JP2569489C - - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a brush character output device such as a Japanese word processor for continuously outputting characters in a brush typeface. [Prior Art] In recent years, it has become difficult to obtain a handwritten document by using a font having a pattern like a brush typeface (brush font) in a sense of deviating from the conventional output and printing functions using hard type fonts. Attempted. However, although there is a demand for an apparatus capable of smoothly connecting such brush fonts in a desired combination, it has not yet been realized. [Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Conventionally, in a device that can output a continuous character string by a line, a continuous character string font is stored in a memory from the beginning, and by extracting each character string font, Then, the continuous character string is developed on the output medium. Therefore, the number of character strings that can be used is proportional to the capacity of the memory, and only fixed character strings can be obtained as continuous character strings, and arbitrary characters cannot be combined. Also, in the case of brush typeface characters, since the thickness of each character is different, it is enormous to have the brush fonts linked in memory from the beginning, and it is conceivable that the letters of the brush typeface will be linked continuously. Not. An object of the present invention is to make it possible to output a plurality of characters in a brush typeface in a continuous manner. [Means for Solving the Problems] The means of the present invention are as follows. An apparatus for outputting a character font pattern of a brush typeface waiting for thickness, wherein the continuous cotton pattern generating means outputs a first character font pattern and a second character font pattern which are output adjacent to each other. A continuous pattern in which the thickness pattern at the end position of the first character font pattern is continuously connected to the thickness pattern at the start position of the second character font pattern is generated. The continuous pattern output unit outputs the continuous pattern generated by the continuous pattern generation unit as a query between the first character font pattern and the second character font pattern. [Operation] The operation of the means of the present invention is as follows. An apparatus for outputting a character font pattern in a cursive font having a thickness, and when outputting a first character font pattern and a second character font pattern output adjacent to each other, the first A continuous pattern generation unit generates a continuous pattern in which the thickness pattern at the end position of the character font pattern is continuously connected to the thickness pattern at the start position of the second character font pattern. Is output by the continuous pattern output means in response to the question of the first character font pattern and the second character font pattern. Therefore, it is possible to output a plurality of characters of different brush styles with different thicknesses in a continuous manner. [Expansion] Now, in FIG. 1, it is assumed that the access unit C has passed information of two character fonts extracted from the font data generation unit A to the continuous area generation unit D. On the other hand, the continuous area D extracts control parameters related to the received information from the control parameter generating means B. Then, a continuous area between two character fonts to be accessed is generated using the control parameters. In the case where the present invention is applied to continuous writing such as a brush typeface, the font data generating means A is a so-called dot font memory (a font set is formed by a set of dots) having the same pattern and form as the brush typeface finally output. (Defined memory) is preferred, but in general may be of other types. For example, a memory for storing a start point and an end point, means for drawing these questions by an appropriate drawing algorithm, a memory for storing a paint start position located in a drawn closed area, and a paint algorithm (painting program) based on a paint start position ), And a so-called vector font type font generation source including means for executing the painting in the closed area. The control parameter provided by the control parameter generation means B defines a parameter relating to continuous operation between characters. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the control parameter includes information for designating whether or not repetition between characters is performed. Do not create a continuous area between characters. More preferably, the availability information is programmable. For example, the user is allowed to freely set continuity information. In this way, the flexibility of the continuous cotton is improved. For example, when the present invention is applied to the writing of a brush, the continuous cotton can be terminated at a Japanese character desired by the user. Further, control coordinates (interpolation points) located in a continuous area between characters can be included in the control parameters. These control coordinates can be advantageously used as control points when the continuous area generating means D performs drawing or painting. In order to improve flexibility, it is more preferable to make the control coordinates programmable. Further, information on the maximum number of characters that can be continuously linked can be included in the control parameters. In this connection, a coefficient means is provided on the side of the continuous area generating means D, and the counting means is caused to count the number of generated continuous areas. When the counted value reaches the maximum number of consecutive characters, the next character is output. The creation of a continuous area is prohibited. By incorporating such a function in the application of the brush typeface to continuous output, it is possible to effectively avoid the problem that characters are too continuous and difficult to read. The maximum number of consecutive characters described above can also be made programmable. Further, a plurality of set continuous character numbers may be switched in accordance with the position on the character string at the time of continuous character creation. Furthermore, character end data can be included in the control parameters. The character end in this case refers to a portion of the character font (pattern) that is connected to the continuous area. Preferably, the character edge data is the width (image width) of the edge of the character of interest.
And its coordinates. Such information matches a part of the boundary line of the continuous area generated by the continuous area generation unit. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the control parameters are assigned on a character-by-character basis. In other words, it suffices if there are control parameters for the number of characters that can be generated by the font data generating means A. Therefore, in the case of <Hiragana>, it is sufficient to prepare at most several dozen sets of control parameters. Also, one per character
The method of assigning a set of control parameters also has the advantage of reducing the design load and simplifying the system configuration and processing. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the character sets to be used are grouped, and according to the relationship between characters belonging to a certain character type (group) and characters belonging to the same or another group, that is, corresponding to a combination of two character groups. , Control parameters (for example, control coordinates) may be assigned. Although the embodiments described below apply the present invention to a series of hiragana-style hiragana, the principle of the present invention is not limited to this, and the same applies to other types of hiragana, or obvious changes. Can be applied by adding Therefore, the meaning of the term "character" defined in claim 1 should be interpreted in the broadest sense, at least with any pattern that can be converted using the source code (for example,
Graphic symbols). Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. <Configuration> FIG. 2 shows the overall configuration of the embodiment. This embodiment has a function of printing with hiragana in a cursive style. 1 stores document data in a memory called a text memory or the like. Each character on the document data memory 1 is represented in a coded form (for example, JIS
code). Reference numeral 2 denotes a memory (cursive font data memory) for storing a hiragana font (pattern) of cursive font. Reference numeral 3 denotes a table memory for storing control parameters relating to continuous connection between characters.
In this embodiment, each set of control parameters is assigned to each cursive font. The details will be described later. Reference numeral 4 denotes a print control unit which operates in response to a print request for continuous characters given via an input device (for example, a keyboard) (not shown), and uses the document data 1, the cursive font data memory 2, and the continuous table 3 described above. The necessary information is set in the output character storage area (output buffer) 5 on a character-by-character basis, and the continuous
Start The basic function of the continuous character forming unit 6 is to generate a continuous part between two characters. Numeral 7 stores the maximum number of characters that can be continuously linked. The number of characters can be freely set by the user via the input device. Reference numeral 8 denotes a cubic spline calculation execution unit. A curve (cubic spline curve) passing through three control points is generated. Reference numeral 9 denotes a register (which functions as a counter) that stores the number of continuous characters generated, that is, the count value of the number of the generated continuous regions. This content is used for comparison with the maximum set number of continuous characters. Reference numeral 10 denotes a printing device such as a page printer, and reference numeral 11 denotes a printing medium (paper). Continuous Table (FIGS. 3A and 3B) FIG. 3A shows a configuration example of the continuous table 3 in FIG. Here, the following control parameters are stored for each character in the table. For convenience of explanation, 3B
Also refer to the figure. Information on the availability of continuous fonts: Information in the first column, consisting of bits indicating whether the corresponding character font can be transmitted to the next font. Start point: Specifies the coordinates of the start end of the first stroke of the corresponding character. End point: Defines the coordinates of the end of the last stroke of the corresponding character (see FIG. 3B). Interpolation: An internal point in the continuous area between the relevant character and the next character, which specifies one of three control points in the cubic spline calculation. It is also the starting point for painting when painting. First image line width: Indicates the width of the start end of the first image of the corresponding character. This can also be determined using two starting points (X ₁ , Y ₁ ) and (X ₂ , Y ₂ ). Final stroke width: Indicates the width of the end of the final stroke of the corresponding character font. This can be determined using the two end points (X ₃ , Y ₃ ) and (X ₄ , Y ₄ ). <Operation> Next, the operation of the embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. FIG. 5 shows a flow chart of the embodiment. After the setting of the range of the document to be printed and other necessary formats (for example, the setting of the number of characters that can be repeated), when a request for continuous draft printing is given, this flowchart is used. to go into. The following processing is repeatedly executed until the pointer reaches the end point indicating the completion of the processing (S3). When processing of a character that is not continuous with the previous character is started, the continuous counter 9 is initialized (S1). The pointer is advanced by two (S2), and the character information is extracted from the cursive font data memory 2 of the text example and the continuous table 3 for one character and stored in the character storage area after the buffer 5 (S4). The character is printed (S5). The pointer is reset by one (S6). It is checked whether the sentence is at the head (S7). If it is the head, the process returns to the first process (S1). If it is not the head, the process returns to the following process. The character information indicated by the pointer is set in the entire character storage area of the buffer 7 (S8). It is checked whether or not the content of the continuous counter 9 has exceeded the set number of characters. If it has exceeded, the process returns to the beginning (S1), and if not, the control bit of the preceding character checks whether or not the continuous character is valid. That is, it is determined whether or not the current character can be repeated as the previous character (S10). If repetition is not possible, the process returns to the beginning (S1). If repetition is possible, the following repetition portion generation and print processing are executed. According to the program of the cubic spline, drawing of the boundary of the continuous area and painting of the inside of the boundary are executed (S11). This processing will be described later in more detail with reference to FIG. The generated continuous area is printed (S12), the continuous counter 9 is incremented (S13), and thereafter, the process returns to the pointer update of S2 and repeats the processing. To briefly describe the processing according to the above flow chart, first take out the information for one character, print it out, take out the information of the previous character, and check whether the previous character and the succeeding character can be connected consecutively. And whether or not the set number of repetitions is exceeded is determined by comparing the contents of the repetition counter 9 and the setting register 7. Only when both conditions are satisfied, the related control is performed. A continuous area is generated using parameters, printed, and the process proceeds to the next character. Next, a process of generating a continuous area of a preceding character and a succeeding character will be described with reference to FIG. As described above, in the case of the present embodiment, the information on the points A, B, C, D, and one interpolation point I in FIG. 4 is given. Point A (X ₃ , Y ₃ ) and Point B (X
₄ , Y ₄ ) are the coordinates of the two corners at the end of the last stroke of the previous character, which are available at S8 in FIG. Similarly, at S8, information on the interpolation point I is also obtained. On the other hand, point C (X ₁ , Y ₁ ) and point D (X ₂ , Y ₂ ) are two corner coordinates of the first stroke of the first stroke of the succeeding character, and can be obtained at S 4 in FIG. ing. The supply source at the points A to D and I is the continuous table 3 (FIGS. 1 and 3A). The generation process of the continuous area is roughly divided into drawing of a boundary line (DRAW) and painting (PAINT) within a closed area partitioned by the boundary line. In this example, a cubic spline (a type of parametric cubic curve) is used as the boundary line drawing process. For example, drawing is performed in the following procedure. First, a point E on the left side of the interpolation point I (defining a central control point on the left spline curve) and a point F on the right side of the interpolation point I (defining a central control point on the right spline curve) Is obtained using the information of points A to D and point I which have already been given. For example, point E is obtained as follows. K is, for example, 4 (in this case, the thickness becomes almost the middle). E _y = I _y (the subscript y indicates the value of the y coordinate) Similarly, the point F is obtained as follows. With F _y = I _y or more, all control points necessary for drawing a spline curve, that is, A, E,
Three points of C and three points of B, F and D were determined. Therefore, a cubic spline curve (left boundary line) passing through these three control points A, E, and C is generated. Similarly, a cubic spline curve (right boundary) passing through these three control points B, F, and D is generated. This generation itself is a well-known technique. Thus, the drawing process is completed. At this stage, all the boundaries of the closed area of paint have been given. That is, from A, E, C, D, F, B
, A are developed on a suitable image buffer. The point I exists inside the closed curve. Therefore, a paint program is executed using the internal point I as a paint start point. As a result, the entire area surrounded by the closed curve is painted. This area is a continuous area of the preceding character and the succeeding character. By printing this through the printing device 10, a continuous portion of the preceding character and the succeeding character is printed. <Modifications> The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications and changes can be easily realized. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the reason for setting the number of repetitions, determining whether repetition is possible, and counting the number of repetitions is mainly to maintain legibility of a cursive document (reading all reduces the readability). However, other variations are easily conceivable in consideration of flexibility, user preferences, and the like. For example, horizontal writing as well as vertical writing can be performed. For this purpose, a continuous writing table for horizontal writing is required (a part of the information may be shared with the continuous writing table for vertical writing). The interpolation point may be moved in accordance with the pitch between characters. This is for example
By scaling the reference interpolation point (by multiplying it by the pitch factor)
Alternatively, it can be easily realized by selecting one of a plurality of setting inquiry points. As a printing device, in addition to a page printer having a graphic function, a dot printer can also be used (by generating interpolated image data between characters on the main body and transferring it to the printer). In connection with the end of the continuation, a font of a font different from the continuation typeface may be used for the continuation character. Any other curve generation program other than the cubic spline can be used for drawing the continuous portion. (For example, Hermite, Heje
zier)). If you want more bends, you may use a polynomial of degree 4 or higher. Further, a "hole" area may be provided in the continuous area, and the area may be blurred and printed. This can be done, for example, by creating a continuous area with paint, and then executing a program of "blurring" such as soft focus (to give a touch of a brush). Further, in the above embodiment, the interpolation point is constituted by the coordinate data assigned to the preceding character of the two consecutive characters, but the interpolation point is determined by the combination of the selected two characters (consecutively output). It may be given depending on. As a result, optimization of continuous yarn can be achieved. It is also conceivable to devise character end data. For example, when performing continuous use, the character end data for continuous use and the image data (font) for continuous use are used, and the image data is connected to the end of the character font (in a pattern that can be matched), and this character end data is used. Draw and paint. This method seems to be particularly suitable for kanji. [Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, when outputting a continuous pattern in which a first character font and a second character font of a brush typeface having a different thickness are output, the first character font is output from the first character font. Since a continuous pattern with a thickness that is continuously connected to the second character font is output, each character font with a different thickness, such as a character font of a brush typeface, can be smoothly combined using its thickness. Output can be optimally performed as continuous output in a character font of a brush typeface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of one embodiment, FIG. 3A is a diagram showing a configuration example of the continuous table of FIG. 2, and FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a continuous control parameter in a continuous table, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a continuous portion generation, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart of continuous character creation in the embodiment. 2 ... cursive font data memory, 3 ... continuous table, 4 ... print control unit,
6 ... a continuous-figure-shaped forming unit, 8 ... a cubic spline calculating unit.

Claims (1)

An apparatus for outputting a character font pattern of the brush typeface with All Claims thickness, outputs a first character and a character font pattern of the predetermined brush typeface for the second character adjacent to each other Character font pattern output means, and a character font pattern output by the character font pattern output means .
The a stroke end position by two coordinate points of the character font pattern of the first character, based on the Shihitsu position by two coordinate points of the character font pattern of the second character, the first character of the character font pattern end of Draw two continuous curves connecting the brush position and the starting position of the character font pattern of the second character, and use the two continuous curves as boundaries to form a closed region sandwiched between the two boundaries. On the other hand, by performing the fill drawing, the thickness pattern at the end position of the character font pattern of the first character is continuously connected to the thickness pattern at the start position of the character font pattern of the second character. A brush character output device, comprising: a continuous cotton pattern output unit that outputs a continuous cotton pattern.