JPH01191192A - High quality character generating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To decrease the burden of a software and to execute a display at a high speed by converting an outline font to a dot pattern, while executing a coordinate operation of a curve part. CONSTITUTION:When a start request comes from a CPU 11, an outline font of a character corresponding to its character code is obtained from a memory 151, and a character modification is executed by a modifying operation logic 152. Subsequently, a smooth curve is generated by executing a coordinate calculation of a curve part by a curve coordinate operation logic 153, an outline of the character by a picture drawing logic 154, and the inside of the character is painted out by a painting-out logic 155. In such a way, while executing the coordinate operation of the curve part, the outline font is converted to a dot pattern. In such a way, the burden of a software is reduced, and a display can be executed at a high speed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a high-quality character generating device suitable for use in systems such as word processors and desktop publishing.

(Prior Art) High quality of various characters and symbols is required in systems such as word processors and desktop publishing.

Since these systems generate high-quality characters in a variety of sizes, traditional full-dot character fonts result in a huge amount of character fonts. Therefore, there is a stroke method (Patent Registration No. 956645) that requires less storage capacity for character fonts.

The stroke method uses stroke information (
This is stored as a vector) and converted to dot information by a graphic pattern generator when uploaded to the output device, and the outline is filled with dots according to the theory of filling and output.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, in this method, the outline information of characters is expressed as a linear function (straight line), so when enlarged, the curved parts of characters/symbols become jittery, making them look unnatural. become. In order to eliminate this drawback, there is a method of expressing character contour information using a function of quadratic or higher order.

Beige curves and spline curves are typically used. Hereinafter, fonts expressed using this method will be referred to as outline fonts.

Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 4, conversion from an outline font to a dot pattern was performed by software processing without any special hardware. In the figure, 41
42 is a storage device, 43 is an output device, and 44 is a system bus. However, when trying to convert complex characters and symbols, especially kanji, from an outline font to a dot pattern, there are many curved parts, which increases the amount of calculations and reduces the display speed.

The present invention was made in view of the above drawbacks, and uses dedicated hardware to convert outline fonts to dot patterns, thereby reducing the software load and speeding up the system. The purpose is to provide a generator.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) The high-quality character generating device of the present invention expresses outline information of characters etc. using a function of quadratic or higher order, and includes a memory for storing this information, and a memory for obtaining data from the memory to generate curved parts. Curve coordinate calculation logic that calculates coordinates and magnification and
Modification operation logic that performs modification operations such as reduction, drawing logic that writes the outline of a character into memory using the coordinates of curved parts and linear coordinates, and fill logic that converts the inside of the outline obtained from the drawing logic into fill dot pattern data. Consists of.

(Operation) In the above configuration, when a start request is received from the CPU, the outline font of the character corresponding to the character code is obtained from the memory, and the character is modified using the modification operation logic. Then, the curve coordinate calculation logic calculates the coordinates of the curved part to generate a smooth curve, the drawing logic draws the outline of the character, and the filling logic fills in the inside of the character.

As a result, the outline font is converted into a dot pattern while calculating the coordinates of the curved portion, thereby reducing the burden on the software.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail using the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 11 is the CPU that is the control center of the system.
It is. 12 is a storage device for storing program data, and 13 is a CRT.

This is an output device such as a printer. Reference numeral 15 denotes a conversion device that calculates the coordinates of a curved line from an outline font and creates a dot pattern, the details of which are shown in FIG. 1
A system bus 4 connects these devices 11 to 13 and 15, and is composed of a plurality of lines for address/data control. Note that 16 is a signal line that passes a data signal from the conversion device 15 to the output device 13.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the internal configuration of the conversion device 15 shown in FIG. 1. In the figure, 151 is a storage device containing outline fonts, 152 is a logic unit that performs modification operations such as enlarging/reducing and rotating the outline fonts, 153 is logic that calculates the coordinates of curved parts, and straight parts are It is supplied to the drawing logic 154 as is.

154 is the drawing logic that creates the outline of the character, and 155
is the filling logic that fills the inside of the outline.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment of the present invention.

The operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below.

First, a general explanation will be given using FIG. 1. When displaying characters and symbols, the CPU 1 sends character codes, display position information, etc. to the conversion device 15, and issues a start request. The conversion device 15 uses the character code, display position information, etc. to calculate the coordinates of a curved line from the outline font, develops it into a dot pattern, and sends it to the output device 13. Upon completion, the CPU 11 is notified of the completion by an interrupt or status.

A detailed explanation will be given using FIGS. 2 and 3.

When a start request is received from CPU 1, the outline font of the character corresponding to that character code is stored in memory 15.
1 is read out, and the modification operation logic 152 performs character modification. The type of modification is given in advance by CPU II. Next, the curve coordinate calculation logic 153 calculates the coordinates of the curved part to create a smooth curve, and
The straight line portion is directly supplied to the drawing logic 154. The outline drawing logic 154 draws the outline of the character,
The inside of the character is filled with fill logic 155.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to convert an outline font to a dot pattern while calculating the coordinates of a curved portion, thereby reducing the burden on software and increasing the display speed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the conversion device shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional example. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11... CPU, 12... Storage device, 13... Output device, 14... System bus, 15... Conversion device, 151... Memory, 152... Modification operation logic, 153... ...Curve coordinate logic, 154...Outline drawing logic, 155...Filling logic. Applicant's representative Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 1 Figure 4 Figure 2 Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] Stores outline information of characters, etc. in memory using a function of quadratic or higher order,
In a character generation device that converts into dot information using a graphic pattern generator, a curve coordinate calculation logic that obtains data from the memory and calculates coordinates of a curved portion;
A modification operation logic that performs modification operations such as enlargement and reduction on the read font data, a drawing logic that writes the outline of a character in memory using the coordinates of curved parts and linear coordinates, and an internal part of the outline obtained from the drawing logic. A high-quality character generator characterized in that it is equipped with a fill logic that converts the data into fill dot pattern data.