JPH06202611A - Pattern generation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To flexibly cope with even a complicated pattern output indication and to output a pattern of high quality by generating the pattern from an outline font by using a final output from indication and 2nd information indicating the pattern itself and then outputting the pattern. CONSTITUTION:After an imaginary character (string) is processed by enlargement/reduction scaling in the character width (height) direction, slanting transformation, and scale factor conversion in an x-y coordinate system space, the output position of the character (string) is determined in the x-y coordinate system space and the character (string) is rotated. Coordinate transformation generated corresponding to indications of respective parameter are put together in order to determine a final dot expansion position. The processings based upon a series of the indication of the parameters are displayed as the result of one transformation for the x-y coordinate system and an indication to a connected printer device becomes only the result of final simple coordinate transformation, so that the character (string) can be outputted in consideration of all requests indicated with the parameters by using a device font incorporated in the printer device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pattern generator, and more particularly to a pattern generator for outputting a pattern and a pattern string in a pattern output position, a pattern type, and a pattern output mode designated for a display and a printer. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a printer device using a conventional outline font, the outline font is controlled, and dot development is performed based on the outline font.
The shape of the character was expressed (rasterized) from the set of dots.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, when outputting a character pattern based on an outline font, in addition to a rotation output command or a rotation output from the CPU at an arbitrary angle for a character (column) to be output, Expansion /
There is no unified control to deal with a combination of a reduction instruction and an italic output instruction, and there are the following problems.

(1) When an output instruction is issued by rotating the font and character string arrangement direction from the CPU at an arbitrary angle, a high-quality character font built in a display device and a printing device connected to the CPU ( It is not possible to output characters using device fonts, and it is necessary to emulate the characters (types) requested by the CPU with characters composed of figures such as lines and rectangles and output them. , High-quality character pattern output is not possible. In addition, the character pattern output speed decreases because the character emulation process is required.

(2) Characters (string) at an arbitrary angle from the CPU
Even if an instruction such as enlargement / reduction or italic character output is issued in addition to the rotation instruction, one or more of the instructed processing cannot be performed because there is no unified character pattern output control. It was necessary to limit the use of the device under operating conditions.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and provides a pattern generating method and apparatus capable of flexibly accommodating more pattern output forms and capable of high-speed and high-quality pattern output. Is intended.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the pattern generating apparatus of the present invention has the following constitution. That is, based on the information given from the outside,
A pattern generation device for dot-expanding an outline font to generate and outputting a pattern, wherein, for example, a pattern output position, an output direction, etc. are determined from input means for inputting the information and information input by the input means. Separation means for separating the first information indicating the output form of the pattern and the second information indicating the pattern itself, and a virtual final output form instruction of the pattern based on the first information. Output form instruction generating means for generating; pattern generating means for generating a pattern by dot-developing the outline font based on the final output form instruction and the second information; and the pattern generating means. And a pattern generating device for outputting the pattern.

[0008]

With the above configuration, the present invention virtually assumes the final output form of the pattern by using the first information indicating the separated output form of the pattern such as the pattern output position and the output direction. Generated instruction, and using the final output form instruction and the second information indicating the pattern itself,
Operates to generate and output patterns from outline fonts.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[Description of Apparatus Configuration (FIG. 1)] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a pattern generating apparatus 1 which is a typical embodiment of the present invention. The pattern generation apparatus 1 is composed of a pattern generation control unit 100 and a printer unit 108, and various patterns are output from the printer unit 108 based on data received by the pattern generation control unit 100 from the outside. The pattern generation device 1 can be connected to a display device instead of the printer unit 108 to display a pattern of characters or figures generated.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a CPU for controlling the entire apparatus, and for executing a series of processes for generating a pattern in accordance with an input instruction and executing a process for transferring the pattern to a printer device, and 102 denotes a printer device. An input / output interface, 103 is a RAM used as a work area for various processes executed by the CPU 101, and 10
Reference numeral 4 is an input panel for inputting various instructions for pattern generation from outside the apparatus, 105 is an interface for inputting various instructions and information for pattern generation from an external device (for example, a word processor), and 106 is the CPU 10.
ROM storing various programs executed by 1
7 is a CPU bus for connecting each device component, and 1
A printer unit (PR) 08 outputs a pattern.

From the input device (keyboard, mouse) 104, character size (size), character decoration (bold character,
Italic characters, etc., character scaling (enlargement / reduction), rotation of characters or character strings, etc.
The input of character type (typeface) setting, the start position, the output position setting of the expansion position of the designated output form, etc., and the character code of the output character (character string), the number of characters, etc. are performed. However, such various instruction inputs can be automatically input based on the information received by the interface 105 without using the input device 104.

In addition to the control program 110 for controlling the entire apparatus, the ROM 106 also has an analysis processing program 11 for analyzing various input parameters.
1. Setting output attribute and form specified by each parameter,
In addition to the command generated by the parameter processing program 112 and the parameter processing program 112 that generates a command for instructing how to develop a dot based on the output position, characters (strings) ) Output form expansion program 113 for generating an instruction for instructing how dot expansion is performed, these generated instructions, input character code,
Output control command conversion program 114 for generating an output control command for the printer unit 108 based on the font information
Is stored.

Further, the printer unit 108 has a built-in font (device font) for performing high-quality pattern output, and an output control command sent from the pattern generation control unit 100 via the input / output interface 102 is used. Based on this, the font is read, processed and output.

[Pattern output control processing (FIGS. 2 to 4)]
Next, the pattern output control processing executed by the pattern generating apparatus having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 and the output examples shown in FIGS. In this process, the pattern generation control unit 100 analyzes the pattern output instruction given to the pattern generation device 1 and outputs a pattern such as a character using a device font built in the printer unit 108. To do.

First, in step S1, the character type of an output typeface (Mincho typeface, Gothic typeface, text typeface type, etc.) is input.
In step S2, the input character type information is stored in the RAM 10
3 is stored in the font information data storage area 414 secured in No. 3 and prepared for the subsequent processing. Further, in step S3, the character output position, character output style (italic, normal,
Input of various parameters such as vertical writing, horizontal writing, etc., output form (character scaling (changing aspect ratio of character pattern), rotation of character (column)), character code corresponding to character (column), number of characters, etc. To do.

Next, in step S4, steps S1 to S
Various parameters input in the processing of 3 and character data (character code, number of characters, etc.) are distinguished and classified. Here, with respect to the data distinguished as the character data, the process proceeds to step S13, and the data is stored in the character data storage area 413 secured in the RAM 103 to prepare for the subsequent processes. Further, for the data discriminated as parameters, the process proceeds to step S5 to analyze the parameters.

In other words, the basic idea of the pattern output control processing of this embodiment is that the input information required for pattern output is separated into control parameters, character codes, and font information. Information is processed by introducing the coordinate system described below, and then the character code and font information are merged to generate the final pattern output control command.

In step S6, based on the result of the parameter analysis performed in step S5, the parameter is set to a parameter relating to a character output position, a character output style, an output form instruction, and other instructions (for example, character size,
Parameters such as character thickness). Here, with respect to the parameters separated as those relating to other instructions, the processing is performed in step S12, the print character attribute processing according to the instructions. Now, with respect to the parameters separated as the character output position, the character output style, and the output form instruction, the process proceeds to step S7, and the processing for each setting item is sequentially performed from step S7.

In the processing of steps S7 to S11, the virtual character data is processed based on the given parameters without using the actual character code or font data, and finally output from the printer unit 108. Coordinate system space (XY)
The coordinate system) is used to find out how the virtual data is coordinate-converted and output.

In step S7, horizontal writing / vertical writing characters,
Set the output style such as italic and plain characters.
The process for this output style instruction will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b), a certain virtual character (column) (here, "A", "ABCD ...") is horizontally written, and dot expansion is performed as it is as a normal character. The pattern in the case of doing is shown. In order to determine each dot position of this pattern, a coordinate system (x-y coordinate system) having the x-axis in the horizontal direction and the y-axis in the vertical direction with the lower left corner of each character as the origin is used.

Now, the parameter is "horizontal writing italic"
3A and FIG.
By subjecting the pattern shown in (b) to coordinate conversion and developing the pattern in an oblique coordinate system,
Italic characters as shown in FIGS. 3C and 3D are expressed. This conversion process can be realized by obtaining the coordinate position by considering the italic angle (θ) in the dot position in the xy coordinate system.

Further, when the parameter indicates "vertical writing italic", FIG. 3 (a) and FIG. 3 (b).
Coordinate conversion (parallel movement in the x-axis direction and 90 degree rotation movement around the coordinate origin) for the pattern shown in
Is applied and the pattern is developed in an oblique coordinate system, so that italic characters as shown in FIGS. 3E and 3F are expressed.

As described above, in step S7, as shown in FIG. 3, the character width (x) and the character height (y) of each character are defined using the coordinate system (xy coordinate system). The dot pattern is changed so that the italic character and the horizontal writing / vertical writing character are expressed according to the specified parameters of the width (x) and the character height (y).

Next, in step S8, character scaling processing is performed based on the value designated by the parameter. This is a process of changing the character width (x) and the character height (y) based on the set character height / character width ratio.

Then, in step S9, a character rotation process is performed based on the value designated by the parameter. In step S10, the character string is rotated based on the value designated by the parameter. This is a process of rotating the character pattern of the output style processed in step S7 by the angle (φ) given by the parameter and performing bit expansion in the XY coordinate system that defines the pattern output position.

The rotation process of the character or character string in steps S9 to S10 will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a character pattern obtained by further rotating the character (string) having the output style shown in FIG. 4 (a), 4 (c), and 4
FIG. 4E shows the rotation processing result regarding the character, and FIG. 4B, FIG. 4D, and FIG. 4F show the rotation processing result regarding the character string.

First, consider a new coordinate system called an XY coordinate system. This is used for assuming the printer paper of the printer unit 108 or the screen of the display device and determining to which position on the paper or the screen the pattern is to be output. Here, the upper left end of the sheet (effective output area) or screen (effective output area) is used as the coordinate origin, and the Cartesian coordinate system has the X axis in the horizontal direction and the Y axis in the vertical direction.

4 (a) and 4 (b), the character type is "New York in New York", the output style is "horizontal writing", the character scaling is "y: x = 1: 1", and the italic angle (.theta.). In the case where a parameter of “45 ° counterclockwise” is given as the rotation angle (φ) of the character (column) for the character (column) pattern for which the parameter of “0 °” is designated as It shows the expansion of characters (columns) into the XY coordinate space. In this rotation processing, the character width (x) and the character height (y) defined in the xy coordinate system are expanded in the XY coordinate system that defines the output position, and rotated 45 ° counterclockwise. Can be realized by

4 (c) and 4 (d) are respectively shown in FIG.
Among the parameters given to the character (row) character pattern shown in (a) and FIG. 4 (b), "italic" is added as the output style, and "counterclockwise" is added as the character (row) rotation angle (φ). 9 shows a character (row) pattern in the XY coordinate space when a parameter of 90 ° "is given to the. This expands the character width (x) and the character height (y) defined in the xy coordinate system in the XY coordinate system that defines the output position, and rotates 90 in the counterclockwise direction.
It can be realized by rotating by ° and converting the character height (y) based on the italic angle (θ).

4 (e) and 4 (f) are respectively shown in FIG.
Of the parameters given to the character (string) character pattern shown in (a) and FIG. 4 (b), the value of the parameter for character scaling is set to "y: x = 1: 2", and the character (string) is set. It shows a character (row) pattern in the XY coordinate space when a parameter of "135 ° counterclockwise" is given as the rotation angle (φ). This is to expand the character width (x) and the character height (y) in the xy coordinate system based on the (y / x) ratio set by the character scaling parameter, and define the output position in XY. This can be achieved by rotating them 135 ° counterclockwise in the coordinate system.

In step S11, steps S7 to S1 are performed.
0, that is, the enlargement / reduction scaling and rotation in the xy coordinate system are sequentially combined to perform coordinate conversion of the xy coordinate system with respect to the XY coordinate system.

Now, in step S15, step S11
A final output pattern is virtually generated from the processing results of S12 and S12 and the data stored in the character data storage area 413 and the font information data storage area 414 of the RAM 103. Then, in step S16, the output control command conversion program 114 is used to generate an output control command that enables the printer unit 108 to operate based on the processing results obtained in the processes up to step S15.

In step S17, the output control command is output to the printer unit 108 via the input / output interface 102, and finally in step S18, a character pattern is output using the device font built in the printer unit 108.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, after the virtual character (string) is subjected to enlargement / reduction scaling, italic conversion, and scaling conversion processing in the character width (high) direction in the xy coordinate system space. , The character (string) in the XY coordinate system space
It is possible to determine the final dot development position by deciding the output position, performing the character (row) rotation processing, and sequentially synthesizing the coordinate transformations corresponding to the instructions of the respective parameters.

In other words, the process in accordance with the instruction of the series of parameters is expressed as the result of one coordinate transformation for the XY coordinate system, and the instruction to the connected printer device is only the result of the simple final coordinate transformation. By using the device font built in the printer device, it is possible to output a character (string) in consideration of all the requests designated by the parameters.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of one device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, the first information indicating the output form of the separated pattern, such as the pattern output position and the output direction, is used to virtually generate the pattern. An instruction assuming the final output form is generated, and a pattern is generated and output from the outline font using the final output form instruction and the second information indicating the pattern itself, so that it is flexible even for complicated pattern output instructions. There is an effect that processing can be performed correspondingly and high-quality pattern output can be performed. Furthermore, since the outline font is not operated by directly using the information instructed from the outside to generate the pattern, there is an effect that the efficient pattern generation can be realized and the pattern generation can be performed at high speed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a pattern generating apparatus that is a typical embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a pattern output control process based on an instructed parameter.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an output form of characters and character strings.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an output form of characters and character strings.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 pattern generation device 100 pattern generation control unit 101 CPU 102 input / output interface 103 RAM 104 input device (keyboard, mouse, etc.) 105 interface 106 ROM 107 CPU bus 108 printer unit 110 control program 111 analysis processing program 112 parameter processing program 113 output form Expansion program 114 Output control instruction conversion program

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Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pattern generator for dot-developing an outline font to generate a pattern based on information instructed from the outside, and outputting the pattern, the input unit inputting the information, and the input unit inputting the information. Separation means for separating the first information indicating the output form of the pattern, such as the pattern output position and the output direction, and the second information indicating the pattern itself from the generated information, and the first information. Based on the output form instruction generating means for virtually generating the final output form instruction of the pattern, and based on the final output form instruction and the second information,
A pattern generating apparatus comprising: a pattern generating means for generating a pattern by developing dots in the outline font; and an output means for outputting the pattern generated by the pattern generating means.