JP3087414B2 - Data output device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data output device capable of efficiently storing outline data of characters such as characters and symbols.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an apparatus for generating characters such as characters and symbols, there is an outline system using outline data of characters and symbols (hereinafter referred to as outline data). According to this method, outline data is read from a storage unit in accordance with an index code signal, scaled to an arbitrary point size, and converted into dot data.The converted data is output from an output device such as a laser printer. I was

In this method, outline data is stored only as straight line and curve data. For example, FIG.
The contour shape composed of horizontal and vertical lines as shown in FIG. 3A or FIG. 3C was stored as shown in FIG. 3B or FIG. 3D. Here, s is a flag indicating the start point of one closed loop, and the position of the subsequent x coordinate and y coordinate is set as the start point. l is a flag representing a straight line, and an x coordinate following the current position (referred to as a current point);
A straight line up to the y coordinate position is indicated. As described above, conventionally, it is necessary to store the x and y coordinate values of the end points of all the constituted straight lines in order to store the outline shape constituted by the horizontal line and the vertical line.

[0004]

However, when the outline font data is stored in the storage device by the above-mentioned method, there is a problem that a very large storage capacity is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has as its object to provide a data output device capable of storing outline font data with a small storage capacity.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a data conversion apparatus according to the present invention converts a data of a contour line of a character into information representing a distinction between a starting point, a straight line and a curve and a data group of coordinate value data. In addition, a combination of horizontal and vertical lines and
Data storage means for storing information indicating the order and information on the length and direction of the horizontal line or the vertical line in accordance with the order, and data restoration means for restoring the contour data stored in the data storage means. Have.

[0007]

According to the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, the data storage means is provided with a combination of a horizontal line and a vertical line for a portion where the outline of the character is composed of a horizontal line and a vertical line.
Then, the contour data is compressed and stored based on information designating the order and information on the length and direction of each horizontal or vertical line. The contour data compressed and stored in the data storage means is restored to several horizontal and vertical straight lines by the data restoration means.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In this embodiment, a case where the present invention is applied to a device for converting outline data into dot data in a laser printer will be described as an example.

FIG. 1 shows a control circuit of a laser printer.
It is a block diagram which mainly shows the part regarding data conversion. The microcomputer unit 10, which is a main component of the control circuit, includes a CPU 12, a character R serving as data storage means.
OM 14, program ROM 16, text memory 1
8, a working memory 20, and a dot data memory 22. The CPU 12 and the like are connected by a bus 26, and an input device 28 and a printing unit 3 are connected to the bus 26.
0 is connected. The input device 28 is for inputting necessary data to the microcomputer unit 10, and the printing unit 30 is a unit for printing by a laser printer device based on a command from the microcomputer unit 10.

As shown conceptually in FIG. 2, the CPU 12 has a data reading section 32 and a data restoration processing section 34 as data restoration means for restoring compressed outline data.
And an outline conversion unit 36 for converting outline data into dot data. The text memory 18 stores character data composed of code data input from the input device 28, and the working memory 20 temporarily stores data necessary for executing a program. Further, the dot data obtained by the outline conversion unit 36 is stored in the dot data memory 22, and the outline data such as compressed characters and symbols is stored in the character ROM 14.

The outline data of the character in the character ROM 14 of this embodiment is obtained by compressing the outline data with respect to the combination of the horizontal and vertical lines shown in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (d). . Each piece of data is made up of the following flags and associated coordinate value data.

The flags used in this embodiment are: s; start point (movement of the current point) l; straight line b; Bezier curve F (HVH); the outline is composed of horizontal, vertical and horizontal lines F (VHV); Consists of vertical lines, horizontal lines, and vertical lines *; 1 Closed loop completed! ; End of one character.

S, l, and b are conventional shape flags, and indicate what shape is generated starting from the current point. The coordinate value data is stored after the shape flag. s and l each store one byte each in the order of x coordinate and y coordinate, and b store one byte each in the order of x coordinate and y coordinate. (B is not shown).

* And! Are also conventional flags. They do not have coordinate value data.

F (HVH) and F (VHV) are shape flags for storing the contour data in a compressed form. F
After the (HVH) flag, information on the length and direction of each line is stored in the order of horizontal line; vertical line; horizontal line. Here, the direction follows the xy coordinate system shown in the figure. FIG. 4B shows compressed data of the contour shape shown in FIG. The coordinate value of the start point is (x0, y0), and the contour is defined counterclockwise from this point. That is, a horizontal line having a length of H1 in the negative direction; a vertical line having a length of V1 in the negative direction; and a horizontal line having a length of H2 in the positive direction (hereinafter, referred to as “H2”).
HVH shape). Similarly, after the F (VHV) flag, the length and direction of each line (hereinafter, referred to as VHV shape) are stored in the order of vertical line; horizontal line; vertical line.

For example, when the outline data of the character "A" in FIG. 5 is stored using this method, it is stored in the character ROM 14 as shown in FIG. However, the contour data of the outer loop is defined counterclockwise, and the contour data of the inner loop is defined clockwise.

Next, referring to FIG. 1 to FIG.
2 will be specifically described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

In step S1 (hereinafter abbreviated as S1; the same applies to other steps), a flag is read from the character ROM 14 of the outline font storage unit.

First, the end of one closed loop is checked in S2.
If the character ROM flag data is *, S2 is Y
It becomes ES and returns to S1 to read the next flag.

If NO in S2, the end of one character data is checked. Flag data! At this time, S3 becomes YES.

If NO in S3, the following data is shape data.

The processing from S4 to S8 is for restoring the compressed data.

First, in S4, it is determined whether or not the data is HVH-shaped data. When the flag is F (HVH), S4 becomes YES, and it is understood that the following data is HVH-shaped compressed data. In S5, the HVH-shaped compressed data is restored. The HVH shape is composed of a horizontal line; a vertical line; a horizontal line. Accordingly, in the case shown in FIG. 4A, first, a straight line from the current point (x0, y0) to the position (x1, y1) moved by −H1 in the horizontal direction is obtained, and then (x1, y1)
Position (x2, y2) shifted vertically by -V1 from 1)
To get a straight line. Finally, a straight line from (x2, y2) to the position (x3, y3) moved by H2 in the horizontal direction is obtained. FIG. 4C shows the restored shape data.

Similarly, in S6, it is determined whether or not the data is VHV shape data.
That is, it is determined whether or not the flag is F (VHV). S
If YES in step 6, it is determined that the following data is compressed VHV shape data, and restoration is performed in step S7. The VHV shape is composed of vertical lines; horizontal lines; and vertical lines. Therefore,
In the case shown in FIG. 4D, the current point (x0, y
Position (x1, y1) shifted vertically by -V1 from 0)
To (x1, y1), then H
A straight line up to the position (x2, y2) moved by one is obtained. Finally, a straight line is obtained from (x2, y2) to the position (x3, y3) shifted by V2 in the vertical direction. FIG. 4F shows the restored shape data.

The restored shape data and the number N (in this embodiment, the number of straight line data) of the restored shape data are stored in the working memory 20 in S8. The data determined to be NO in S6, that is, the uncompressed shape data is also stored in the working memory 20 together with N = 1.

In S9 to S14, the working memory 20
Is read out and the processing according to the shape data is performed.

First, a flag is read from the working memory 20 in S9.

In S10, it is determined whether or not it is the starting point. If the flag read from the working memory 20 is 's', S
12 is YES, and S11 to S12 are executed. S1
Numeral 1 reads the coordinate data of the starting point. The coordinate data of the starting point from the working memory 20 is 1 in the x and y directions.
Since it is a pair, it is two. In S12, transformation processing such as scaling, rotation, and italic transformation is performed on the coordinate data read in S11.

If NO is determined in S10, S13
Is used to determine whether the curve is a Bezier curve. If the flag read from the working memory 20 is 'b', the result is YES, and S14 to S16 are executed. In S14, the coordinate data of the Bezier curve is read from the working memory 20. The Bezier curve coordinate data is in the x direction and y
There are three pairs in the direction, so there are six. In S15, a deformation process is performed as in S12. In S16, B transformed in S15
The ezier curve data is developed into a short vector.

If NO is determined in S13, S17
Is used to determine whether the line is straight. If the flag read from the working memory 20 is “1”, the result is YES, and S18 to S19 are executed. In S18, the working memory 20
Reads the coordinate data of the straight line from. The straight line data is two since there is a pair in the x direction and the y direction. In S19, a deformation process is performed as in S12.

If NO in S17, a data error is determined and an error process is performed in S20, and the process ends.

In S21, the outline data processed in S10 to S19 is stored in the text memory 18. When n <N in S22, the processing from S9 is repeated. n represents the number of processes, N represents the working memory 2
This is the number of shape data stored in 0. N = N in S22
Is satisfied, the working memory 20 is cleared in S23, and the process returns to S1.

When it is determined in S3 that one-character data is completed, the outline data stored in the text memory 18 is converted into dot data in S24. The conversion into the dot data is performed using the pixel screen 52 shown in FIG. The pixel screen is a computational one for converting outline data into dot data, but is illustrated here as an actual one for easy understanding. Here, the pixel is a minimum printing unit when printing is performed by the laser, and the pixel screens 52 are orthogonal to each other within one plane, and are respectively parallel to the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction. , Pixels are defined by a plurality of pixel section lines p provided at equal intervals. In the present embodiment, the pixels are square, and dot data is generated for each pixel to determine whether to print or display.
In addition, an X-direction defining line x and a Y-direction defining line y which are parallel to the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction through an image passing through its center point (hereinafter referred to as a pixel center point) are set. The position of the pixel is represented by the coordinates of the pixel center point. Note that the pixels can be rectangular or other shapes.

The pixel screen 52 is supposed to correspond to the printing surface of the printing paper, but FIG. 9 shows only one character for easier understanding.
Therefore, the scale values actually assigned to the X direction defining line x and the Y direction defining line y in the entire pixel screen 52 are the scale values assigned to the X direction defining line x and the Y direction defining line y in FIG. And an appropriate integer value, respectively. However, here, only one character is considered. Conversion of outline data to dot data
This is performed assuming that the outline of the character is superimposed on the pixel screen 52. In this embodiment, dots are formed at each pixel within the outline of the character.
The bit data of the pixel is set to 1. The outline includes all or a part of one pixel. In the present embodiment, the pixel center point is included in the outline, but the bit data thereof is set to 1.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

For example, the present invention can be applied not only to a printer other than a laser printer but also to an apparatus which needs to convert outline data of characters such as characters and symbols into dot data in addition to a printer. Applicable.

In this embodiment, the shape to be compressed is a shape composed of a combination of three horizontal lines or vertical lines. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a combination shape of horizontal lines or vertical lines other than three is used. Is also applicable.

Further, in this embodiment, a set of linear data is used as a shape to be compressed. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other shapes including a curve can be applied.

[0040]

As is clear from the above description,
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a character / symbol storage device capable of storing outline font data with a small storage capacity.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a data conversion unit of a control circuit of a laser printer according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram conceptually showing the operation of a CPU.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing contour shape data according to a conventional method.

FIG. 4 shows compressed data and decompressed data having a shape composed of horizontal lines and vertical lines.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a contour shape of “sub”.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing data obtained by compressing “sub” data by the present method.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a data conversion unit.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a data conversion unit.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a pixel screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 CPU 18 Text memory 20 Working memory 32 Data readout unit 34 Data restoration processing unit 36 Outline conversion unit 52 Pixel screen

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI G06T 11/20 B41J 3/12 G (56) References JP-A-62-202274 (JP, A) JP-A-2-13994 ( JP, A) JP-A-1-166609 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G09G 5/24 B41J 2/485 G06F 3/12 G06K 9/48 G06T 5 / 00 G06T 11/20

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A data output device comprising a storage device for storing data of a character's outline as a data group of coordinate value data and information for identifying a starting point, a straight line, and a curve. combinations and its horizontal and vertical lines for special shapes of some of the lines data
Data storage means for storing information indicating the order and information on the length and direction of the horizontal line or the vertical line in accordance with the order, and data restoration means for restoring the contour data stored in the data storage means. A data output device.