JP3268160B2 - Character pattern generator - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a character pattern generator which can be used in a Japanese word processor, a personal computer, a laser printer, a digital copying machine, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The following methods and apparatuses have been proposed as conventional character pattern generating apparatuses. JP-A-3-184
No. 088 discloses a character pattern generation method having a skeleton line passing through the center of the character and a local contour, and synthesizing the character from a plurality of basic elements (parts). Each part is described so that it can be enlarged vertically and horizontally, but when the enlargement ratio of the height and width is different, the vertical line and the horizontal line are fine,
The oblique lines have different line widths as shown in FIG. For example, the difference in coordinates between two points is 10 dots in the X direction and 10 dots in the Y direction.
If the reference data of the dot is extended twice in the X direction, it becomes 20 dots in the X direction and 10 dots in the Y direction, and the original inclination of 45 degrees becomes tan ^-1 (1/2) = 26.6 degrees. Therefore, the line width is cos (45−26.6) = 0.95,
That is, it shrinks by 5%.

In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-234559 discloses a pattern deformation method in which a character is deformed (the shape of the tip is changed) in accordance with a character parameter. With this method, you can transform from square Gothic to round Gothic, and it looks as if you changed the font, but if you reduce the font size, you can change the skeleton to make it easier to see, and if you increase the font size, make the line width thicker You can't make it look good even if you use it for banners.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-132595 discloses that when a character is made smaller, the reduction ratio of the blank portion of the character is made smaller than the reduction ratio of the character, and the blank portion is made relatively large, and the character is collapsed. It describes a method for creating a reduced outline font that suppresses the problem. With this method, it is possible to suppress the collapse of a printer that causes bleeding such as a thermal printer. However, to make the blank space larger,
For characters such as "mouth", the line width of the character is thin, and for characters such as "end", the line width does not change, and the character width varies.

[0005] Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-61451 discloses that
A character output device that changes the decoration called "scale" such as Mincho when developing small characters from a normal decoration to a simple decoration, and performs high-speed output and suppresses variation is described. . In this apparatus, the shape of the decorative part is stored in the form of a characteristic parameter, and is changed according to the output size. In this case, only the shape of the tip portion is changed, and it is not possible to cope with the entire skeleton and shape.

[0006] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H4-10000 discloses that
An outline font output device which expands a character size larger than a certain size by expanding the thickness is described. For large characters such as banners, the line width is thick and easy to see,
Good balance is required. One way to solve this problem is to make the characters thicker, but it is necessary to have line thickness information for all the lines, and it is not possible to change the design of the skeleton to give it strength.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-35483 discloses a character pattern generation method for preventing a line from being hit or a line interval from being too empty when changing the thickness of a character. I have. This is only when the thickness of the character is changed, and cannot be dealt with by changing the size of the character.

FIG. 16 shows a conventional character part (basic element).
It is a chemical example. If the coordinates of the reference data are simply scaled up, down, left and right, the line width of the line that originally had a constant thickness changes. FIG. 15A shows reference data. FIG. 15B is shrunk left and right, FIG. 15C is shrunk up and down,
FIG. 15D shows an example in which the image is shrunk both vertically and horizontally. When a plurality of parts are combined, the inconsistency in the line width cannot be obtained, which is not practical for a character.

FIGS. 17 (a) to 17 (c) show an example in which the size is changed for parts of "day". Since the line width changes, there is a problem when it is combined with other parts. FIGS. 17 (d) to 17 (f) are examples in which “day”, “chang”, and “crystal” are created by simply enlarging or reducing the parts of “day”. Both the vertical and horizontal lines have different line widths depending on the characters. 17 (g) to 17 (i) show the original “day”,
These are the characters "chang" and "crystal". The thickness of the line is constant even if the size of the part "day" changes.

[0010]

When the character line is curved and complicated when the character size is small, the thickness of the line width may vary when dots are formed as shown in FIG. By replacing the occurrence of crushing with linear parts having a different design, the line widths when dots are formed as shown in FIG. By doing so, the processing speed is also improved.

[0011] In addition, when a character looks poor at a large character size, it is made strong by replacing the part with a different weight (thickness). In Mincho, etc., the thickness of the vertical and horizontal lines is constant regardless of the length of the line. Even if the part is enlarged or reduced, the line width is kept constant and the line width is made uniform with other lines, thereby maintaining the balance as a typeface.

[0012]

The character pattern generator according to the present invention has the following means to solve the above-mentioned problems. Means for holding characters by using a font expansion device that holds characters as vector data such as outlines and develops the dots from the vector data into a plurality of reference data, constructs them into characters by combining reference data, and holds the data Means for arranging the reference data at a predetermined position and enlarging / reducing in the X and Y directions so as to have a size suitable for the character; It is characterized in that a plurality of reference data having different shapes and designs are properly used according to the size of the character.

Further, in a font developing device which has a character as vector data such as an outline and develops the vector data into dots, the font developing device decomposes the sidelines and the like into a plurality of reference data, and forms them into characters by combining the reference data. Means for holding the data, means for arranging the reference data at a predetermined position, and means for enlarging / reducing in the X and Y directions so as to have a size suitable for the character, and means for checking the character size to be developed. The present invention is characterized in that a plurality of pieces of reference data having different weights are selectively used in accordance with the size of a character to be developed even with the same character.

Further, in a font developing device which has a character as vector data such as an outline and develops the dot from the vector data, the side by side is decomposed into a plurality of reference data, and the side by side is formed into a character by combining the reference data. means for holding the data, the reference data arranged in a predetermined position, and means for enlarging / reducing the X, Y direction in order to size was in the character, the sentence
When the character is enlarged or reduced in the X and Y directions
It is characterized in that formed in combination with the reference data that is not enlarged or reduced and expanded or reduced to reference data.

[0015]

[0016]

[0017]

The character pattern generating device of the present invention has the following effects by having the above configuration. By replacing the parts with linear design when the font size is small, the line width becomes constant. The characters are easy to see. Originally, straight parts do not need to be changed, so there is no useless data.

Further, by using a means for checking the size to be developed, by replacing a large character with a component having a large weight (thick) when the character size is large, the character becomes thick and powerful when printing a banner or the like. Parts that do not need to be thicker do not need to be changed, so that there is no useless data. Also, at the time of enlargement or reduction, by not multiplying only a specific part of the part, the line width is made constant and the line width is made uniform with other lines, thereby maintaining the balance as a typeface.

[0019]

[0020]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram showing a configuration of a character pattern generator according to the present invention. An input device 1 including a full key for input and a print key for specifying printing, a display device 2 such as a CRT, a printing device 3 such as a laser printer, a storage device 4 such as an FD, and tangents and normals of contour lines are obtained. Calculating means, straight line complementing means for tangentially complementing when a corner is separated, crushing checking means for checking whether whiteness is crushed, thickness mode flag for retaining thickening method, linear approximation of Bezier curve Bezier developing means, linear developing means for dropping a straight line into each dot, area calculating means for obtaining a black painted area, painting means for filling an outline, centroid calculating means for obtaining a center of gravity, inclusion relation checking means for checking an inclusion relation There is an outline font device 5 including an outline font data corresponding to a character code and an expansion buffer for expanding a font. 6
Is a CPU for calculating these.

FIG. 2 shows an example of outline font data. Clockwise paints the closed middle side. In the counterclockwise direction, the closed middle side is outlined. Clockwise and counterclockwise may be reversed. A straight line and a cubic Bezier curve will be described as examples of the line. Secondary curves, cubic splines, arcs, and the like are also used as the outline font curves.

The Bezier curve, spline curve and the like refer to the following curves.

Quadratic Bezier curve: A curve defined by a start point, a control point, and an end point. A straight line from the start point to the control point is a tangent at the start point, and a straight line from the end point to the control point is a tangent at the end point.

Also, a cubic Bezier curve: a curve defined by a starting point, a control point 1, a control point 2, and an end point, wherein a straight line from the start point to the control point 1 is a tangent at the start point from the end point to the control point 2. The straight line is the tangent at the end point.

P = P ₀ (1-t) ³ + 3P ₁ t (1-t) ² + 3P ₂
t ² (1−t) + P ₃ t ³

Here, P coordinates on the Bezier curve P ₀ coordinates of the starting point P ₁ coordinates of the control point 1 P ₂ coordinates of the control point 1 P ₃ coordinates of the ending point t parameter 0 ≦ t ≦ 1 Spline curve: P = a + bt + ct It is represented by ² + dt ³ .

However, if a, b, c, and d are intervals of the constant t-line between them, and the lower left is a reference point, the coordinate data of FIG. 2 has the data format of FIG. The thick solid line in FIG. 2 indicates the outer circumference of the line, and the double line indicates the inner circumference of the line. Levels are 1, 2, and 3 from the outermost line. In the case of the character "day" shown in FIG. 2A, the outer line is level 1 and the two inner lines are level 2. In the case of the character "time" shown in FIG. 2B, the outer circumference of the outer "mouth" is level 1, the inner circumference is level 2, the outer circumference of the middle "mouth" is level 3, and the inner circumference is level 4. Since this level can be checked at the time of development, it need not be held as data.

The data is the number of lines for each code and the number of coordinates of one contour line. The outer and inner turns are determined by the direction in which the coordinates move, clockwise or counterclockwise. For example, the coordinates (1, 1) (1, 14) (1
The (4,14) (14,1) is the four (4,14) from the (1,1) of the X, Y coordinates through the (1,14) (14,14) (14,1) to the original (1,1). Means to draw two straight lines.
If the information is stored and stored in ascending order of level from the beginning as in this example, the inclusion relation can be easily checked.

FIGS. 4 (a) to 4 (c) show an example in which dots are actually painted in an outline font. When a line is developed and dropped to coordinates, rounding or the like is performed as shown in FIG. 4 (c). Determine the coordinates of the boundary by the method.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the first embodiment. FIG. 5 (a)
Character of "" and "" in FIG. 5 (b) and FIG. 5 (c).
The parts of the same character are different from those of the character. In the case of a small character, a character that is linear and has a large portion has a uniform line width, a gap between adjacent lines is lost, and there is little occurrence of collapse, and the character can be developed at high speed.

FIG. 6 shows an example of each part according to claim 1. FIG. 6 (a) is a point on the "side", and FIG. 6 (b).
Is a right part below the “kata”, and FIG. 6 (c) is a partial example of a lower left-paying part. The upper part of each figure is the part used for normal characters. It is curved and smooth, and looks beautiful even when enlarged. The lower part of each figure is a part used for small characters. Since the linear portion is enlarged, the variation in the number of dots when one line becomes a dot is small. In this case, there is no need to have two types of all data, and the data can be expanded by separately designating only the part to be changed. In this example of “one”, both horizontal bars are common.

FIG. 8 shows an example of parts of the present invention.
8D from the part of FIG. 8A and the part of FIG. 8B, and the “push” of FIG. 8C from the part of FIG. 8C and the part of FIG. A cape is made. By forming the components in this way, each character can be reproduced simply by having the type of the component, the position where the component is placed, and the size thereof, so that the component data becomes very compact.

FIG. 9 shows an example of actual enlargement / reduction of a part.
The reference data of the character “day” in FIG. 9A is enlarged or reduced as shown in FIG. 9B, and the data is developed at the original component position as shown in FIG. 9C.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a data structure according to the present invention. There is an index as shown in FIG. 10 (a) in the order of JIS code, and FIG.
The data of the character is stored as shown in FIG. The data of this character includes the number of parts and the part number as follows. And the position where the part is developed (two points such as upper left and lower right may be designated, or one point such as the left end and an enlargement ratio from the reference data may be stored). Also, the part number of the part data is The table stores standard parts, small-sized parts, and large-sized parts for each part. Naturally, there are parts having only small parts and parts having only large parts without large parts. In addition, there are components without only small-sized components and components without only large-sized components. The component data stores information on character size and size. For example, (small 32) means that it is used when developing 32 dots or less. (Large 128) means that it is used when developing 128 dots or more. Data Number of parts 4 Part No. 3 Coordinates of development position (120, 250) (130, 240) (upper left, lower right) 1 Deployment position (10, 240) (250, 230) Part No. 4 Deployment position. (20, 230) (130, 10) Part No. 5 Deployment position (120, 230) (200, 10) Part data Part No. 1-Standard-(Small 32) 32 dots or less-(Large 128) 128 dots or more FIG. 17 shows an example of dot development when the dot size is small. In the case of a large character, it is beautiful with curved parts as shown in FIG. 17A, but in the case of a small dot size, the line width varies, and in this example, it is not constant at 1 dot and 2 dots. By replacing this with a linear part as shown in FIG. 17B, it is possible to develop a stable thickness with two dots.

FIG. 11 is an example of a flowchart for one-character expansion of the character pattern generator according to the present invention. First, the code of the character to be expanded is extracted (101), the typeface information to be expanded is extracted (102), the data of the character code of the specified typeface is extracted (103), the size of the character to be expanded is extracted (104), and the expansion is performed. The buffer is cleared by the size of the character to be processed (105), the number-of-components information at the head of the character size is extracted (106), the position information for expanding the component is extracted (107), and the part number. (108), and the part No. Is checked if there is only one type of component (109), and if there is more than one type, the component is extracted (111). If there are multiple types, the size of the character to be expanded is checked (110). It is checked whether there is a small part (112), the small part is taken out (114), and if the character size to be expanded is large, it is checked whether there is a large part (113), the large part is taken out (115), and the part is designated. The coordinates are enlarged or reduced to the size (116). The designated absolute coordinate position is calculated (117). Bezier expansion is performed based on the coordinates (118). The inside of the developed part is painted out with dots (119). When this operation is repeated several times, one character is completed (120).

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of the present invention. 7 (a) and 7 (b),
The part of the character of "kata" is different from the character of "kata" in (c). In the case of large characters, even parts with the same skeleton use thick parts, so that they do not feel poor even if they are hit with large banners. In this case, it is not necessary to have two types of all data, and the data can be developed by separately designating only the part to be changed. Both points above are common to this "one". 7 (a), 7 (b), 7
It is also possible to change as shown in (c) depending on how to configure the data.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 12 shows a third embodiment. In the conventional component example shown in FIG. 15, if the coordinates of the reference data are simply enlarged or reduced in the up, down, left, or right direction, the line width changes. When a plurality of parts are combined, the line width cannot be unified. In the example of componentization according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 12, the line thickness is maintained even if it is enlarged or reduced vertically and horizontally, so that the uniformity of the line width with other components is maintained. As shown in FIG. 12A, the widths of A and B in the left-right direction and C and D in the up-down direction are kept constant.
(B) to (d) of FIG. For example, it can be realized by holding the coordinates of B as (A + α) and the coordinates of D as (C + β). As shown in FIGS. 12 (e) to 12 (g), those whose line widths may be changed have coordinates in the conventional relative values.

[0038]

[0039]

[0040]

According to the first aspect, when a character is synthesized from a plurality of basic elements (parts), the character is linear, so that the character is prevented from being crushed and the processing speed is improved.

According to the second aspect, when a character is synthesized from a plurality of parts, only parts necessary for a large character size are automatically replaced with parts having different weights (thickness), so that powerful information can be obtained with a small amount of additional information. Can be characters.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the character can be held in a combination of parts, thereby reducing the capacity. Even when the parts are enlarged or reduced, the line width is kept constant, so that the balance as a typeface can be maintained.

[0043]

[0044]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram showing a configuration of a character pattern generator according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of outline font data according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a data format of an outline font according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of filling an outline font according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of characters according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a character portion according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of characters according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of componentization according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of part development from reference data according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a state of a line width of a component example according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a character portion according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a state of a line width of a character portion according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a state of a line width of a character portion according to a conventional example.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a state of a line width in a conventional example of componentization.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of a component and component development according to a conventional example.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of dot development of a character component according to a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Input device 2 Display device 3 Printing device 4 Storage device 5 Outline font device

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI G09G 5/26 G06F 15/20 562C 630 562P 15/72 355U (56) References JP-A-5-232931 (JP, A) JP-A-5-165457 (JP, A) JP-A-3-25297 (JP, A) JP-A-5-216456 (JP, A) JP-A-5-66758 (JP, A) JP-A-4-161985 ( JP, A) JP-A-64-590 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G09G 5/24 G09G 5/26

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A font developing apparatus which has a character as vector data such as an outline and develops the dot from the vector data into a plurality of reference data and constructs the character by combining the reference data into a plurality of reference data. Means for arranging the reference data at a predetermined position and enlarging or reducing in the X and Y directions so as to have a size suitable for the character; means for checking the size of the character to be expanded A character pattern generating apparatus characterized in that a plurality of reference data having different shapes and designs are selectively used according to the size of a character to be developed even with the same character. 2. A font developing apparatus which has a character as vector data such as an outline and develops the vector data into dots. The font developing device decomposes the by-side and the like into a plurality of reference data, and forms the by-side and the like into a character by combining the reference data. Means for arranging the reference data at a predetermined position and enlarging / reducing in the X and Y directions so as to have a size suitable for the character; and means for checking the size of the character to be developed. A character pattern generating apparatus characterized in that a plurality of pieces of reference data having different weights are selectively used according to the size of a character to be developed even with the same character. 3. A font developing apparatus which has a character as vector data such as an outline and develops the dot from the vector data into a plurality of reference data, and constructs the character into a character by a combination of the reference data. means for holding the data, the reference data arranged in a predetermined position, and means for enlarging / reducing the X, Y direction in order to size suited to the character
And the character enlarges or reduces the character in the X and Y directions.
Character pattern generating apparatus according to claim this <br/> and composed in combination with the reference data that is not enlarged or reduced and expanded or reduced to reference data when that.