JPH01275057A - Character font contour line data supply device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to supply contour line data in a short time by retrieving data from a frequency table containing character font codes arranged in order of decreasing application frequency and supplying the contour line of character font used most frequently from an active font storage means. CONSTITUTION:A frequency control section 2 retrieves data starting with a character font code at the highest application frequency value N in terms of the use of a frequency table T1. The higher the application frequency value N becomes, the faster retrieval processing and thus the processing of such a character font code is performed at high speed. If any appropriate character font code C is found in the active area R1 of the frequency table T1, an active signal is connected to a control section 1 from the frequency control section 2, and the control section 1 supplies the character font code C to an active font memory control section 3 to command the output of contour line vector data. The frequency control section 2 adds 1 to the application frequency value N of said character font code C. If the character font code C is not found in the active area R1, a non-active signal is connected, and the control section 1 reads the contour line vector data from a storage disk device 7.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) This invention consists of 1. The present invention relates to a character font outline data supplying device that supplies character font outline data to other devices for the purpose of creating a printing plate.

(Prior Art) In commercial printing, even if the characters represent the same font, it is common to use many types of characters that differ in font, size, etc. depending on the purpose.

Therefore, in order to be able to easily reproduce such a variety of characters, the outline data of each character expressed in a different font (hereinafter referred to as "character font") is stored. However, a character font outline data supply device has been used which supplies the outline Y-Y in response to a request from an external data processing device.

Based on this outline data, the data processing device specifies character placement information, deformation information, and size (hereinafter, the size is referred to as series J), combines it with other figures, etc. to create the desired version, or to display it in display\efi'ff.

The number of character fonts stored in this character font outline data supply device is extremely large; for example, there are several thousand types of characters with different fonts, including kanji, hiragana, katakana, alphanumeric characters, etc. For example, 10 to 2
Normally, about 0 types of fonts are prepared. Furthermore, the outline data of character fonts is data that represents all the outlines of each character font, for example, as vectors, and there is a large amount of data per character font. As a result, a character font outline data supply device usually requires a storage capacity of approximately one megabyte, and a magnetic disk or the like is used as the storage means.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, since the access speed of magnetic disks is generally rather slow, it takes a long time to search for data corresponding to a desired character font from a large amount of stored outline data. The problem is that it takes time and is inefficient.

To deal with this, there is a method of temporarily storing outline data of character fonts that have been used several times in a high-speed memory such as a cache memory. However, in this case, with normal cache memory methods, the outline data is simply stored in the order in which the character fonts are used, regardless of how frequently they are used, so the outline data of the frequently used character fonts is Even if the character font is not used for a while, it will disappear from the cache memory if the memory capacity is exceeded. Therefore, the hit rate of the cache memory is not very high, and even with this method, there is a problem that the processing speed cannot be sufficiently increased.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention was made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and an object thereof is to provide a character font outline data supplying device that can supply character font outline data in a short time. be.

(Means for Achieving the Object) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes an outline data storage means for storing outline data for each character font having a different character outline, and for each character font. In the character font outline data supplying device which outputs the outline data by inputting a character font code defined in a storage means; the character font codes are arranged in accordance with the order of frequency of use of the character font; and activation information indicating whether outline data of the character font is stored in the active font storage means. and a frequency table management means for creating and holding a frequency table, and when the character font code is given as input, the frequency table is searched to check the activation information and correspond to the character font code. When outline data is stored in the active font storage means, the outline data is outputted from the active font storage means in priority to the outline data storage means.

(Function) In the frequency table, character font codes are arranged in order of frequency of use, and activation information is given for each character font code, so when a character font code is given from the outside, the frequency table is searched and the character font code is used. By checking the activation information, it is possible to check in a short time whether the outline data of the character font is stored in the active font storage means. Since the outline data of frequently used character fonts is preferentially output from the active phono storage means, the ratio of accessing the outline data storage means which stores a large amount of data can be reduced.

In addition, in the production of commercial printing plates, etc., there is a tendency for frequently used character fonts to vary depending on the industry to which the printed material relates. Therefore, the present invention aims to supply outline data of frequently used character fonts at high speed, thereby shortening the overall processing time.

(Embodiment) A. Schematic Structure of Embodiment FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a character font outline data supplying device which is an example of the present invention.

In the diagram, the character font outline? 1ii1-The data supply device P is operated by a computer (hereinafter simply referred to as "read fortune telling" control section).
1Ill! It is called "Obe". )1, and a character font contour vector data storage disk device connected to this (hereinafter simply referred to as "storage disk device")7.
Frequency table section 20. and an active font section 30.

The control unit 1 receives a character font code C given from the outside.
A search process, which will be described later, is performed in accordance with the above, and the contour line vector data B of the corresponding character 7 on 1- is output. Further, the storage disk device 7 stores the contour vector data B of all the character fonts supplied by the character font contour data supplying device P, and is constituted by, for example, a magnetic disk.

The frequency table section 20 includes a frequency management section 2, a frequency table sorting section 8, and a frequency table storage section 9.

The slope management section 2 holds a slope table T1 as shown in FIG. 2Δ. The frequency table T1 includes a character font code C, a usage frequency value N of each character font corresponding to the character font code C, and outline vector data that exist in the active font l to memory section (hereinafter, this case will be described). An activation bit A indicating whether the character font is active (hereinafter referred to as "the character font is inactive") or not (hereinafter referred to as "the character font is inactive"), and attribute information P, which is other information such as the character series. They are arranged first in order of increasing frequency of use fiflN.

In addition, the character font code C registered in the frequency table T1 corresponds to only a part of the character fonts stored in the storage disk device 7, so that the retrieval operation described below can be performed at high speed. It has become. However, even if the character font code C corresponding to all character fonts is registered, it is possible to increase the speed to some extent. The method for creating and using the frequency table will be described later. The frequency management section 2 generates and holds this frequency table T1, and also transmits the text from the control section 1 to the character fin 1-
When code C is received, it has the ability to send the active bit A of the corresponding character font to the control unit 1.

The frequency table sorting section 8 sorts the frequency table T1 according to instructions from the control section 1 after the character font is used in the operation described later and the frequently used value N has been replaced.
It has a function to rearrange the character font codes C in the order of usage frequency 1iQN.

Further, the frequency table storage unit 9 stores a plurality of frequency tables T1 illustrated in FIG. 2A. This is because, for example, when creating a block copy, frequently used character fonts are cheaper depending on the type of industry (sales, publishing, etc.) that the paired printed matter is related to, so there are many types of gradient tables T1 depending on the printed material. It is provided so that it can be memorized and used as needed. Input/output of the frequency table T1 between the frequency table storage section 9 and the frequency management section 2 is performed under the control of the control section 1.

The active font section 30 includes an active font memory management section 3.
Active 7 ont management table section 4. It consists of an active font memory section 5 and a high speed search section 6.

The active phono memory management section 3 is connected to the damper control section 1, and the active phono I/management table section 4. It is connected to the active font memory section 5 and the high-speed search section 6, respectively, and has a function of controlling the operation of the entire active font section 3o. A contour vector data request is given from the control section 1 to the active font memory management section 3, and in response, contour vector data is given from the active font memory management section 3 to the control section 1.

The active font memory section 5 contains the same data as the contour vector data for some character fonts among the seven character fonts stored in the storage disk device 7, and the contour vector data of the active character font. It is composed of a semiconductor memory or the like that can operate at high speed.

The active font management table section 4 has an active font management table as shown in FIG. 2B. The active font management table T2 is a table of the position (address) D, recording length, etc. of the corresponding contour vector data in the active font memory unit 5 for each character font code C.

The high-speed search section 6 searches the active font management table section 4 according to instructions given from the active font memory management section 3.
What is the function of quickly searching the active font management table T2 located in , and finding the required character font code?

B. Operation of the Embodiment Next, the operation of the embodiment described above will be explained with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 3 to 6. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the overall operation of the character font outline data supplying device according to this embodiment. The main operations in Figure 3 are as follows.
It is one.

■ Initialization of active font section 30 and frequency table section 20 (step S1) ■ Supply of contour vector data to external device (step 82) ■ Update of frequency table T1 (step 34) ■ Frequency table storage of frequency table T1 Storage in unit 9 (step 36) The details of these operations will be explained in sequence below.

B-1. Initialization of rFi foot memory In step S1 of FIG. 3, first, each component of the device according to this embodiment is initialized, such as storing contour vector data in the active phono i memory 5. Perform the action. This operation is also performed when the type of document to be processed changes and it becomes necessary to replace the frequency table T1.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing details of the initialization operation in step S1 of FIG. First, step S11
Then, one of the plurality of frequency tables T1 stored in the frequency table storage section 9 is selected, and the frequency management section 2
The frequency table is written within. J3, this selection may be made by the operator externally giving an instruction to the control unit 1 to select the desired frequency table T1, or in particular, when the power is turned on, the predetermined frequency table T1 is automatically selected. may be selected.

The reason why the frequency table T1 can be selected is to enable the use of an appropriate frequency table according to the document, since the characters frequently used are different depending on the document, which is the processing λj of the external device. This is to do so.

The frequency table T1 written in the frequency management section 2 is normally sorted (hereinafter referred to as "sorting") in descending order of usage frequency value N, as shown in FIG. 2A. If the sorting has not been carried out, a command is given from the frequency management section 2 to the frequency table sorting section 8, and sorting is executed.

The active bit Δ in the frequency table T1 is rewritten when the contour vector data is stored in the active font memory unit 5 as described later, so it is not changed during the sorting described above and remains as it was before sorting. .

When the preparation of the frequency table T1 is completed as described above, J3 goes to step S12, and first the usage frequency is determined! The outline vector data of the largest character font of 1llN is transferred from the storage disk device 7 to the active font.

Management δI! It is given to 3.

Then, in step 813, the active font management unit 3 stores the contour line data 1 to 1 in the active font memory unit 5, and also stores the necessary data in the active font management table 1 and P table lower 2 in the active font management table unit 4. Record 0 information.

When the outline vector data for the first character font is stored and registered, the process proceeds from step S14 to S15, and the active font memory management section 3 notifies the control section 1 of the completion of storage. Then, in step S16, in response to a command from the MI control unit 1, the active pitches 1 to 1 for the character font code in the frequency table T1 in the top management unit 2 are
Δ is set to "1".

In step 817, it is determined whether or not the character font code C to be processed remains in the frequency table T1. If there is any unprocessed character font code C, the process returns to step S12 and the above operation is repeated.

If there is no free space in the active font memory unit 5 during the above processing and the required character font cannot be stored or recorded in step S13, the process moves from step 514 to step 318. . In step 318, the active font memory management section 3 notifies the control section 1 that the contour vector data cannot be stored. Then, in step S19, in response to a command from the control unit 1, the active bits A of the character font code in question in the frequency table T1 in the frequency management unit 2 and character font codes with a smaller usage frequency value N are all set to “Ooo”. is set, and the initialization operation ends.

The initialization operation is performed as described above until there is no free area in the active font memory section 5 or until all character fonts in the frequency table are processed (step 517).
) is executed.

The frequency table T1 at the time when the initialization operation is completed is arranged as shown in FIG. 2Δ.

In other words, the character numbers 1 to 1 are arranged in order of increasing tA degree value N
Code C is arranged, active bit A is 1'' or '0'°
is set to . The frequency table T1 is divided into three areas based on the use frequency value N and the active bit.

Active region R1: 1≦N and A=1 Inactive region! 4R2: 1≦N and Δ=0 empty area R
3: N=0 and Δ-〇B-2 supply of contour line vector data After the above initialization operation is completed, J3 is sent to step S2 in FIG.
Then, contour vector data is supplied in response to a request from an external device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing details of the contour vector data supply operation.

First, in step 321, an external device sends a message to the control unit 1.
A character font code C input is given to .

In step S22, from the control unit 1 to the frequency management unit 2,
An instruction is issued to search whether the character font code C is in the active area. The frequency management unit 2 sequentially searches for character font codes with higher usage frequency values N in the frequency table T1.

幀□□□Table - [1 is the frequency of use as shown in Figure 2A] Since it is arranged in order of the largest 4T of direct N, usage type 1
The larger the size of the body, the faster it is detected and the faster the processing.

Active region R1 in frequency table T1 (second equal 11.7
1) If there is a legal character font code C, the process goes from step S23 to 824, where the frequency management section 2 gives an activation signal to the control section 1, and the system 00 section 1 inputs the character font code C. The active font memory management unit 3 is given an instruction to output contour vector data.

In step 825, the active font memory management unit 3 instructs the high-speed search unit 6 to search for the character font code C in the active font management table T2, and searches for the outline vector of the character font in the active font memory unit 5. Check the data rank, record length, etc. Desired contour vector data is then read from the active font memory unit 5 and output to an external device via the active font memory management unit 3 and control unit 1.

Then, in step 326, t, the frequency tube 'L'1
! Part 2 is the corresponding character font conid C of the frequency table T1.
Add 1 to the usage frequency value N of .

Note that during the above operation, in step 823, the character font code C is registered in the active region R1 in the frequency table T1.
When it is determined that there is not, the process proceeds to step S27, where the frequency management section 2 gives a deactivation signal to the control section 1, and
The control unit 1 uses a disk device 7 for storing contour vector data.
Read from and output to external device.

On the other hand, as shown in step S28, the frequency management unit 2 roughly determines whether the character font code C is the inactive area R2 or empty area 1ii of the technique table T1! We will continue to investigate whether it is registered in +13. If the code C to the character phono 1 is registered in the non-active area R2, 1 is added to its usage frequency value N. On the other hand, if the character font code C is not registered in the inactive area R2 of the frequency table T1, it is newly registered in the empty area R3, and the use frequency value N is set to 1.

As described above, steps 324 to 826 or step S
2'7 to 828, the contour vector data is supplied to the outside. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S29, where YjJ is determined by control t11 whether or not the operation of supplying character fonts for one page of the original document has been completed. If one page has not been completed, the process returns to step 821 and the above operation is repeated. On the other hand, when the processing for one page of the raw stone is completed, the character font supplying operation is ended according to an instruction from the control unit 1, and the process moves to step S30.

During the above operation, a certain character fin; to code C to z・j
When the user annoyance level N reaches a predetermined upper limit value N, the user annoyance level N is fixed at the upper limit value N even if the character phone [~] is used thereafter. Therefore, when the end of processing for one page of the original is instructed in step 329, the slope table T1
A certain value is subtracted from the usage frequency value N of all the character font codes C registered in , and re-examined (step 530). In this way, the same slope table T
Even if 1 is used many times, the usage frequency value N is prevented from becoming saturated. Further, in the above subtraction operation, if the usage frequency 1a N becomes negative, the usage frequency value N is registered as 0°'. The character font code C in the empty area in Fig. 2 has a frequency of use value N of 0'' in this way.In the above example, the processing is terminated after each page of the manuscript. This judgment is left to the control section 1, and it goes without saying that it can be changed as necessary.

B-3. Updating the degree table Returning to FIG. 3, when the above operation of supplying the contour vector data in step J3 in step S2 is completed, it is determined in step S3 whether or not to update the slope table T1. . If it is not updated, the process proceeds to step S5, where the operator determines whether or not to end the process. The operations after step S5 will be further described later.

When updating the Sudo table, the process moves from step S3 to step S4 according to an operator's instruction. This is done after contour line vector data for one page to several pages of rough stones has been supplied.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing details of the frequency table updating operation in step S4 of FIG. 3. FIG.

First, when the operator instructs to update the frequency table T1 and the instruction is transmitted from the control section 1 to the frequency management section 2, the frequency table T1 is sorted in step 541. This is executed by giving a command from the frequency management section 2 to the frequency table sorting section 8, and the character font codes C are sorted in descending order of usage frequency ff1N.

At this point, the active bit A retains the value before sorting.

Next, in step S42, in order to ensure consistency between the frequency table T1 and the active font section 30, the outline vector data corresponding to each character fin 1 to code are arranged in the active font section in descending order of usage frequency IN of the frequency table. 30 and stored.

That is, the frequency management section 2 checks whether or not the character font code C is registered in the active font@processing table T2 to the active font memory management section 3 via the elementary school II 111 section 1. If the character font code C is not registered in the active font management table 2, the outline blank 1 health data will be supplied from the F8 storage disk storage 7 and stored in the active font memory section 5; Active f [registered in font management table T2.

When the contour vector data is stored in the active font memory section 5, the process proceeds from step S43 to step S44.
The active bit Δ of the character font is set to 1''.

Then, in step 845, it is automatically determined whether or not the embedding of all character font codes C in the frequency table T1 has been completed. If not completed (), step S
Steps 842 to S45 are then repeated to process the character font code C with the largest use frequency value N, and steps 842 to S45 are repeated until the final character font code C in the frequency table T1 is reached.

On the other hand, in step 842 during the process, the active font memory unit 5 may run out of free space and the 6-line vector data to be imported cannot be stored any more. At this time, the process goes from step S43 to 846, and the frequency table T
The active bits A of the character fin 1 code in 1 and the character font code with a smaller use frequency value N are all set to O', and the update operation is completed.

By the above processing, the active pill l- in the frequency table T1 is
The state of A and the σ record state in the active font section 30 match.

8-4. Completion of processing and storage of frequency table Returning to FIG. 3 again, when the frequency table updating operation in step S4 is completed as described above, in the next step S5, it is up to the operator to decide whether or not all processing should be completed. It is judged by. When processing is to be continued, the process returns to step S2. - On the other hand, when it is time to end the ash burial, an end instruction from the operator leads to step S6, where the frequency table T1 is stored in the frequency table storage section 9, and all processing ends. In this way, the frequency table T1 created through the operation of supplying the character font outline vector data described above.
By memorizing, step S1 can be performed as necessary.
The frequency table T1 can be called in the initialization operation of .

Therefore, when processing the same type of manuscript, there is an advantage that the hit rate of the active font memory section 5 is improved and the processing interval is shortened. It goes without saying that in step S6, if the operator determines that it is unnecessary, it is possible not to store the frequency table T1.

J5. In the above embodiment, the outline data of the character font is vector data, but it goes without saying that data expressed in a format other than vectors is also applicable.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, a search is performed using a frequency table in which character font codes are arranged in descending order of usage and frequency, and active phonographs are used for character fonts that are frequently used. Since the configuration is such that the outline data of the character font is given from the storage means, the ratio of outputting outline data directly from the outline data storage unit [2] which stores the outline data of all character fonts is low. There is an effect that the outline data of characters 7 on i can be supplied between the classes 114 as a whole.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a character font outline data supply device which is an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2A is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a frequency table, and FIG. 2B is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an active font management table. 3 to 6 are flowcharts 1 to 6 showing the operation of the embodiment. 1... Font memory read/write control unit (control unit), 7
...Character font outline data storage disk device (outline data storage means), 20...Frequency table section (frequency table management means),
3o... Active font section (active font storage means) l
\...Active bit, C...Character font code person Patent attorney Shigeaki Yoshida

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) For each character font with a different character outline, an outline data storage means is provided to store the outline data, and a character font code determined for each character font is inputted to correspond to the character font code. A character font outline data supply device that outputs the outline data, comprising: active font storage means for storing a certain number of the outline data in order of the usage frequency of the character font; Create a frequency table in which the character font codes are arranged according to the order of , and has activation information for each character font code indicating whether outline data of each character font is stored in the active font storage means. and a frequency table management means for retaining, when the character font code is given as input,
The frequency table is searched to check the activation information, and if outline data corresponding to the character font code is stored in the active font storage means, the activation information is given priority over the outline data storage means. A character font outline data supply device, characterized in that the outline data is output from a font storage means.