key following the operation of the free font input key 6 becomes the corresponding code when the character code is obtained as the free font for the image data to be read and processed thereafter. In the printing process associated with the operation 7, print data based on the font data obtained by the free font input is output.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration of an electronic circuit in the manual type word processor. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 31 denotes a control unit, and the control unit 31 responds to a key input operation signal from the key input unit 2 to control various parts of the circuit. Operation control.

The character string data created by key input using the character input keys 4a, 4b,... And the kanji conversion key 5 of the key input unit 2 is converted into a character code and written into the input character code storage unit 32. Be included. Here, font data corresponding to various character codes is stored and held in the normal font data storage unit 33 in advance.

On the other hand, the image data read by the image sensor 15 in the reading unit 8 in accordance with the output of the encoder pulse is converted into white / black binary digital data for each individual dot data through a binarizing unit 34. The data is stored in the read data storage unit 35. This read data storage unit
35 is, for example, as shown in FIG.
The read data storage section 35 has a memory area corresponding to the read width N (48 dots) and the read length M of 15 and stores the read image data binarized in white / black.
The write and read addresses for
Specified by 36.

The read data storage unit 35 is connected to a character extracting unit 37, and the character extracting unit 37 is connected to the address control unit 36. The character cutout unit 37 controls the read address in the read data storage unit 35 through the address control unit 36 when the free font input key 6 in the key input unit 2 is operated, and the image stored in the read data storage unit 35 The data is extracted one character at a time. The one character data extracted by the character extraction unit 37 is sent to the dot matrix creation unit 38 through the control unit 31.

That is, in the character extracting section 37, as shown in FIG. 4, for example, the image data stored in the read data storage section 35 is first detected in the read length M direction by detecting the presence or absence of black data for each dot row. The first black data detection column is used as a character pattern start column, and the last black data detection column when a white data-only column continues for a predetermined number of columns or more is used as a character pattern end column. The length m is set. Then, the presence / absence of black data is detected for each dot row in the reading width direction N during the one-character cut-out length m. Similarly to the above, the first black data detection row is set as a character pattern start row, and only white data is detected. By setting the last black data detection line when the line continues for a predetermined number of lines or more as the character pattern end line, the character extraction width n is set, and m × n character extraction processing is performed.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, the dot matrix creating unit 38 applies a column direction component and a row direction component to the m × n cut character pattern obtained by the character cutout process by the character cutout unit 37. The dot matrix is created by thinning out and inserting a font pattern of a predetermined character size (24 dots vertically by 20 dots horizontally).
Is transferred to the free font data storage section 39 and stored together with the character code of the character data input in advance by key.

FIG. 6 shows the storage state of the font data and the character code data in the free font data storage section 39. The font data is stored in the dot matrix creation section.
The character code of the first character of the character string data stored in the dot matrix pattern itself obtained at step 38 and previously input when the free font input key 6 is operated, and the cut-out character font of the first character of the read image data Also, the character code of the second character of the character string data that has been key-inputted in advance and the cut-out character font of the first character are stored in association with each other.

At the time of the normal printing of the character data generated by key input, print data based on the normal font pattern stored in the normal font data storage unit 33 is sent to the printing unit 9, and the free font printing key At the time of printing at the time of operation 7, print data based on the free font pattern stored in the free font data storage unit 33 is sent to the printing unit 9.

Next, the operation of the manual word processor having the above configuration will be described.

First, in order to create desired character string data or document data, by operating the character input keys 4a, 4b,... The character data is displayed on the input unit 3 and stored in the input character code storage unit 32 as a character code.

When the user wants to print the character string data created by the key input, the user places the apparatus main body 1 on a print sheet with an arrow Y.
Input character code storage unit by moving and scanning in the direction
The font data corresponding to the character code stored in 32 is read from the normal font data storage unit 33 in accordance with the output of the encoder pulse from the encoder 13, and the control unit
The data is sequentially output to the thermal print head 16 of the printing unit 9 through the line 31. As a result, the character string data previously keyed and stored in the input character code storage unit 32 is sequentially thermally transferred and printed on the printing paper from the thermal print head 16 via the ink ribbon 20.

Here, the free font creation processing by the word processor will be described.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the free font data creation processing. For example, when character data "small printer" drawn on a document is to be obtained as a free font, first, the desired font data ""Smallprinter" is displayed by key input.

That is, using the character input keys 4a, 4b,...
, The individual character data "small" and "type"
.. Are stored in the input character code storage unit 32 (steps A1 to A3).

Here, when the free font input key 6 is operated, the control unit 31 determines whether or not a character code has been input to the input character code storage unit 32 in advance (step A).
1, A2 → A4). In this case, since the code input of the character data “small printer” to be obtained as the free font data has been performed in step A3, it is determined (Yes) in step A4.

Then, 6 of “Small Printer” drawn on the original
In order to obtain each of the three character patterns as free fonts, when the apparatus main body 1 is read and scanned in the direction indicated by the arrow X corresponding to the position of the original written "Small Printer", the read surface of the original is While being illuminated, the image sensor 15 repeatedly performs the reading operation in accordance with the encoder pulse from the encoder 8, and the image data to be read "small printer" is sequentially read in the width direction M line by line in the width direction (step A5). . in this case,
The image data “small printer” read by the image sensor is read from the reading unit 8 via the binarization unit 24 to be white / white.
The data is converted into black binary digital data and sequentially written into the read data storage unit 35 as shown in FIG.

Then, stored in the read data storage unit 35 "small printer" is the character extraction section 37, first, fourth 1 character pattern "small" as shown in figure cut length m ₁ × cutout width n ₁
And converted into a font pattern of a predetermined character size (24 dots vertically × 20 dots horizontally) as shown in FIG. 5 by the dot matrix creating section 38 (step A6).
~ A8).

Figure 8 is a flow chart showing a conversion process of the dot matrix, i.e., cut width n ₁ is a predetermined vertical size of the cutout character "small" when (24 dots) greater than the difference (n ₁ -24) Is thinned by the extraction width (n ₁ ), the data component is thinned out for each column, and the vertical size of the font pattern is set to 24 dots (steps B1 and B2).

On the other hand, if the cut width n ₁ of the cut-out letters "small" is predetermined vertical size (24 dots) is smaller than a character pattern divided by each column in the difference (24-n ₁₎ the cut width (n ₁₎ " Create and insert pattern data corresponding to "Small" and set the vertical size of the font pattern to 24 dots (step B1 → B
3).

Thereafter, when the cut length m ₁ of the cut letter "small" is larger than the predetermined transverse size (20 dots), the difference (m ₁ -2
Data components are decimated for each line obtained by dividing (0) by the extraction length (m ₁ ), and the horizontal size of the font pattern is set to 20 dots (steps B4 and B5).

On the other hand, if the cut length m ₁ of the cut letter "small" is predetermined transverse size (20 dots) is smaller than the difference (20-m ₁₎
Divided by the extraction length (m ₁ )
Create and insert pattern data corresponding to the font pattern and set the horizontal size of the font pattern to 20 dots (step B4
→ B6).

In this way, when the dot matrix creation processing of the first cut-out character “small” is completed, the dot matrix data “small” defined by 24 × 20 dots is stored in step A1
Input character code storage unit by key input processing in ~ A3
Along with the character code corresponding to the character pattern "small" previously stored and held in the memory 32, it is sent to the free font data storage unit 39 and stored in association with each other as shown in FIG. 6 (steps A9 and A10).

Here, in the free font data storage unit 39, the first character "small" of the "small printer" drawn on the manuscript in advance is obtained as the free font data.

Thereafter, in steps A6 to A10, one character pattern cutout processing, cutout character dot matrix conversion processing (steps B1 to B6), and association processing between dot matrix data and their character codes are repeatedly executed. By doing so, the free font data “type” and “p” are sequentially stored in the free font data storage unit 39.
"Re" ... can be obtained.

When the user wants to print out the free font data "small printer" read as the image data as a print character pattern, first, the character input keys 4a, 4b,. Keypad the desired print character data "small printer". Then, the print character data input by the key is written and stored in the input character code storage unit 32 as character codes corresponding to the individual print character data “small”, “type”, “p”,.

Here, when the user operates the free font print key 7 in the key input section 2 to cause the apparatus main body 1 to print and scan on the print paper in the direction indicated by the arrow Y, the character code stored in the input character code storage section 32 is read. Corresponding font data is read from the free font data storage unit 39 in accordance with the output of the encoder pulse from the encoder 13, and is sequentially output to the thermal print head 16 of the printing unit 9 through the control unit 31. As a result, character string data that uses free font data as the print character font is transferred to the thermal print head.
From 16, the thermal transfer printing is sequentially performed on the printing paper via the ink ribbon 20.

Therefore, according to the manual word processor having the above configuration, the character data read as image data by the reading unit 8 is cut out character by character by the character cutout unit 37,
After the dot matrix conversion as font data by the dot matrix creation unit 38, the character data such as handwritten characters and printed characters are stored in the free font data storage unit 39 together with the corresponding character codes. It can be easily obtained.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to draw a predetermined character pattern on a predetermined sheet, and an arbitrary character pattern can be read as image data and used as a free font. Even if a character pattern of any size is read, a dot pattern of a character of the same size can be created, so that a word processor that can easily create dot patterns of a plurality of characters of the same size can be provided. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view showing the structure of a word processor according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the structure of an electronic circuit of the word processor, and FIG. 3 is data in a read data storage section of the word processor. FIG. 4 is a view showing a storage state, FIG. 4 is a view showing a cut-out state of read data by the word processor, FIG. 5 is a view showing a dot matrix conversion state of cut-out characters by the word processor, and FIG. 6 is free font data of the word processor. A diagram showing a data storage state in the storage unit,
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a free font data creation process by the word processor, and FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a dot matrix conversion process by the word processor. 1 ... device main body, 2 ... key input section, 3 ... display section, 4
a, 4b, ... character input key, 5 ... kanji conversion key, 6 ...
Free font input key 7, Free font print key 8, Print section 9, Printer section 10a, 10b Roller 11, Encoder disk 12a, 12b Slit, 13 Encoder, 14 …… LED, 15 …… Image sensor, 16 …… Thermal print head, 17 …… Ribbon take-up shaft, 18 …… Ribbon supply shaft, 19 …… Ink ribbon cassette, 20 …… Ink ribbon, 21,22 …… Gear 31, control unit 32, input character code storage unit 33, normal font data storage unit 34, binarization unit 35, read data storage unit 36, address control unit 37 …… Character cutout part, 38…
... dot matrix creation unit, 39 ... free font data storage unit.

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] A reading means for reading image data; a detecting means for detecting the number of vertical and horizontal dots of a read pattern from the image data read by the reading means; a number of vertical and horizontal dots detected by the detecting means. Discriminating means for discriminating whether each of them is larger or smaller than a predetermined number, and thinning out the dots when the discrimination means determines that the detected dot number is larger than the predetermined number. A dot pattern for performing a process, performing a dot insertion process when it is determined that the number is smaller than the predetermined number, and creating a dot pattern having the predetermined number of dots vertically and horizontally, respectively. Creating means, input means for inputting code data, and code data input by the input means and the dot pattern created by the dot pattern creating means. Storage means for storing the corresponding dot patterns in association with each other, and reading means for reading out the corresponding dot patterns stored in the storage means in accordance with the code data input by the input means. A word processor.