JP3395203B2 - Character generation 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 a character generating device and method for generating a contour character having a predetermined width on both sides of a bold character contour line as a center.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a bold outline character generated based on outline data. In FIG. 4, 1 is an outline, 4 is a bold character outline character, 5 is a bold character outline line, 6 and 7 are lines, b is a bold character increment width, and u is a contour width.

FIG. 4A shows the outline 1 based on the outline data initially held. This may be an outline based on the outline data after performing affine transformation such as enlargement, reduction, or deformation on the outline data as necessary.

FIG. 4B is a diagram showing a state in which a bold character increment width b is given to the outline 1. The bold character outline 5 is a line tracing the outline of the bold character given the increment width, and runs outside the outline 1 by a distance of b / 2. The bold character contour character is a character obtained by taking a certain contour width around the bold character contour line 5.

FIG. 4C shows the bold character outline character 4 thus obtained. The outline width u is taken with the bold character outline 5 as the center. The size of the contour width u is appropriately given. The line outside the contour width is 7,
The inner line is 6. The bold outline character 4 is obtained by rasterizing and filling the inside of the outline width (the area surrounded by the lines 6 and 7 ... the shaded portion).

A normal outline character is a character obtained by taking a certain outline width around the outline 1 (or an outline obtained by performing affine transformation on the outline 1) and filling the inside of the outline width. Such a contour character is
It is well known that this can easily occur by a method in which a line separated by a distance of half the outline width is obtained on both sides of the outline and the area sandwiched by the line is filled.

In order to generate the bold character outline character of FIG. 4 in a similar manner, the bold character outline line 5 at the center of the outline width is generated.
Data is required. As a first method of obtaining the data, there is a method of calculating based on the data of the outline 1 (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-224079, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-224079).
(See Japanese Patent No. 306298).

As a second method, first, the outline 1
There is a method of generating a bold character based on the data of and then performing contour extraction (vectorization) on the contour line of the bold character (corresponding to the bold character contour line 5 of FIG. 4B). .

[0009]

However, in the method of generating the bold character contour character by obtaining the data of the bold character contour line by the above-mentioned first method, the outline is horizontal (X
Direction) and the vertical direction (Y direction) are relatively easy. However, there is a problem that the calculation becomes extremely complicated when the outlines that are not in those directions are included.

In the method of generating the bold character contour character by obtaining the data of the bold character contour line by the second method, the contour extraction processing for the bold character contour generated in the first step is complicated and long. It takes time and cannot be put to practical use. In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to combine well-known methods to easily generate a bold character outline character.

[0011]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the character generation device of claim 1, character generation for obtaining a contour character for a thick character in which the character is thickened based on outline data of the character is generated. A device for generating a contour character composed of a contour line having a predetermined line width along the outline, a means for generating a character based on the outline, and a contour generated by the contour character generation means. Means for whitening the character generated by the character generation means from the character. Further, according to the character generating method of claim 3, the character generating method obtains a thick outline character by thickening the character based on outline data of the character, and a predetermined line width along the outline. Generating a contour character composed of a contour line having a contour, a step of generating a character based on the outline, and a character generated by the character generation means is outlined from the contour character generated by the contour character generation means. And a step of performing. Further, according to the character generation device of claim 4, the character generation device generates a contour line having a predetermined line width u centered on a contour of a thick character obtained by thickening the character based on outline data of the character. There is a line width of 2W1 around the outline of the letters.
Means for generating a contour line of, and a line which is a distance u from the outside of the contour line to the outline side of the character,
Means for newly generating a character whose outline is a new inner line distant from the character outline by a distance W2;
A means for whitening the newly generated character from the contour line is provided.

[0012]

[Operation] Based on the outline data, outline characters and bold characters, standard characters, or thin characters are first generated. Since this is performed by a known method, there is no need for more complicated calculations and longer processing times than in the past. Next, from the generated outline character, the area corresponding to the separately generated bold character or standard character or thin character,
A bold outline character is obtained by whitening. Whitening can be easily performed by a known method. Therefore, it is possible to generate a bold outline character without requiring complicated calculation and long-time processing.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the character generating apparatus and method of the present invention, a contour character and a bold character (or a standard character or a thin character) are first generated based on an outline, and then a bold character is generated from the generated contour character. A bold outline character is obtained by whitening out (or a standard character or a thin character). By changing the size of the contour width of the contour character and changing the outline character to a bold character, a standard character, or a thin character, thick character contour characters having various contour widths can be obtained.

(First Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the first of the present invention.
It is a figure which shows the Example of. This shows an example in which a bold character outline character is obtained by whitening a bold character from the outline character. Reference numerals correspond to those in FIG. 4, 2 is a contour character, 3 is a bold character, 8 is a line, and W ₁ and W ₂ are widths.

FIG. 1A shows an outline 1 as a source. The outline character 2 is generated so as to have the width W ₁ on both sides of the outline 1. Figure 1
(B) shows the outline character 2 generated in this way. The generation is performed by the known method described above. On the other hand,
Based on the outline 1, as shown in FIG.
A bold character 3 that is thicker outside by the width W ₂ is generated. For this purpose, a well-known bold character generating method of obtaining a line 8 located outside the outline 1 at a distance of W ₂ and filling the area surrounded by the line 8 can be adopted.

Then, the outline character 2 in FIG. 1B is blanked out in the area corresponding to the bold character 3 in FIG. 1C, and the outline character 4 as shown in FIG. 1D is obtained. . The outer line of the contour corresponds to the line 7 of the contour character 2, and the inner line of the contour corresponds to the line 8 of the bold character 3. When the center line (5) of the contour width u is regarded as the outline of a certain character, this contour character can be regarded as a contour character generated for the outline.

An outline formed by the center line is a bold character generated for outline 1 (see FIG. 1).
If the contour is a bold character different from that generated in (c), the contour character (4) obtained in FIG. 1 (d) is a bold character contour character. Assuming that the interval between the outline 1 and the center line (5) is b / 2, the bold character as described above is a bold character obtained by giving the outline 1 a bold character increment width b. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, a bold character contour character 4 having a contour width u is generated for a bold character generated by giving the bold character increment width b to the outline 1.
Is obtained.

When a bold character outline character is generated, the bold character incremental width b and the contour width u are designated and generated. Therefore, the contour character 2 in FIG. The width W ₁ in the case of performing the above or the width W ₂ in the case of generating the bold character 3 in FIG. 1C is calculated as follows. W ₁ = (b / 2) + (u / 2) (1) W ₂ = (b / 2)-(u / 2) (2)

Then, outline characters 2 and bold characters 3 are generated based on these W ₁ and W _2, and bold characters 3 are blanked out from the outline characters 2 to obtain bold outline characters 4. The bold character outline character 4 obtained in the first embodiment is a bold character outline character when b> u.

The outline character 2 and the bold character 3 can be easily generated from the outline 1 by a known method.
Whitening the bold character 3 from the outline character 2 does not require complicated calculation or long-time processing. In such a bold character outline character generation process, since the outline is not limited to the horizontal or vertical direction, a character having an outline in any direction can be generated.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention. This shows an example in which a bold character outline character is obtained by whitening a standard character (a character that is neither thickened nor thinned) than a contour character. The reference numerals correspond to those in FIG. 1, and 9 is a standard character. The standard character is a character obtained without thickening or thinning an outline obtained by subjecting outline data to a desired affine transformation. Therefore, when the standard character 9 is obtained in FIG. 2C, the width W _{2 which} is wider than the outline 1 is 0 (W ₂ = 0).

From the outline character 2 generated in FIG. 2B, the area corresponding to the standard character 9 is blanked to obtain the image shown in FIG.
The bold outline character 4 of (d) is obtained. The bold character outline character 4 obtained in the second embodiment is the bold character outline character when b = u. The width W ₁ is W ₁ = b according to the equation (1).
= U is calculated.

(Third Embodiment) FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention. This is done by whitening out thin characters (characters that are thinner than standard characters) than outline characters.
An example of obtaining a bold outline character is shown. Reference numerals correspond to those in FIG. 1, and 10 is a fine character. Fine character 10
Is a character narrowed by a width W ₂ from the outline 1 as shown in FIG.

The width W _{1 in} this case is calculated by the equation (1). On the other hand, the width W ₂ is a negative value when considered by the equation (2), and therefore −W ₂ = (b / 2) − (u /
2) and W ₂ = (u / 2)-(b / 2) is calculated. Since the width W ₂ must be a positive value, this example is an example in the case of b <u.

Although the three embodiments have been described above, if the bold character increment width b and the contour width u of the bold character contour character to be generated are designated (this can be designated arbitrarily), the width W is correspondingly increased. ₁ , the width W ₂ is calculated, and the bold outline character is generated according to any one of the embodiments.

[0026]

As described above, according to the character generating apparatus and method of the present invention, a bold character or a standard character similarly generated by a known method from a contour character generated by a known method based on outline data. Alternatively, since the bold character outline character is generated by extracting the thin character from the white, the bold character outline character can be generated without requiring complicated calculation and long-time processing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a bold outline character.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Outline, 2 ... Outline character, 3 ... Bold character, 4 ... Bold character outline character, 5 ... Bold character outline line, 6, 7, 8 ... Line, 9 ... Standard character, 10 ... Thin character, u ... Contour width , B ... Incremental width of bold characters, W ₁ , W ₂ ... Width

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A character generation device for obtaining a contour character for a thick character by thickening the character based on outline data of the character, the contour character comprising a contour line having a predetermined line width along the outline. And a means for generating a character based on the outline, and a means for whitening the character generated by the character generating means from the contour character generated by the contour character generating means. Character generator. 2. The character generation device according to claim 1, wherein the character generated by the character generation means is any one of a bold character, a standard character and a thin character. 3. A character generation method for obtaining a thick-lined outline character by thickening the character based on outline data of the character, the outline character comprising a contour line having a predetermined line width along the outline. A step of generating a character based on the outline, and a step of whitening the character generated by the character generating means from the contour character generated by the contour character generating means. Character generation method. 4. A predetermined line width u centered on the outline of a thick character obtained by thickening the character based on outline data of the character.
And a means for generating a contour line having a line width of 2W1 centering on the outline of the character, and a distance from the outside of the contour line to the outline side of the character.
a line that is distant from the character and that has a new outline as an inner line that is a distance W2 away from the outline of the character, and a unit that whitens the newly generated character from the contour line, A character generation device comprising: