JPH0546146A - Character pattern generating method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To generate a character pattern which is faithful to an original character without being affected by the size of the generated character pattern. CONSTITUTION:A CPU 101 reads out the dot numbers and coordinates of respective longitudinal and lateral reference dots by referring to a storage part 102 for contour dot array number and coordinate data constituting the strokes of a character, multiplies them by an enlargement or reduction ratio, and performs integer conversion processing to determine the coordinates of the reference points, which are stored temporarily in a reference point coordinate temporary storage part 103.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a character / graphics generation method for outputting a character / graphics or the like to an output device such as a CRT or a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a recent character / graphics generation method using a laser, characters are generated using the same typeface (so-called original characters) from a small character of 1 mm square to a large character of 50 mm square. Generally, when the original character data is multiplied by the enlargement / reduction ratio to generate a character graphic of the required character size, the outline point coordinates after enlargement / reduction are placed on pixels, etc. The coordinate value (non-integer) obtained by multiplying the coordinate data of the point by the enlargement / reduction rate is rounded off to an integer, but the coordinates of the contour point after enlargement / reduction are rounded off independently for each point. When the integers are processed into integers, the line width is the same at the original character stage, but if the coordinates of each contour point are enlarged or reduced and the integers are rounded off, the line widths will be different. An example has occurred, and due to this It was also occur if you significantly impair the design of the character.

Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 5, it was general to store only true contours as contour data. When outputting a character graphic in an arbitrary size, it can be obtained by multiplying the stored coordinate data of the contour points of the original character by an enlargement / reduction ratio for converting into a character graphic of a required size. When the enlargement / reduction ratio is applied, the coordinate values of the contour points are generally non-integer, that is, decimal, so that integer processing such as rounding or rounding down is required to place these contour points on pixels. To generate a figure, the contour line between contour points is calculated by using the coordinates of each contour point obtained by the integer processing in this way, by an interpolation method such as a straight line, a quadratic curve, a cubic curve, or a circular arc. It is realized by filling the inside of the contour line.

The dot sequence in FIG. 6 is an enlargement of the outline dot sequence of the character "middle" stored in FIG. 5, and the width of the three vertical lines of the character "middle" is an explanation of the problem. Because of this, it is assumed that the original characters have the same thickness. Points P to U in FIGS. 5 and 6 are contour points that determine their line widths. The points P to U are the coordinate values with the scaling ratio still applied and the values before the integer conversion process. The points P'to U'in the figure are obtained by the scaling ratio. In order to place the coordinate points P to U of the contour points on the pixels and the like, a conventional method, that is, the coordinate points P to U of each point are individually rounded off to integers. This is an example of the case. It should be noted that the equally spaced lines shown at the top of the figure indicate integer coordinate positions. Figure 6
When the integer processing is performed independently for each point as shown by, the three vertical lines having the same line width before the integer processing, that is, the distances between points PQ, RS, and TU are , And that different line widths are obtained by performing integer processing. As described above, there is a problem in that the designability of characters is impaired due to enlargement / reduction.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to solve such a problem, and its purpose is to make a character figure that is as faithful as the original character depending on the size of the character figure to be generated. Instead, it is to provide a method for generating efficiently.

[0006]

According to the character and figure generating method of the present invention, the contour line of the character and figure is stored as discrete point sequence data, and the contour line of the character and figure is linear and quadratic from this discrete point sequence data. A character and figure generating method for generating a character and figure by filling the inside of the contour line by calculating by interpolation of a curve, a cubic curve, an arc, etc., and has a storage means for storing discrete point sequence data, A character figure to be generated is divided into portions corresponding to strokes (hereinafter referred to as stroke parts) in advance, and contour point sequence coordinate data is stored for each of the stroke parts. , One reference point is set for each of the vertical axis and the horizontal axis, and the coordinate data other than the reference point among the coordinate data of the contour points forming the stroke component is stored as relative coordinates from the reference point. Featuring That is a character figure generation method.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows an example of a sequence of contour points of a character "middle" of a Chinese character, in which the Chinese character "middle" is composed of five stroke parts. The numbers I to V in the figure indicate the stroke parts.

The point sequence in FIG. 2 shows a point sequence of contour points of the same portion as in FIG. 6 used to explain the problems in the conventional method. In this embodiment, first, a reference point is set for each stroke component. Taking FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 as examples, points A, C, and E correspond to the reference points of the respective stroke parts. Next, with respect to only this reference point, the coordinate value obtained by multiplying the enlargement / reduction rate is subjected to integer processing such as rounding so that it is placed on a pixel. Taking FIG. 2 as an example, the reference point A is fixed to the point A ′, the point C is fixed to the point C ′, and the point E is fixed to the point E ′. Next, since each contour point other than the reference point is stored as relative coordinates from the reference point, the coordinates of the reference point subjected to the integer processing are multiplied by the scaling factor, and the relative coordinate value is added. It can be obtained by Points B ′, D ′, and F ′ are the points obtained thereby. Explaining in terms of the distance, for example, in the case of the point B ′, the point B ′ such that the distance between points AB = the distance between points A′B ′ is obtained. Furthermore, since the points B ′, D ′, and F ′ obtained here are also placed on the pixels at the time of output, integer processing such as rounding is required, and the points B ″, D ″, and points in FIG. F ″ is the final coordinate of the contour point obtained by the integer processing.
Since the points other than the reference point are stored as relative coordinates from the reference point, the whole stroke part moves in parallel as the reference point moves when the coordinates of the reference point are converted into integers. Since the fractional part of the coordinates of each contour point is equivalent to the fractional part of the relative coordinate values, a plurality of strokes having the same line width before scaling is converted to an integer after the scaling as shown in FIG. Also has the same line width, or when they become thin and disappear, they disappear at the same time. The above is an example of line width matching for a plurality of vertical lines.
By setting the vertical and horizontal directions independently, it is possible to perform line width matching for horizontal lines as well.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a system configuration for implementing the embodiment of the present invention. The system is a CPU 101, a contour point sequence number forming a stroke and a coordinate data storage unit 10.
2, reference point integer coordinate temporary storage unit 103, contour line generation unit 1
04, a contour line interior filling unit 105, and a character / graphic output device 106. The structural feature of the present embodiment is that it has a contour point sequence number forming a stroke, a coordinate data storage unit 102, and a reference point integer coordinate temporary storage unit 103. Is shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is an example in which the point sequence data of the contour points of the Chinese character “middle” shown in FIG. 1 is stored.
It is shown that it is composed of a point sequence including contour points C and D, and the reference point in the horizontal axis direction is point C. CPU 101
First, referring to the contour point sequence number forming the stroke and the coordinate data storage unit 102, the point numbers of the reference points in the vertical and horizontal axis directions and their coordinates are read out and multiplied by the enlargement / reduction ratio, and then converted into integers. The coordinates of the reference point are determined by performing the processing, and the coordinates are temporarily stored in the reference point integer coordinate temporary storage unit 103. Next, for coordinates other than the reference point, the outline point sequence number and the relative coordinates of each outline point are sequentially called from the coordinate data storage unit 102, and the scaling is calculated.
The integer coordinates of the reference point temporarily stored in the reference point integer coordinate temporary storage unit 103 are added to the result, and then integer processing is performed, and the result is sent to the contour line generation unit 104 to generate the contour line, and the filling unit A character figure is generated by filling the inside at 105.

As described above, according to the present invention, when the line width matching for enlarging / reducing a character / figure is performed, it is possible to perform the processing quickly and easily without requiring a plurality of calculations.

[0011]

As described above, it is possible to easily and quickly avoid the nonuniformity of the line width due to the enlargement / reduction of the character graphic, and it is possible to improve the character quality.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a point sequence of contour points of a character given as an example for explaining an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a point sequence when integer processing is performed according to an embodiment of the present invention for the point sequence in FIG.

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

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an internal configuration example of a contour point sequence number storage unit in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a view for explaining a conventional point sequence of contour points of a character.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a point sequence when integer conversion processing is performed on the point sequence in FIG. 5 by a conventional method.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A contour line of a character figure is stored as discrete point sequence data, and the contour line of the character figure is calculated from this discrete point sequence data by interpolation of a straight line, a quadratic curve, a cubic curve, an arc, or the like. In the character and figure generating method for generating a character and figure by filling the inside of the contour line, the character and figure generating means has a storage means for storing discrete contour point sequence data, and the generated character and figure corresponds to a stroke in advance. (Hereinafter referred to as a stroke component), the contour point sequence coordinate data is stored for each stroke component, and reference points are independently set in the vertical and horizontal directions from the contour point sequence that constitutes the stroke component. Is set, and the coordinates other than the reference point in the coordinate data of the contour points forming the stroke component are stored as relative coordinates from the reference point.