JPH05197363A - Font file converting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To convert an outline font file not including hinting information to the outline font of another format and the hinting information. CONSTITUTION:An outline data conversion part 31 converts outline data inputted from a font file input part 2 to a targeted format. An automatic hinting generating part 32 automatically generates the hinting information to finely arrange a font from inputted outline data, and generated hinting information is converted to the one of targeted format, and is outputted to a font file output part 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a font file conversion method, and more particularly to a method for converting a font file represented in an arbitrary format into a font file represented in another arbitrary different format.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In desktop publishing, personal computers, word processors, digital fax machines, etc., character font data is prepared in the apparatus. Such font data is usually held by a dot pattern method, an outline method, or a combination thereof. The font representation is then converted to a dot pattern for displaying and printing the outline font.

[0003]

When converting the above outline font into a dot pattern, there is a problem that the line widths that form the characters vary, and so-called hinting processing is performed to correct this. ing.
Further, the outline font is converted into another format, or the outline font is converted into a dot pattern of another format.
However, there is a problem that the file size becomes large because the hinting information for the hinting process is held in the conventional font file.

An object of the present invention is to provide a font file conversion method capable of converting an outline font file containing no hinting information into outline (or dot pattern) of another format and hinting information.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, in the invention according to claim 1, the input outline data of the first format is converted into the outline data of the second format, and at the same time, It is characterized in that the hinting generated based on the outline data of the first format is converted into the second format.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the first input
After the hinting is automatically generated from the outline data of the format, the generated hinting is added to the outline data, and the hinting-processed outline data is expanded into a dot pattern.
It is characterized by converting to the format of.

According to a third aspect of the invention, the outline data of the first format is data obtained by smoothing dot data.

[0008]

In the outline data conversion unit, the outline data input by the font file input unit is converted into a target format, and in the hinting automatic generation unit, hinting is performed to shape the font beautifully from the input outline data. Information is automatically generated, and the generated hinting information is converted into a target format and output. Thereby, the outline font file which does not include the hinting information of the arbitrary format is converted into the outline font file of the other arbitrary format, and at the same time, the hinting information of the other arbitrary format is generated.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of the present embodiment. In the figure, 1 is a control unit that controls the whole, 2 is a font file input unit that does not include hinting information, 3 is a font data conversion unit, and 4 is a font file output unit. The font data conversion unit 3 is provided with an outline data conversion unit 31 and a hinting automatic generation unit 32. In the present embodiment, the outline data is converted into outline data of another format and the input outline data is converted into a hint. Generating hinting information and converting the generated hinting information into another format.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the format conversion process of the first embodiment. The operation will be described with reference to FIG. 3 is input (step 201).
Then, glyph outline data is input from the font file input unit 2 (steps 202, 203, 2).
04).

The outline data conversion unit 31 converts the input outline data into a target format (step 205), and the hinting automatic generation unit 3 is used.
In 2, the hinting information for beautifully shaping the font is automatically generated from the input outline data, the generated hinting information is converted into a target format (step 206), and these are used for glyph data. It is stored in the buffer (step 207). The above process is performed for all glyphs. When all the glyphs have been processed (step 203), the data for defining the font file is output to the font file output unit 4 according to the request of the target format (step 20).
9). Then, the glyph stored in the buffer and converted in format is output to the font file output unit 4 (steps 211, 212, 213).

<Second Embodiment> FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of another embodiment of the present invention. In the second embodiment, an outline font file that does not include hinting information is converted into a dot pattern in another format. The font data conversion unit 3 includes a hinting automatic generation unit 32.
A hinting application section 33 and a dot development section 34 are provided. Further, a designation unit 5 for designating the font size is provided.

FIG. 4 is a processing flowchart for converting outline font data into dot pattern data. The operation will be described with reference to FIG. 4. First, data for defining a font file such as the number of outline data of all glyphs (character patterns) and the maximum number of contour lines will be described.
Font file input unit 2 to font data conversion unit 3
(Step 401). Further, the font size designating section 5 designates an output font size (step 402). Then, glyph outline data is input from the font file input unit 2 (step 40).
3, 404, 405).

The font data converter 3 scales the input glyph data to a designated size (step 4).
06), the hinting automatic generation unit 32 automatically generates hinting information for beautifully shaping the font from the input outline data, and the hinting application unit 33 applies the generated hinting to the outline ( Step 407). Subsequently, the dot expansion unit 34 expands the hinting-processed outline data into a dot pattern (step 408) and temporarily stores it in a buffer (step 409). The above process is performed for all glyphs. When all the glyphs have been processed (step 404), the data for defining the font file including the font size etc. is added to the font file output unit 4 according to the request of the target format.
(Step 411). Then, in the font data conversion unit 3, the dot patterns stored in the buffer are sequentially converted into a target format and output to the font file output unit 4 (steps 413, 414, 4).
15).

In this embodiment, the format is converted at the time of output after the data is stored, but the format-converted data may be stored and then sequentially output.

<Third Embodiment> In the above-described embodiment, the input is outline data, whereas in the present embodiment, dot data is input. That is, in the smoothed data generation unit, outline data is created from the input dot data and is input to the font data conversion unit of the above-described first or second embodiment, so that the dot data is converted into outline data of another format or Converted to dot data, you can get the font file of the target format. In addition, in the present embodiment, the input dot data is processed in the above-described first and second embodiments.
Since the hinting processing in is performed, it is possible to obtain a font that is more shaped than the conventional one.

[0018]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, an outline font file containing no hinting information represented in any format is used as an outline font represented in any other format. It can be converted into a file, and hinting information expressed in any other format can be generated. According to the invention described in claim 2, it is possible to generate a dot font file in any other format with hinting from an outline font file that does not include hinting information represented in any format. .. According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the dot pattern data is converted into the outline data and the hinting process is performed, it is possible to obtain a font that is more beautifully shaped than the conventional one.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a format conversion process according to the first embodiment.

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

FIG. 4 is a processing flowchart for converting outline font data into dot pattern data.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of still another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 control unit 2 font file input unit 3 font data conversion unit 4 font file output unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. The input outline data of the first format is converted into the outline data of the second format, and the hinting generated based on the outline data of the first format is applied to the second format. A font file conversion method characterized by converting to. 2. Hinting is automatically generated from the input outline data of the first format, the generated hinting is added to the outline data, and the hinting-processed outline data is converted into a dot pattern. A method for converting a font file, which comprises expanding and then converting to a second format. 3. The font file conversion method according to claim 1, wherein the outline data of the first format is data obtained by smoothing dot data.