JP3206029B2 - Character display apparatus and method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus (personal computer,
A word display, etc.).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For character display means such as a personal computer and a word processor, the shape of a character is expressed as follows.
Means has been used in which the data sequence is represented by a data sequence of pixels created according to the resolution of the display device, and this data sequence is displayed on the display device.

In recent years, outline fonts developed mainly for use in printing apparatuses are sometimes used in display apparatuses. The outline font is to display the shape of the character's outer shape with a predetermined curve, have the coefficient term of this curve equation as a data string, calculate the outer shape by actual calculation at the time of display, fill in the interior , A character group using a means for creating a character shape. When trying to match the image of the display device with the output result of the printing device as much as possible except for the resolution of each device, it is considered desirable to use an outline font on the display device as well. There are information devices that use outline fonts even when displayed on a screen.

[0004]

However, the outline font has a problem that it takes a long time to be displayed because the outline font has a large amount of calculation at the display stage. Also, using an outline font for printing and using a dot font for display on a screen causes a mismatch between the displayed and printed ones, and there is a problem that the device is not easy to use for the user. .

The present invention has been devised in order to solve such problems of the prior art, and minimizes the waiting time from the user's character input to the actual character display, and also displays the characters. It is an object of the present invention to provide a character display device and a method thereof , in which characters are beautiful and similar to printed characters.

[0006]

A character display device according to the present invention is a character display device for displaying a character on a display means in response to a display request, wherein a character shape to be displayed is obtained by calculation. Outline font generating means for creating and outputting data representing the shape of the character to be displayed, and data representing the shape of the character to be displayed from a plurality of data prepared in advance, each representing the shape of the character. Selecting one of the dot font generating means for selecting and outputting, and one of the outline font generating means and the dot font generating means, and transmitting the display request to the display means based on the data output from the selected generating means. And selecting means for displaying a character having a mark, wherein the selecting means comprises:
When displaying the character for which the display request has been made, after displaying the character on the display unit in accordance with the data output from the dot font generation unit, the character display according to the data from the dot font generation unit is performed. Instead to,
A selection of the outline font generation unit and the dot font generation unit is switched so that characters are displayed on the display unit in accordance with data output from the outline font generation unit. Further, in such a character display device, when the display screen of the display means is scrolling, the selection means selects the dot font generation means, and thereafter, after the scrolling is stopped, the outline is displayed. It is preferable to select a font generation means. Further, when the character requested to be displayed is subject to the Kana-Kanji conversion process, the selecting means sets the dot font when the character requested to be displayed is not determined by the Kana-Kanji conversion process. It is preferable to select a generating means, and then select the outline font generating means after the character requested for display is determined by the kana-kanji conversion process. Further, when the display request includes a display request of a character smaller than a predetermined size,
It is preferable that the outline font generation unit does not create the data for characters to be displayed, and the selection unit selects only the dot font generation unit. The character display method of the present invention
A character display method for Ru display the characters on an output device, (a) prepared in advance, respectively, from a plurality of data representing the character shape, the characters, to be displayed according to the display request shape select data representing, on the output device, before
A step of displaying characters according to the serial selection data in response to the display request (b), and obtained by calculating the contour of the character to be displayed, to create the data representing the character shape to be displayed, wherein the step (a And c) causing the output device to display characters in accordance with the creation data , instead of displaying characters in accordance with the selection data according to (ii).

[0007]

According to the present invention , characters requested to be displayed are displayed.
A plurality of characters, each representing a character shape, prepared in advance.
Data representing the shape of the character to be displayed
Select to display characters according to the selected data.
So-called dot font display and according to display requirements
To calculate the outline of the character to be displayed and display it.
Create data that represents the shape of the power character, and create the data
So-called outline font
First, dot font display was performed.
Later, instead of the dot font display, outline
The font is displayed.

[0008] Therefore, according to the present invention, a character display request <br/>, the waiting time until the actual characters displayed on the shortest, together
The displayed characters are beautiful and similar to printed characters.
Can Unisuru.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments. FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an input device for sending information input by a key from a keyboard to a font display device 5. Reference numeral 2 denotes a switching device including software or a dedicated IC. Switching device 2
When the display state of the output device 6 is scrolling, the dot font data is output by switching to the dot font generation device 4 side. Next, when scrolling is stopped, switching to the outline font generation device 3 is performed, and outline font data is calculated and displayed. In addition, when the kana-kanji conversion is performed, the switching device 2 operates the dot font generation device 4 as long as the requested character is not determined, and switches to the outline font generation device 3 as soon as the character is determined. After passing through the switching device 2,
The data generated by the outline font generation device 3 or the dot font generation device 4 is immediately displayed on an output device 6 such as a CRT or a liquid crystal display by a font display device 5 composed of software or a dedicated IC.

The display process will be further described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 5A, reference numeral 7 denotes a display device, which is currently displaying a series of sentences. As soon as the font display device 5 receives a character display request, the font display device 5 requests the display character data from the font generation device. At this time, the font display device 5 is not directly connected to the font generation device, but is connected to the outline font generation device 3 or the dot font generation device 4 by the switching device 2. In the initial state, the switching device 2 selects and connects the dot font generation device 4. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 5, when a request is input to the font display device 5 to display characters on the display device 7, first, display using a dot font is performed. At this time, when the portion of the rectangle 8 is enlarged, a character having a step with a contour indicated by the rectangle 9 is displayed as shown in FIG. 5B. Next, when the calculation of the outline font is completed, the outline font generation device 3
However, this is transmitted to the font display device 5, and the font display device 5 operates again to display a font like a rectangle 10 shown in FIG. The font shown by the rectangle 10 has a smooth outline within the range of the resolution of the display device because the outer shape is obtained by calculating the curve.

2 and 3, the switching device 2 of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to flowcharts.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment when the user executes scrolling. First, it is determined whether or not scrolling is in progress (1). If scrolling is in progress, the font data is read out using the dot font generator (4), and dot font display is performed (5). . At the time when the scrolling is stopped, it is checked whether the calculation of the data for displaying the outline font is completed (2). If the calculation is not completed, the dot font is displayed again to confirm the end. When it is completed, an outline font creation device is selected (3).

Next, FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the operation of the embodiment when the kana-kanji conversion is performed at the time of word processing input. This time, when the user performs Kana-Kanji conversion,
Check if the converted character is determined to be the required character (1). If not, immediately select the use of dot font (4). (2), (3) and (5). In the case where there is no character conversion such as inputting an English sentence, the process of Yes in step (1) of FIG. 3 is performed.

Next, an embodiment focusing on the size of characters in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1, 5,
Numeral 6 corresponds to that of the same number shown in FIG. By the way, in the outline generation device 3 in the figure, the characters are smaller than a certain size (in this embodiment, 9 points, ie, 9
/ 72 inch), an operation for immediately switching from the outline font generation device 3 to the dot font generation device 4 is added. Then, since the calculation of the dot font with a small calculation amount is performed without calculating the outline font, the time until display can be reduced.
For a character of such a size, even if a dot font is used, the difference between the character and the outline font is extremely small, so that the difference between the two characters is not visually noticeable.

In this embodiment, both the outline font generator 3 and the dot font generator 4 are realized by software. That is, the font generation program was executed by a 16-bit microprocessor having data required for font generation on a ROM and operating at an operation clock cycle of 8 MHz. At this time, font generation could be performed at an average of 100 characters / second for a dot font, and font generation could be performed at an average of about 10 characters / second for an outline font. At this speed, if a user who is proficient in inputting characters from the keyboard inputs characters continuously,
There is a slight delay from actual character input to outline font generation. However, in the device of the present embodiment, the dot font is generated and displayed immediately after the key input, so that the user does not feel delay,
You can continue typing. In addition, as soon as the calculation is completed, the outline font will be replaced with the dot font that was displayed up to that point, so at the time of checking the input characters, most of the displayed characters have been replaced with outline fonts. And the display on the display device is the same except for the difference in resolution.

[0016]

As is apparent from the above embodiments, according to the character display apparatus and method of the present invention, even when a user who is skilled in character input from a keyboard performs continuous key input, Since the dot font is displayed immediately after the input, the work can be continued without feeling delay.

In recent printing apparatuses, printing using an outline font is generally performed. However, when a display font is a dot font, the character quality at the time of printing is different. For this reason, particularly, the enlarged characters and the like often differ from the image at the time of display. On the other hand, when the outline font is used for the display device, there is no disagreement between the display characters and the print characters, but there is a complaint that the display speed is slow. The present invention can be said to solve both of these problems.

Further, in the present invention, like a scroll,
When character quality is not so important, only dot fonts are used to achieve fast response. Taking into account the fact that the ability to decompose vision when recognizing a moving object is degraded, it is more realistic to place emphasis on realizing comfortable responsiveness, and the present invention also realizes this point. I have.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram related to display processing of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the switching device 2 in FIG. 1 during scrolling.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart at the time of word processing input.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment focusing on the size of characters.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of character display.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Input device 2 Switching device 3 Outline font generation device 4 Dot font generation device 5 Font display device 6 Output device

Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G09G 5/00-5/40

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A character display device for displaying a character on a display means in response to a display request, wherein a shape of the character to be displayed is generated by calculating an outer shape of the character to be displayed. An outline font generating means for outputting the data, and a dot font generating means for selecting and outputting data representing a character shape to be displayed from a plurality of data prepared in advance, each representing a character shape, Selecting one of the outline font generating means and the dot font generating means, and displaying the character requested to be displayed on the display means based on data output from the selected generating means. The selecting means, when displaying the character requested to be displayed, according to the data output from the dot font generating means, After displaying the character on the indicating means, instead of displaying the character according to the data from the dot font generating means, displaying the character on the display means according to the data output from the outline font generating means, A character display device wherein selection between an outline font generation unit and a dot font generation unit is switched. 2. The character display device according to claim 1, wherein the selection unit selects the dot font generation unit when a display screen of the display unit is scrolling, and thereafter the scrolling is performed. A character display device wherein the outline font generating means is selected after stopping. 3. The character display device according to claim 1, wherein, if the character requested to be displayed is subjected to a Kana-Kanji conversion process, the selecting means determines that the character requested to be displayed is the Kana-Kanji character. When the character is not determined by the conversion processing, the dot font generating means is selected, and then, after the character requested for display is determined by the kana-kanji conversion processing, the outline font generating means is selected. Character display device. 4. The character display device according to claim 1, wherein, when the display request includes a display request of a character smaller than a predetermined size, the outline font generation unit determines the character to be displayed for the character to be displayed. A character display device, wherein the selection means selects only the dot font generation means without creating data. 5. A character is displayed on an output device according to a display request.
A character display method for Ru is, were prepared in advance (a), respectively, from a plurality of data representing the character shape, in response to the display request, and select the data representing the character shape to be displayed And the output device
A step of displaying characters according to the serial selection data in response to the display request (b), and obtained by calculating the contour of the character to be displayed, to create the data representing the character shape to be displayed, wherein the step (a C) causing the output device to display characters according to the created data , instead of displaying characters according to the selection data according to the above).