JP3457336B2 - Outline data processing device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device for a laser printer having a built-in outline font, and more particularly to a character and a character whose shape is determined by outline data of the outline font. The present invention relates to a control device for changing the line width of a constituent line such as a graphic. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, characters and symbols of any size can be printed with high quality, and it is easy to deform such as italic and rotation, and it can be expressed by one data. And outline data representing the shape of a contour line such as a character or a symbol composed of a curve by an attribute flag indicating the distinction between each straight line or a curve and the vote value data of the data point of the straight line or the curve. Laser printers having storage means have been put to practical use. In these laser printers, when changing the line width of a character, straight lines require only simple movement of vector data, but in the case of curves, data is first divided into short vector data, and the divided short data is used. Movement processing was performed on vector data. Then, the short vector data and the straight line data that have been subjected to the movement processing are converted again into a straight line and curved line data format. [0003] However, the division of a curve portion into short vectors, and conversely, the conversion from a short vector to a curve requires a large amount of computation, and C
It puts a heavy load on the PU and takes a lot of time to perform the arithmetic processing. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and it is possible to change the line width of constituent lines such as characters and symbols whose shapes are determined by contour data by changing the short vector division and short vector of a curved portion. The present invention provides an outline data processing apparatus that performs high-speed conversion without performing conversion from to a curve expression. In order to achieve this object, an outline data processing apparatus according to the present invention converts the shape of the outline of a font such as a character or a symbol composed of straight lines and curves into each straight line. Storage means for storing outline data expressed by an attribute flag indicating a distinction between curves and coordinate value data of data points of the straight line or the curve; outline data reading means for reading the outline data from the storage means; Line width input means for inputting line width data, and vector data for creating vector data having one coordinate value as a start point and the other coordinate value as an end point from two adjacent coordinate value data of the outline data. creating means and said start and end point of the vector data, the line width input means is input to the line width data Vector data moving means moving in the normal direction of the vector data, and a straight line connecting the moved start point and end point, and calculating an intersection of adjacent straight lines. The calculating means, the coordinate value of the intersection obtained by the intersection calculating means, as the changed coordinate value data changed based on the line width data, as an attribute flag corresponding to the data point of the changed coordinate value data, And an outline data output means for outputting, as outline data, a data directly attached with the corresponding attribute flag before change. [0005] The outline data processing apparatus of the present invention having the above configuration has the following functions. The storage means is an outline for expressing the shape of the outline of a font such as a character or graphic composed of straight lines and curves by using attribute flags indicating the distinction of each straight line or curve and coordinate value data of data points of the straight lines or curves. Data is stored. The outline data reading means reads the outline data from the storage means. The line width input means receives line width data of constituent lines such as characters and figures represented by the outline data. The vector data creation means creates, from two adjacent coordinate value data of the outline data, vector data having one coordinate value as a start point and the other coordinate value as an end point. Vector data moving means, the start and end points of the vector data, based on the input line width data in the line width input means, to move <br/> moving in the normal direction of the vector data. The intersection calculating means calculates a straight line connecting the moved start point and end point, and obtains an intersection of the straight lines adjacent to each other.
The outline data output means uses the coordinate value obtained by the intersection calculation means as changed coordinate value data changed based on the line width data, and as an attribute flag corresponding to the data point of the changed coordinate value data, The data with the previous attribute flag attached as it is is output as outline data. An embodiment in which the present invention is mounted on a laser printer will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a part related to mainly performing data conversion in a control circuit of the laser printer. The microcomputer unit 1, which is a main component of the control circuit, includes a CPU 2, a character ROM 3, a program ROM 4, a text memory 5, a working memory 6, and a dot data memory 7. The CPU 2 and the like are connected via a bus 8. Further, an input device 9 and a printing device 10 are connected to the microcomputer unit 1 via a bus 8. The input device 9 is, for example, a keyboard, and is used when a user inputs data such as a character code supplied from the outside, designation of a line width, designation of a character size, designation of deformation such as italics and rotation, and the like. Is what you do.
The printing device 10 is, for example, a laser printer and is a device that performs printing using dot matrix data read from the dot data memory 7. Program R
The OM 4 stores programs for performing various controls performed in the present embodiment. The text memory 5 stores a character code input from the input device 9, a line width designation,
It stores data such as the designation of a character size and the designation of deformation such as italics and rotation. The text memory 5 corresponds to a line width input unit to which line width data is input. The working memory 6 temporarily stores data required when the CPU 2 executes a program. The dot data memory 7 stores the dot data obtained by the outline converter 46. Character ROM
An outline 3 represents the shape of the outline of a font such as a character or a symbol composed of straight lines and curves by using attribute flags indicating the distinction of each straight line or curve and coordinate value data of data points of the straight lines or curves. This is storage means for storing data. The outline data of this embodiment is represented by a straight line and a Bezier curve (hereinafter, simply referred to as a curve). The attribute flag distinguishes the straight line and the curve of the data point, and the coordinate value data which is the coordinate value of the data point. Be composed. The attribute flags include "S" indicating the start point of one of the contours of the character (hereinafter, referred to as a closed loop), "L" indicating the end point of the straight line, "B1" indicating the first control point of the curve, and "B1" indicating the first control point of the curve. There are “B2” indicating the second control point and “B” indicating the end point of the curve. The attribute flag is accompanied by one piece of coordinate value data. Note that the coordinate values of the start points of the straight line and the curve are the coordinate value data of the immediately preceding data point. The order of the data is sequentially stored in the rotation direction determined from the start point of the closed loop. In this embodiment, a loop representing a line outside the contour (hereinafter simply referred to as an outer loop) is counterclockwise, and a loop representing a line inside the contour (hereinafter simply referred to as an inner loop) is clockwise. Each is determined. For example, the outline data "D" shown in FIG. 2 is stored as shown in FIG. That is, regarding the outer loop, the attribute flag “S” indicates that the starting point is the point A, and the attribute flags “B1,” “B2,” and “B” indicate that the curve having the ending point as the point D in the counterclockwise direction. It shows that the curve is formed by a Bezier curve having two control points of point B and point C. The attribute flag “L” indicates that point D and point A are connected by a straight line. Similarly, regarding the inner loop, the attribute flag “S” indicates that the starting point is the point E, and the attribute flag “L” indicates that the point E and the point F are connected in a clockwise straight line. The attribute flags "B1,""B2," and "B" indicate that a curve having an end point at point E is formed, and that the curve is represented by a Bezier curve having two control points, point G and point H. ing. As shown conceptually in FIG. 4, the program ROM 4 has a data reading section 42, a line width changing section 43 for changing the line width of outline data, and a data expanding section 44 for expanding outline data into short vectors.
And an outline conversion unit 46 for converting outline data into dot data are stored as programs, and each program is executed by the CPU. The data reading unit 42 reads one character code from the text memory 5, reads outline data of a character corresponding to the character code from the area of the character ROM 3 via the bus 8, and transfers the outline data to an outline data buffer (not shown) of the working memory 6. What to store. The line width changing unit 43 includes a vector data creating unit 431.
And vector data moving means 432 and intersection calculation means 433
And a converted outline data generator 434 and a converted outline data output unit 435. The processing here is
This is executed when the line width specified by the force device 9 is different from the line width of the character stored in the character ROM 3, and the line width of the outline data of the character stored in the character ROM 3 is changed based on the input line width. The converted outline data is created and stored in the outline data buffer as converted outline data. Details will be described later. The data expanding section 44 sequentially reads out outline data from the outline data buffer, modifies the text memory 5 in accordance with the instruction such as the character size, italic / rotation, etc., and converts straight line and curve data into short vectors. It is. The outline converter 46 converts the short vectorized outline data into dot data and stores it in the dot data memory 7. [0012] Here in the processing of line width changing section 43, character
Character shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 are stored in the data ROM3
The coordinate point of Kuta "D" to change only "W" partial character
Changing the line width of “D” will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 5 as an example. The above “W” is
Determined based on the line width specified through the input device 9
You . S1 is a process of the vector data creation unit 431. Here, for each closed loop data group, a set of vector data with the coordinate value data of adjacent data points as a start point and an end point is created. At this time, the attribute flag of the end point is simultaneously held as data. That is, the vector data as shown by the arrow in FIG. 6 is created, and the start point and the end point of each vector are converted into data as shown in FIG. 7 in the counterclockwise direction for the outer loop and clockwise for the inner loop. Next, S2
Is the processing of the vector data moving means 432. Here, the vector data generated in S1 is translated by W. The moving direction is a positive direction along the normal direction of the vector indicated by each vector data, from the left to the right of the vector when the end point is viewed from the start point of the vector. If W is positive, each vector moves as shown in FIG. That is, the vector forming the outer loop moves outward, and the vector forming the inner loop moves inward in the positive direction. Next, S3 is a process of the intersection calculation means 433. Here, the vector data moved in S2 is connected to adjacent ones. That is, as shown in FIG. 9, the vector indicated by the arrow is linearly extended and forms an intersection with an adjacent vector. For example, a point J is formed as an intersection of the extension lines of the straight line AB moved in the forward direction and the straight line BC moved in the forward direction. In addition, adjacent vectors that intersect by moving in the forward direction have the intersecting points as intersections. For example, the straight line EF that has moved in the forward direction and the straight line FG that has moved in the forward direction intersect, and the intersection point is the intersection N. Then, based on the new intersection, the coordinate value data indicating the start point and the end point of the vector is changed as shown in FIG. Next, step S4 is a process of the conversion outline data generation unit 434. Here, the converted outline data is generated from the start and end points of the vector data generated in S3 and the attribute flag of the end point of the vector data. First, 1
The start point of the first vector data in the closed loop is set as the coordinate value of the start point “S” of the outline data. Thereafter, the coordinate value of the end point of the vector data is sequentially set from the first vector data to the coordinate value data of the converted outline data, and the attribute flag of the end point of the vector data is used as the converted outline data to generate the converted outline data. That is, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, a curve connecting the point L to the point I and a curve having the point I as a start point, the point L as an end point, and the points J and K as two control points, as shown in FIGS. Become. Further, with respect to the inner loop, a point M is a starting point and a point N
And a curve connecting points N and M with points O and P as two control points. Next, in S5, the converted outline data generated in S4 is stored in the outline buffer. By the above processing , based on the input line width
Out of the character stored in the character ROM 3
The converted outline data in which the line width of the line data is changed can be created, and the converted outline data can be stored in the outline data buffer. In this embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to a laser printer has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to other output devices such as a display. Further, by adding an external storage device to the present invention, the present invention can also be used as a data creation device for new characters and figures. In this embodiment, a Bezier curve is used as a curve equation, but the present invention can be applied to other curves such as splines and arcs. In addition, various applications are possible without departing from the spirit of the present invention. As is apparent from the above description, according to the outline data processing apparatus of the present invention, the vector data creating means uses two adjacent coordinates of the outline data read from the storage means. from the value data, starting from one of the coordinate values, the other coordinate values to create a vector data as an end point, the line vector data moving means, the start and end points of the vector data, is input to the line width input means Based on the width data, the normal direction of the vector data
Go to the intersection calculating means calculates the straight line connecting the moved start and end points, obtain the intersection of adjacent straight line with each other,
The outline data output means sets the coordinate value obtained by the intersection calculation means as changed coordinate value data changed based on the line width data, and sets the corresponding change as an attribute flag corresponding to the data point of the changed coordinate value data. Since the data with the previous attribute flag added as it is is output as outline data, the line width can be changed regardless of the attribute of the coordinate value data of the outline data, and the characters and symbols whose shapes have been determined by the outline data The outline data can be directly processed without changing the line width of the constituent lines, etc., without dividing the short vector into a curved line and converting the short vector into a curved line, and the line width of the character can be changed quickly and easily. Can be.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of a part for performing data conversion. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an image of “D” to which the data format of the present embodiment is applied. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating outline data of “D” in the present embodiment. FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of a program ROM of the present embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a process performed by a line width conversion unit according to the embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an image of vector data before a line width change regarding “D” in the embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating vector data before a line width change regarding “D” in the embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an image of vector data on which movement processing in the line width conversion unit according to the present embodiment has been completed. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an image of vector data on which the linking process has been completed in the line width conversion unit according to the embodiment; FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating vector data on which the linking process has been completed in the line width conversion unit according to the embodiment; FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating converted outline data generated by a line width conversion unit according to the present embodiment. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an image of converted outline data generated by a line width conversion unit according to the present embodiment. [Description of Signs] 9 Input device 42 Data readout unit 431 Vector data creation unit 432 Vector data movement unit 433 Intersection operation unit 434 Conversion outline data generation unit 435 Conversion outline data output unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-245572 (JP, A) JP-A-63-303477 (JP, A) JP-A-61-246877 (JP, A) JP-A-2- 39360 (JP, A) JP-A-4-93992 (JP, A) JP-A-4-136898 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G09G 5 / 24-5 / 26 G06F 15/66 G06F 15/72

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims 1] The shape of the outline of a font such as a character or a symbol composed of a straight line and a curve is defined by an attribute flag indicating the distinction between each straight line or a curve and the attribute flag of the straight line or the curve. Storage means for storing outline data represented by coordinate value data of data points, outline data reading means for reading the outline data from the storage means, line width input means for inputting the font line width data, From two coordinate value data adjacent to the outline data, one coordinate value is used as a starting point, vector data creating means for creating vector data using the other coordinate value as an end point, the start point and the end point of the vector data , Based on the line width data input to the line width input means, the vector data
Vector data moving means moving in the normal direction of the data, an intersection calculating means for calculating a straight line connecting the moved start point and end point, and obtaining an intersection of the straight lines adjacent to each other, and an intersection obtained by the intersection calculating means Are the coordinate values after change changed based on the line width data, and the attribute flags before change are directly attached as attribute flags corresponding to the data points of the coordinate value data after change. And an outline data output means for outputting the outline data as outline data.