JPH04240695A - Gradational character generating method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To generate gradational characters which varies in density from linear threshold value patterns and density information on the characters. CONSTITUTION:Character pattern data is constituted of position information on a skeleton point Pi, line width information at the skeleton point Pi, and density information at the skeleton point Pi. Further, a linear threshold value matrix for generating a basic pattern is generated and stored. The linear basic pattern is generated first from the density information on the skeleton point and the threshold value matrix. At this time, when the size of the threshold value matrix and the line width are different, an enlarging or reducing process is performed. Thus, basic patterns which are generated by skeleton points are put together to generate a pseudo gradation pattern. This is sectioned into areas of optional size and gradational character data is generated according to the number of black dots in each area.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for generating gradation characters on a display device or the like.

0002

[Prior Art] In order to display gradation characters with gradation changes within one character on a display device, etc., conventionally, a character pattern with gradation is stored as multi-value data for each pixel, and then the character pattern is There was no other way but to play it.

0003

[Problem to be solved by the invention] However, with this method,
a. Memory capacity becomes huge b. There were problems such as the inability to handle processing such as scaling.

0004

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a gradation character generation method that generates characters with shading with a small amount of data. creates a pseudo gradation pattern based on a threshold pattern in which gradation information is arranged one-dimensionally in m dots and a plurality of density information Di (i=1, 2,..., n) of character pattern data,

[0005] The pseudo gradation pattern is divided into regions of arbitrary size, and two-dimensional gradation character data is created based on the number of black dots in each region to generate characters with shading. .

[0006]

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a processing flow showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a device suitable for carrying out the present invention. In FIG. 2, 21 is a CPU, 22 is a system bus, and 23 is a character pattern storage section that stores character pattern data. In this embodiment, the character pattern data is composed of information illustrated in FIG. 3, for example.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating character pattern data. At the beginning, data length 31 indicates the entire length of the data.
is coming. This is followed by skeleton point information 1, 2, ..., n,
Finally, the exit code 32 comes.

Each skeleton point information basically consists of (1). X coordinate value Xi of skeleton point Pi (2). Y coordinate value Yi of skeleton point Pi (3). Line width information Wi(4) at skeleton point Pi. It is composed of density information Di at the skeleton point Pi. Concentration information D
i is determined for each skeleton point so that it will be in a suitable state when a basic pattern is created based on a threshold pattern to be described later.

Reference numeral 24 denotes a gradation character generation section which generates gradation characters using the character pattern data stored in the character pattern storage section 23.

Reference numeral 25 denotes a threshold pattern storage unit, which is used to compare the density information Di with the density information Di to create a basic pattern.
Information on a one-dimensional threshold pattern 41 such as (1) is stored. FIG. 4(1) is an example configured with threshold values 42 of 16 gradations. This threshold value pattern 41 is not limited to that shown in FIG. 4(1), and the number of gradations, arrangement of threshold values, etc. can be arbitrarily determined.

FIG. 4(2) shows a basic pattern created according to the threshold pattern 41 of FIG. 4(1) when the density is "7". In Figure 4 (3), the density is from “12” to “7”.
This is an example of a composite of each basic pattern when it changes to.

Reference numeral 26 denotes an enlarged conversion table, the details of which will be described later. Reference numeral 27 denotes a bitmap memory for bit-expanding the basic pattern generated by the gradation character generation section 24, and 28 a display section for displaying gradation characters and the like.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be explained using FIGS. 1 and 2. First, the CPU 21 reads out the information of the threshold pattern 41 as shown in FIG.
4 (Fig. 1S1). In this embodiment, the threshold pattern 41
A case will be described in which the width (size) of is configured with 16 dots as shown in FIG. 4(1).

The gradation character generation unit 24 reads out one skeleton point information i of a character pattern for creating a gradation character from the character pattern storage unit 23 (S2).

Next, the gradation character generation unit 24 compares each threshold value 42 of the threshold value pattern 41 with the density information Di of the skeleton point information i, and sets the bit where the density information Di is larger to "1".
A basic pattern 43 of 16 dots illustrated in FIG. 4(2) is created (S3).

Next, the gradation character generation unit 24 compares the size of the basic pattern 43 and the line width Wi of the skeleton point information i (
S4).

As a result of the comparison, if the two match, the basic pattern 43 is transferred to the skeleton point information i in the bitmap memory 27.
is output as is to the position indicated by the X coordinate Xi and Y coordinate Yi of the skeleton point Pi (S7).

On the other hand, as a result of comparing the size of the basic pattern 43 and the line width Wi of the skeleton point information i, if the line width Wi is smaller than the size of the basic pattern 43, the reduction process is performed on the basic pattern 43. Then, a reduced pattern is created (S5).

On the other hand, when the line width Wi is larger, the basic pattern 43 is enlarged to create an enlarged pattern (S6).

The reduction process in S5 will now be explained.

FIG. 5 is a processing flow showing the reduction processing in S5 in detail. Here, let the size of the basic pattern 43 be A, the size of the line width Wi be B, and the least common multiple of A and B be C, and the following explanation will be based on an example in which a 16-dot basic pattern is reduced to a 12-dot reduced pattern. conduct.

First, the gradation character generating section 24 multiplies each dot of the basic pattern 43 by (C/A), as shown in FIG.
Create a temporary pattern 61 as shown in (
Figure 5S51). In this example, C/A=3, so Figure 6
A temporary pattern 61 of 48 dots is created by multiplying each dot of the basic pattern 43 by three as shown in FIG.

Next, (C/B) dots are read out from the temporary pattern 61 (S52). In this embodiment, since C/B=4, four dots are read out from the provisional pattern 61 as shown in FIG.

Next, the ratio of white dots to black dots of the read (C/B) dots is determined (S53), and the number of black dots is 50.
% or more, the dot in the reduced pattern is set as a black dot (S54), and if it is less than 50%, the dot is set as a white dot (S55).

The processes of S52 to S55 are repeated (S56) to create a 12-dot reduced pattern 62 as shown as 62 in FIG.

Next, the enlargement process shown in FIG. 1S6 will be explained.

FIG. 7 is a processing flow showing the enlargement processing in detail. Here, the size of the basic pattern 43 is A, the line width Wi
The following explanation will be given by taking as an example a case in which the size of the pattern is B and a basic pattern of 16 dots is enlarged to an enlarged pattern of 24 dots.

First, the gradation character generation unit 24 calculates how many times the basic pattern 43 should be multiplied in order to create an enlarged pattern (S61 in FIG. 7). That is, calculate (B/A) and let C be the integer part of the quotient. When expanding from 16 dots to 24 dots, C=1.

Next, the number D of dots remaining from (B/A) is determined (S62). When enlarging to 24 dots, (B-
A×C)=D(=8).

Next, the enlarged conversion table 26 illustrated in FIG.
One allocated bit is read from the address indicated by the remaining number of dots D in a (S63). The enlargement conversion table 26a in FIG.
is the address 81, the same size as the basic pattern 43,
That is, in the case of this embodiment, 16 bits of allocated bits 82
Let be the data. If the k-th bit of this allocated bit is "1", the k-th dot of the basic pattern 43 is expanded to (C+1) dots, and if it is "0", it is expanded to C dots to create an enlarged pattern. It means that.

The gradation character generation unit 24 determines whether the k-th bit read from the enlarged conversion table 26a is "1" (S64). In the case of this embodiment, since D=8, the kth 1 bit from address 8 of the enlarged conversion table 26a is read out for determination.

If the read bit is "1", the k-th dot of the basic pattern 43 is enlarged to (C+1) dots to create an enlarged pattern (S65). That is, in this embodiment, the k-th dot of the basic pattern 43 is doubled to create two dots of the enlarged pattern.

On the other hand, if the read bit is “0”,
The dot of the basic pattern 43 is enlarged to a C dot to create an enlarged pattern (S66). That is, in this embodiment, one dot of the basic pattern 43 is directly used as one dot of the enlarged pattern.

[0034] When the above processing of S63 to S66 is completed,
The next (k+1)th 1 bit is read from the allocation bit 82 of address D of the enlargement conversion table 26a and the same process is repeated (S67) to create an enlarged pattern 91 as shown in FIG.

Next, another embodiment of the enlarging process will be described. In this embodiment, the expansion conversion table 26 includes an expansion bit table 26b shown in FIG. 10 in addition to the table 26a shown in FIG.

The expanded bit table 26b shown in FIG. 10 has an 8-bit address 101. Of the 8 bits,
The upper two bits are the enlarged dot j and the next dot j+1 of the basic pattern 43, and the lower six bits are the number of dots (enlargement rate) of the enlarged pattern to which one dot of the basic pattern corresponds.

The enlarged bit table 26b stores an enlarged pattern 102 of the number of dots indicated by the lower six bits of the address in correspondence with the address 101, as shown in FIG.

This embodiment differs from the previous embodiment in that the processing for generating enlarged patterns in S65 and S66 of FIG. 7 is performed as follows.

First, the dot j to be enlarged and the next dot j+1 are read out from the basic pattern 43. When dot j of the basic pattern is the last dot, the first dot of the basic pattern is selected as the j+1 dot.

An enlarged pattern corresponding to a total of 8 bits of address, with the 2 dots as the upper 2 bits and the number of dots (enlargement rate) of the enlarged pattern as the lower 6 bits, is read from the enlarged bit table 26b in FIG.

For example, dot j read from the basic pattern
, j+1 are "10" and the number of dots in the enlarged pattern is 2 dots, "10" is read out from the address "10000010" as the enlarged pattern for the dot "1".

As described above, when enlarging dot j of the basic pattern, the dot j and the next dot j+1 are read out and enlarged according to the enlargement bit table 26b.

As described above, when enlarging in the previous embodiment, the corresponding dot of the basic pattern was simply enlarged, whereas in this embodiment, the state of the next bit is reflected in the enlargement. Therefore, when enlarged to a particularly large magnification (that is, when the line width is thick), the enlarged pattern 111 of 48 dots is created from the basic pattern 43 of 16 dots in FIG. 11 without depending on the size (line width). As illustrated in the following, it is possible to generate an enlarged pattern with a fineness in which the absolute interval between black dots and white dots is almost constant.

The reduced pattern and enlarged pattern created in S5 and S6 of FIG. 1 as described above are stored in the bitmap memory 2.
X coordinate Xi, Y coordinate Y of skeleton point Pi of skeleton point information i of 7
It is output to the position indicated by i (S7).

When the process of creating a basic pattern (hereinafter referred to as basic pattern including reduced pattern and enlarged pattern) at one skeleton point Pi is completed through the processes of S2 to S7 described above, the process at skeleton point Pi+1 is next performed. This process is performed for all skeleton points of one character (S8
).

As described above, the basic pattern for one character is bit-developed as shown in FIG. Hereinafter, the pattern developed as shown in FIG. 12 will be referred to as a pseudo gradation pattern.

Next, gradation character data is created from the pseudo gradation pattern (S9).

FIG. 13 is a processing flow showing the procedure for creating gradation character data.

First, the pseudo gradation pattern in FIG.
The area is divided into two-dimensional areas each consisting of a plurality of dots as shown in 4(1) (S91). The size of the area at this time is arbitrary, and is determined, for example, depending on the number of gradations of characters desired to be generated. Figure 1
In the example of 4(1), the area is divided into 8×8 dots.

Next, the number of black dots within the area is counted (S92), and gradation character data representing the number of black dots as a percentage is created (S93). Note that the gradation character data does not necessarily have to be expressed as a percentage, and may be, for example, the number of black dots itself.

Then, the processes of S92 and S93 are performed for the entire area (S94), and two-dimensional gradation character data of a character as shown in FIG. 14(2) is created.

If characters are generated by controlling the brightness of the display section 28 in accordance with the gradation character data shown in FIG. 14(2) created as described above, it is possible to display gradation characters with shading. .

[0053]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention,
Without increasing the amount of character data to be memorized,
To easily generate gradation characters with two-dimensional shading. Moreover, by appropriately changing the threshold pattern, the shading can be varied in a variety of ways. It also has the advantage of being able to flexibly respond to changes in the line width of characters.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

[Figure 1] Processing flow showing an embodiment of the present invention

[Figure 2]
A diagram showing an example of a device suitable for implementing the present invention

[Figure 3] Diagram illustrating character pattern data

[Figure 4]
Diagram illustrating threshold patterns etc.

[Figure 5] Processing flow showing detailed reduction processing

[Figure 6] Explanatory diagram of reduction processing

[Figure 7] Process flow showing enlargement processing in detail

[Figure 8]
A diagram showing an example of an enlarged conversion table

[Figure 9]
Diagram illustrating an enlarged pattern

[Figure 10] Diagram showing an expanded bit table

[Fig. 11] Explanatory diagram of enlargement processing

[Figure 12] Diagram illustrating a state in which multiple basic patterns are developed

[Figure 13] Processing flow for creating gradation character data

[Figure 14]
Explanatory diagram for creating gradation character data

[Explanation of symbols]

23 Character pattern storage section 24 Gradation character generation part 25 Threshold pattern storage unit 26 Enlargement conversion table 27 Bitmap memory

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A threshold pattern in which gradation information is arranged one-dimensionally in m dots and a plurality of density information Di(
A pseudo gradation pattern is created based on A gradation character generation method characterized in that gradation character data is created to generate characters with shading.