JPH05216457A - Data output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To store contour line data with a smaller storage capacity by storing information instructing the combination of horizontal and vertical lines and information of lengths and directions in the particular shapes of a part of contour line data of characters. CONSTITUTION:CPU 12 consists of a data reading part 32, a data restoring part 34 for restoring the compressed contour line data and an outline coverting part 36 for converting outline data to dot data. Dot data obtained from the outline converting part 36 are stored in a dot data memory 22 and the outline data such as the compressed characters and signs are stored in a character ROM 14. The compression of contour line data to the combined shapes of the horizontal and vertical lines of the contour line data of characters in a character ROM 14 is performed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data output device capable of efficiently storing outline data of characters such as characters and symbols.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, as an apparatus for generating characters such as characters and symbols, there is an outline method using contour data of characters and symbols (hereinafter referred to as outline data). This method reads out outline data from the storage unit according to the index code signal, scales it to an arbitrary point size, and converts it into dot data.The converted data is output from an output device such as a laser printer. Was there.

In this system, outline data is stored only as straight line and curved line data. For example, in FIG.
The contour shape composed of horizontal lines / vertical lines as shown in (a) or FIG. 3 (c) was stored as shown in FIG. 3 (b) or FIG. 3 (d). Here, s is a flag that designates the start point of one closed loop, and the position of the subsequent x coordinate and y coordinate is the start point. l is a flag that represents a straight line, and the x coordinate following the current position (called the current point),
A straight line to the y-coordinate position is indicated. As described above, conventionally, in order to store the contour shape constituted by the horizontal line and the vertical line, it is necessary to store the x and y coordinate values of the end points of all the straight lines that are configured.

[0004]

However, when the outline font data is stored in the storage device by the above method, there is a problem that a very large storage capacity is required.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a data output device capable of storing outline font data with a small storage capacity.

[0006]

In order to achieve this object, the data conversion apparatus of the present invention uses information representing the distinction between a starting point, a straight line and a curved line of the data of the character outline and a data group of coordinate value data. In addition, a data storage unit that stores information indicating a combination of horizontal lines and vertical lines, information about the lengths and directions of the horizontal lines and vertical lines, and data for restoring the contour line data stored by compression. And restoration means.

[0007]

According to the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, the data storage means provides the flag data for instructing the combination of the horizontal line and the vertical line for the portion where the outline of the character is composed of the horizontal line and the vertical line. The contour line data is compressed and stored according to the length and direction data of each horizontal line and vertical line. The contour line data compressed and stored in the data storage means is restored to several horizontal and vertical straight lines by the data restoration means.

[0008]

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

In this embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to an apparatus for converting outline data into dot data in a laser printer will be described as an example.

FIG. 1 shows a control circuit of a laser printer.
It is a block diagram which mainly shows the part regarding data conversion. The microcomputer unit 10 which is the main body of this control circuit includes a CPU 12 and a character R which is a data storage means.
OM14, program ROM16, text memory 1
8. A working memory 20 and a dot data memory 22 are provided. These CPU 12 and the like are connected by a bus 26, and the input device 28 and the printing unit 3 are connected to the bus 26.
0 is connected. The input device 28 is for inputting necessary data to the microcomputer unit 10, and the printing unit 30 is a unit for performing printing by the laser printer device based on a command from the microcomputer unit 10.

In the CPU 12, as conceptually shown in FIG. 2, a data reading section 32 and a data restoration processing section 34 as a data restoration means for restoring the compressed contour line data.
And an outline conversion unit 36 for converting outline data into dot data. The text memory 18 stores character data composed of code data input from the input device 28, and the working memory 20 temporarily stores data necessary for executing a program. Further, the dot data memory 22 stores dot data obtained by the outline conversion unit 36, and the character ROM 14 stores compressed outline data of characters, symbols, and the like.

In the contour line data of the character in the character ROM 14 of this embodiment, the contour line data is compressed with respect to the combined shape of the horizontal line and the vertical line shown in FIGS. 4A and 4D. .. Each piece of data is made up of the following flags and coordinate value data accompanying them.

The flags used in this embodiment are: s; start point (movement of current point) l; straight line b; Bezier curve F (HVH); contour line is composed of horizontal line / vertical line / horizontal line F (VHV); Consists of vertical, horizontal and vertical lines *; 1 closed loop ends! ; One character ends.

S, l, and b are conventional shape flags, and indicate what kind of shape is generated starting from the current point. Coordinate value data is stored after the shape flag. s and l store 1 byte each in the order of x coordinate and y coordinate, and in the case of b store 1 byte each in the order of x coordinate and y coordinate, and store 3 pairs of coordinate value data including 2 control points and end points. (B is not shown).

* And! Is also a conventional flag. These do not have coordinate value data.

F (HVH) and F (VHV) are shape flags for storing the contour line data in a compressed form. F
After the (HVH) flag, information about the length and direction of each line is stored in the order of horizontal line; vertical line; horizontal line. Here, the directions follow the xy coordinate system shown in the figure. The compressed data of the contour shape of FIG. 4A is shown in FIG. The coordinate value of the start point is (x0, y0), and the contour line is defined counterclockwise from this point. That is, a horizontal line having a length H1 in the negative direction; a vertical line having a length V1 in the negative direction; and a horizontal line having a length H2 in the positive direction (hereinafter,
Called HVH shape). Similarly, after the F (VHV) flag, the length and direction of each line (hereinafter referred to as VHV shape) are stored in the order of vertical line; horizontal line; vertical line.

For example, if the contour data of the character "A" in FIG. 5 is stored using this method, it is stored in the character ROM 14 as shown in FIG. However, the contour data of the outer loop is defined counterclockwise, and the contour data of the inner loop is defined clockwise.

Next, referring to FIGS. 1 to 9, the CPU 1
The process performed in 2 will be specifically described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 7 and 8.

In step S1 (hereinafter abbreviated as S1; the same applies to other steps), a flag is read from the character ROM 14 of the outline font storage section.

First, the end of one closed loop is checked in S2.
If the flag data of the character ROM is *, S2 is Y
It becomes ES and returns to S1 to read the next flag.

If NO in S2, the end of the data of one character is checked next. Flag data is! If so, S3 is YES.

When S3 is NO, the following data is shape data.

The processes of S4 to S8 are processes for restoring the compressed data.

First, in S4, it is determined whether or not the data is the HVH shape data. When the flag is F (HVH), S4 is YES, and it is understood that the data that follows is HVH-shaped compressed data. In S5, the HVH-shaped compressed data is restored. The HVH shape is composed of horizontal lines; vertical lines; horizontal lines. Therefore, in the case of FIG. 4A, a straight line from the current point (x0, y0) to the position (x1, y1) horizontally moved by −H1 is first obtained, and then (x1, y1).
Position (x2, y2) moved by -V1 from 1) in the vertical direction
Get a straight line up to. Then, finally, a straight line from (x2, y2) to a position (x3, y3) moved by H2 in the horizontal direction is obtained. FIG. 4C shows the restored shape data.

Similarly, in S6, whether or not the data is the VHV shape data,
That is, it is determined whether the flag is F (VHV). S
If YES in step 6, it is determined that the following data is compressed VHV shape data, and the data is restored in step S7. The VHV shape is composed of vertical lines; horizontal lines; vertical lines. Therefore,
In the case shown in FIG. 4D, the current point (x0, y
Position (x1, y1) moved by -V1 from 0) in the vertical direction
Straight line up to, and then from (x1, y1) to H in the horizontal direction
A straight line up to the moved position (x2, y2) is obtained. Finally, a straight line from (x2, y2) to the position (x3, y3) moved by V2 in the vertical direction is obtained. FIG. 4F shows the restored shape data.

The shape data restored as described above and the number N of shape data obtained as a result of the restoration (the number of straight line data in this embodiment) are stored in the working memory 20 in S8. The data determined as NO in S6, that is, the uncompressed shape data is also stored in the working memory 20 together with N = 1.

In S9 to S14, the working memory 20 is used.
The data stored in is read and the processing according to the shape data is performed.

First, in S9, the flag is read from the working memory 20.

In S10, it is determined whether or not it is the starting point. If the flag read from the working memory 20 is's', then S
12 is YES and S11 to S12 are executed. S1
1 reads the coordinate data of the starting point. The coordinate data of the starting point from the working memory 20 is 1 in the x and y directions.
Since it is a pair, there are two. In S12, transformation processing such as scaling, rotation, and italic transformation is performed on the coordinate data read in S11.

If NO in S10, S13
It is determined whether or not it is a Bezier curve. If the flag read from the working memory 20 is'b ', YES is obtained and S14 to S16 are executed. In S14, the Bezier curve coordinate data is read from the working memory 20. The coordinate data of the Bezier curve is in the x direction and y.
Since there are 3 pairs in the direction, there are 6 pairs. In S15, the transformation process is performed as in S12. In S16, B transformed in S15
Expand ezier curve data into short vectors.

If NO is determined in S13, S17
To determine if it is a straight line. If the flag read from the working memory 20 is "l", the determination result is YES and S18 to S19 are executed. In S18, working memory 20
Read straight line coordinate data from. Since there are one pair of straight line data in the x direction and the y direction, there are two straight line data. In S19, the transformation process is performed as in S12.

If the answer is NO in S17, it is determined that there is a data error, and an error process is performed in S20, and the process ends.

In S21, the outline data processed in S10 to S19 is stored in the text memory 18. When n <N in S22, the processing from S9 is repeated. n represents the number of times of processing, N is the working memory 2
It is the number of shape data stored in 0. N = N in S22
If so, the working memory 20 is cleared in S23, and the process returns to S1.

When it is determined in S3 that one character data has ended, the outline data stored in the text memory 18 is converted into dot data in S24. Conversion into dot data is performed using the pixel screen 52 shown in FIG. Pixel screens are computational for converting outline data to dot data, but are shown here as being real for ease of understanding. Further, the pixel here is a minimum printing unit when printing is performed by a laser, and the pixel screens 52 are orthogonal to each other in one plane and are parallel to the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction. , Pixels are defined by a plurality of pixel section lines p provided at equal intervals. In this embodiment, the pixels are square, and dot data indicating whether or not printing / displaying is performed is created for each pixel.
Further, an X-direction defining line x and a Y-direction defining line y which are parallel to the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction and which pass through the center point (hereinafter referred to as the pixel center point) of the image are set. The position of a pixel is represented by the coordinates of the pixel center point. Note that the pixel may have a rectangular shape or another shape.

The pixel screen 52 is supposed to correspond to the printing surface of the printing paper, but in FIG. 9 one character is taken out for easy understanding.
Therefore, the scale values actually attached to the X direction defining line x and the Y direction defining line y in the entire pixel screen 52 are the scale values attached to the X direction defining line x and the Y direction defining line y in FIG. Is added with an appropriate integer value, but here, only one character will be considered. To convert outline data to dot data,
This is performed assuming that the outline of the character is superimposed on the pixel screen 52. In this embodiment, dots are formed at each pixel within the outline of the character.
The bit data of the pixel is set to 1. Although one pixel is wholly or partially included in the contour, in this embodiment, the pixel center point is included in the contour, but the bit data is set to 1.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

For example, the present invention can be applied not only to printers other than laser printers but also to printers other than printers that generally need to convert outline data of characters such as characters and symbols into dot data. Applicable.

In this embodiment, the shape to be compressed is a shape formed by combining three horizontal lines or vertical lines. However, the shape is not limited to this, and a combination shape of horizontal lines or vertical lines other than three is used. Is also applicable.

Further, in this embodiment, a set of straight line data is used as the shape to be compressed, but the shape is not limited to this, and other shapes including a curved line can be applied.

[0040]

As is clear from the above description,
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a character / symbol storage device capable of storing outline font data with a small storage capacity.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a data conversion unit of a control circuit of a laser printer of this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram conceptually showing a function of a CPU.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing contour shape data according to a conventional method.

FIG. 4 shows compressed data and decompressed data of a shape composed of horizontal lines and vertical lines.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a contour shape of “A”.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing data obtained by compressing “A” data by this method.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a data conversion unit.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a data conversion unit.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a pixel screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 CPU 18 Text memory 20 Working memory 32 Data reading unit 34 Data restoration processing unit 36 Outline conversion unit 52 Pixel screen

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location G06F 15/72 355 U 9192-5L G06K 9/48 9289-5L

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A data output device comprising a storage device for storing character contour data as a data group of coordinate value data and information for identifying a starting point, a straight line, and a curve, wherein the character contour data is Data storing means for storing a combination of horizontal and vertical lines for a part of a special shape of the line data, and data for storing the length and direction of the horizontal and vertical lines; and the contour line compressed and stored. A data output device comprising: a data restoration unit for restoring data.