JP2985275B2 - Character generation method of outline font - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital character generation method necessary for outputting characters from a computer onto paper or a display, and particularly to a free size with a small amount of data. The present invention relates to a method of generating a character called an outline font capable of outputting a character.

[Conventional technology]

As a digital character generation method, a so-called bitmap font, which has 1,0 bit strings corresponding to black and white of pixels constituting the character as data and outputs the data as it is, is most often used. In order to output this character, separate data is required for each size, and the load on the memory is large. Therefore, instead of the bitmap font, the coordinates of the representative point on the outline of the character are used as data, and the data is multiplied by a coefficient determined by the size of the character to be output. After that, a method called an outline font that obtains data corresponding to a bitmap font by filling an enclosed area is sometimes used.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

According to the outline font, it is not necessary to have data for each size of the character to be output, but since the relative positional relationship between the representative points on the outline is fixed, change the thickness of the lines constituting the character. It is necessary to prepare separately designed data for characters having different thicknesses and output using this data. Therefore, it is not only burdensome to assign characters of different thicknesses to all characters, but also to the memory since the amount of data is large.

Therefore, the present invention is to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to generate characters having different line thicknesses from one type of character data.

[Means for solving the problem]

In the outline font character generation method of the present invention, the coordinates of a representative point on a character outline are stored, a character outline is obtained by performing an interpolation calculation based on the coordinate data of the representative point, and the character outline is surrounded by the character outline as necessary. In a character generation method of an outline font in which a character is generated by filling a designated area, a movable direction and a movement ratio of the representative point are stored in pairs with the coordinate value data of the representative point, and a line constituting the designated character is stored. The character contour is obtained by interpolation calculation based on the coordinate value data of the representative point located after the representative point is moved in the movable direction by an amount corresponding to the movement ratio in addition to the width information.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, details of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First
The figure shows movable direction data in the first embodiment of the present invention. The number in front of the arrow schematically indicates in which direction the number indicates movement. That is, what is actually stored in the apparatus is only these numbers.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a data arrangement according to the present invention.
This is obtained by adding the movable direction data defined as shown in FIG. 1 to the coordinate data required to generate an outline font. One point is represented by four data in one line, and the first symbol of Alfovet is a flag for distinguishing whether to connect with a straight line or a curve when interpolating between points. is there. For example, S represents the first point of a character, L represents a straight line, C represents a curve, and T represents a boundary between a straight line and a curve. The next two numbers are the values of the x coordinate and the y coordinate, respectively. The last number is the movable direction data whose meaning is defined in FIG. A set of such four types of data is stored as many as the number of representative points on the outline of a character, and a character is generated by interpolating between points from these coordinates. Before performing the interpolation calculation, a certain numerical value is added to or subtracted from the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate while considering the movable direction data. When it is desired to increase the thickness of the vertical line of the character, it can be realized by moving the position of the representative point to the left or right. Therefore, the slip value to which the data of 1, 2, and 8 is added as the movable direction data is x For the coordinate values to which the coordinates are increased and to which the data of 4, 5 and 6 are added, the x-coordinate is reduced and then the interpolation calculation is performed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which the outline of the character is changed by the movement in the x direction. A dotted line indicates a contour generated by interpolation at the original position of the representative point, and a solid line indicates a contour generated by interpolating after moving the position of the representative point using the means of the present invention. The representative points 15 and 16 in FIG. 2 are the points 15a and 16a represented by triangles in FIG.
The points which moved this are 15b and 16b, respectively. In this case, the respective representative points 11, 12, 13, and 14 in FIG. 2 are not affected by the movement of the x coordinate because the movable direction data are 3 and 7, and are not affected by the movement of the x coordinate. , Not moving as represented by 14a.

Next, the case where the horizontal line of the character is to be thickened will be described.
As shown in the figure, the representative point whose movable direction data is 2, 3, and 4 increases the y coordinate, and the representative point whose movable direction data is 6, 7, and 8 decreases the y coordinate, thereby moving the position of the point. I do. In this embodiment, the origin of the coordinates is set at the lower left of the character, the right direction is the positive direction of x, and the upward direction is the positive direction of y. As a result, points 11a and 12a in FIG. 4 move downward to become 11b and 12b, respectively, and points 13a and 14a move upward to become 13b and 14b, respectively. At this time, the points 15a and 16a are not affected by the movement in the y direction since the movable data is 1.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the arrangement of data in the second embodiment of the present invention. In addition to the data in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the amount of movement of each representative point can be determined in advance. It is given as a ratio to the amount Ie 17,
The points 18, 19 and 20 indicate that when moving, they move by 80% of the predetermined amount of movement, 21 means 60%, 22 means 70%, and 23 means that they move by the predetermined amount. ing. Thus, not only the moving direction but also the moving amount is set for each representative point, so that characters having different thicknesses can be generated even in the same vertical line and horizontal line in the character.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, since there is no need to prepare separate data for generating characters having different thicknesses, and it is possible to simplify the calculation for moving the representative point, a variety of data can be obtained with a small amount of data. This has the effect that characters can be generated at high speed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing definitions of movable direction data used in the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a part of the arrangement of character generation data in the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a contour generated as a result of the lateral movement of the representative point in the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an outline generated as a result of vertical movement of a representative point in the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram in which a part of the arrangement of character generating data according to the second embodiment of the present invention is extracted.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. The coordinates of a representative point on a character outline are stored, a character outline is obtained by performing an interpolation calculation based on the coordinate data of the representative point, and an area surrounded by the character outline is filled as necessary. In a character generation method of an outline font for generating a character, a movable direction and a moving ratio of the representative point are stored in combination with coordinate value data of the representative point, and the moving ratio is stored in line width information constituting a designated character. Wherein the character outline is determined by interpolation calculation based on the coordinate value data of the representative point located after the representative point is moved in the movable direction in consideration of the following.