JPH06230766A - Font generating system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a system to generate a font for all characters only by generating a font of several characters or that of character component (brushing up, sweep, etc.). CONSTITUTION:This system is a font generating system constituted of a user character font dictionary 204 which stores the font of several characters generated by a user (user character font), or that of character component, a user character font feature extraction device 202 which extracts the feature of the font, a user character font feature dictionary 205 which stores the feature, an existing character font fundamental feature dictionary 206 which stores the fundamental feature (existing character font fundamental feature) of all the characters, and a user character font synthesizer 203 which generates the fonts proper to the user for all the characters according to the feature and the existing character font fundamental feature, and stores them in the user character font dictionary. Thereby, it is possible to easily generate the fonts proper to the user for all the characters.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

[Industrial application] Word processors (word processors)
Etc. relates to a font creating device used in a document creating device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As prior art relating to the present invention, there are (1) bitmap font and (2) outline font. Each will be described below.

(1) Bitmap font is the most popular font format in the past. Given the number of vertical and horizontal dots for one character, the font of that character is determined by whether each dot is ON (black) or OFF (white). To create this bitmap font, you can use a so-called bitmap editor. In the bitmap editor, each bit is represented by a square, and the bitmap pattern is edited by turning the bit ON (black) or OFF (white) with a mouse or the like.

However, in the case of bitmap fonts, the character size is fixed. That is, only characters of the registered size can be used. To use characters of a size that is not registered, prepare a bitmap font that matches the size, or perform an operation on an existing size font to create a font of the desired size. Need to create.

As a font for solving such problems of the bitmap font, there is (2) outline font. The outline font is the outline (outline) of each character represented by a mathematical line segment, and the inside is filled. Therefore, it is possible to create characters of arbitrary size without degrading the quality. As an outline font editor, for example, Fontographer
There is. With Fontographer, you can create any font by editing the outline shape of characters. Regarding the above, MACWORLD JAPAN (DECEM
BER 1992, pp.136-139).

[0006]

Both the bitmap font and the outline font mentioned in the section of the prior art must be created by the user for all characters. If only 62 alphanumeric characters (= 26 * 2 + 10) are used, it is difficult to create fonts by hand, including kanji, hiragana and katakana.

The object of the present invention is to obtain a few characters (preferably 2,
It is to provide a system for creating fonts for all characters by creating fonts for 3 characters, at most about 10 characters). Another object of the present invention is to provide a system for creating a font for all characters only by creating a font for character parts (splashes, hail, etc.).

[0008]

The above object can be achieved by implementing the following functions. That is, (1) a function to extract the characteristics of the character font created by the user, and (2) a function to create a user character font for all characters based on the characteristics and the basic characteristics of all characters. And can be achieved.

Further, instead of the above (1), it is also possible to provide (1) 'with a function for extracting the font characteristics of the character parts (splashes, harai, etc.) created by the user.

[0010]

In the above (1), the characteristics of the character font created by the user are extracted and registered in the user character font characteristics dictionary. Further, (2) synthesizes the user character fonts of all the characters from the characteristics registered in the user character font characteristic dictionary and the basic characteristics of all the characters registered in the existing character characteristic dictionary. On the other hand, (1) ′ extracted features from the entire character, while (1) ′ has character parts (Harai,
Feature).

These greatly simplify the work of creating a font of all characters.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First, the typeface of Japanese characters (kanji, hiragana, katakana) will be described. Characters are straight lines or curved lines, and each line is a splash, as shown in FIG.
It has attributes (characteristics) such as gall, entry, stop, scale, warp, thickness, position in the grid (coordinates), and continuity to the next image. One character can be thought of as being composed of lines with different characteristics. Thus, a character can be represented as a list of line types and line features for each stroke of the character. Let us call this list the basic characteristics of characters. Examples of basic features for some characters are given in FIG.

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, the coordinates are set such that the upper left point of the grid is the origin, the X and Y coordinate axes are taken in the right and down directions, and the X coordinate of the right end of the grid is taken. And the Y coordinate of the lower end is set to 100, but any method may be used. In order to express the curves that make up a character more accurately, it is necessary to divide the curves into smaller pieces. Therefore, the number of strokes of an actual character does not necessarily match the number of strokes of this expression method. In this example, the curves are divided as shown in FIG. 3 for simplicity. Although the curve is represented by a circular arc, it may be represented by a Bezier curve, a quadratic curve, or the like.

By adding the characteristics unique to the user character font to these basic characteristics, the characters can be customized as Mincho characters, handwritten characters, and design characters. As a unique feature of the user character font, only the line thickness is considered in this embodiment. But,
In addition, practically, it is necessary to consider other factors such as warpage, inclination, and the presence or absence of scales.

By using this expression method, it is possible to treat all typefaces of characters, whether they are existing fonts, handwritten characters, or design characters, in the same way.

By the way, when displaying on a screen or printing by a printer, it is necessary to rasterize the outline font into a bitmap font. Since it is only necessary to finally obtain the bitmap font, the bitmap font will be considered below.

An example of creating a new font using the above-described character typeface expression method will be described below.
FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing the present invention. The user has a font editor 201 and an image scanner 10.
2. A user character font is created using the handwriting input tablet 103. The created user character font is stored in the user character font dictionary 204. Further, the user character font feature extraction device 202 extracts the user character font feature and stores it in the user character font feature dictionary 205. Based on the characteristics of the user character font and the existing character font basic characteristics stored in the existing character font basic characteristic dictionary 206, the user character font characteristic synthesizing device 203 synthesizes the user's own font for all characters. , User character font dictionary 204.

The user character font dictionary 20 is also used.
4. The user character font feature dictionary 205 and the existing character font basic feature dictionary 206 are stored in the external storage device 105. The font editor 201, the user character font feature extraction device 202, and the user character font feature synthesis device 203 are connected to the main storage device 1 via the central processing unit 101.
04, and is executed by the central processing unit 101. The user creates a font using the image scanner 102, the handwriting input tablet 103, or the character input device 106 and the coordinate input device 107, and the process is displayed on the display device 108.

A procedure for creating a new font in the configuration of FIG. 1 will be described based on the PAD diagram of FIG. (1) The input of the user character font is received for several characters indicated by the present system (301). (2) The characteristics of the input font are extracted (302). (3) A user character font for all characters is synthesized based on the characteristics of the user character font and the basic characteristics of the existing character font (303). Here, it is necessary to register the basic features of all characters in the existing character font basic feature dictionary in advance.

The steps (1), (2) and (3) will be described in more detail. First, (1) will be described (see FIG. 5). (1) -a Display the character code and the character corresponding to that code. At this time, the characters are displayed in the existing font (for example, Mincho font) (401). (1) -b Accept the input of user character font for the character. At this time, as a means for the user to input a font, a general font editor may be used, or it may be read from an image scanner, or handwritten characters may be written on a handwriting input tablet. Anyway, the font for the specified character (that is, character code) may be input (40
2). (1) -c A character code and font data corresponding to the character code are paired and stored in the user character font dictionary (403). By the above procedure, the input of the font created by the user is accepted.

Next, (2) will be described (see FIG. 6). (2) -a Regarding the character font created by the user, (2) -b
The processing from (2) -f is repeated (501). (2) -b Repeat the processing from (2) -c to (2) -f for all strokes in the basic feature of this character (50)
2). (2) -c For the black dot in the user character font, find the distance between this dot and the current stroke (50
3, 504). At this time, the coordinates of the black dots need to be normalized as shown in FIG. (2) -d Create a histogram (frequency distribution table) for each distance (505). (2) -e Find the first "mountain" in the histogram (506). (2) -f The thickness of the stroke is judged from the range of "mountain" (507). (2) -g The thicknesses of all strokes are averaged and stored in the user character font feature dictionary as the stroke weight unique to the user (508). With the above procedure, the characteristics of the font created by the user are extracted.

Finally, (3) will be described (see FIG. 7). (3) -a The processing from (3) -b to (3) -d is repeated for all characters (601). (3) -b The process of (3) -c is repeated for all strokes of the basic feature (602). According to the thickness obtained in (3) -c (2), the current stroke is developed on the bitmap (603). At this time, it is necessary to normalize the coordinates and the thickness according to the number of vertical and horizontal dots in the bitmap. (3) -d Store in user character font dictionary (60
4). A user's own font can be created by the above procedure.

In the above procedure (1), the user decides to create a font for every character, but decides to extract the user character font feature from the font of the parts (character parts) that make up the character. May be. Further, in the above procedure (2) -g, the thicknesses of all strokes are averaged, but the vertical strokes and the horizontal strokes may be averaged separately.

[0024]

According to the present invention, a user character font dictionary for storing fonts for several characters created by the user (user character font) and a user character font feature extraction for extracting the features from the user character font. Device,
User character font feature dictionary that stores the features and basic features of all characters (existing character font basic features)
Existing character font basic feature dictionary for storing the user character font, and a user-specific font for all the characters created based on the feature and the existing character font basic feature, and stored in the user character font dictionary Since it has a synthesizing device, it is possible to provide a font creation system that creates fonts for all characters from the fonts for several characters created by the user.

Further, according to the present invention, a user character font dictionary for storing fonts of character parts (splashes, hail, etc.) created by the user, and user character font features for extracting the features from the fonts of the character parts. An extraction device,
User character font feature dictionary that stores the features and basic features of all characters (existing character font basic features)
Existing character font basic feature dictionary for storing the user character font, and a user-specific font for all the characters created based on the feature and the existing character font basic feature, and stored in the user character font dictionary Since it has a synthesizing device, it is possible to provide a font creation system that creates fonts for all characters from the fonts of character parts created by the user.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing line attributes (features).

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing basic characteristics of Japanese characters.

FIG. 4 is a PAD diagram showing an operation procedure of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a PAD diagram showing a user character font input procedure.

FIG. 6 is a PA showing a procedure for extracting characteristics of a user character font.
FIG.

FIG. 7 is a PAD diagram showing a synthesis procedure of user character fonts.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 ... Central processing unit, 102 ... Image scanner, 1
03 ... Handwriting input tablet, 104 ... Main storage device, 1
05 ... External storage device, 106 ... Character input device, 107 ...
Coordinate input device 201 ... Font editor 202 ... User character font feature extraction device 203 ... User character font feature synthesizer 204 ... User character font dictionary 205 ... User character font feature dictionary 206 ... Existing character font basic feature dictionary .

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A computer system having a central processing unit, a display device, an image input device, a handwriting input device, a storage device, a character input device and a coordinate input device, wherein a font created by a user (user character font) is stored in the storage device. ) Storing a user character font dictionary, a user character font feature extraction device that extracts features from the user character font, a user character font feature dictionary storing the features, and basic features of all characters ( An existing character font basic feature dictionary storing existing character font basic features), and a user-specific font for all the characters is created based on the features and the existing character font basic features, and the user character font dictionary is created. A user character font synthesizing device for storing in Ri, font creation system, characterized in that to create a font for all the characters. 2. A computer system having a central processing unit, a display device, an image input device, a handwriting input device, a storage device, a character input device and a coordinate input device, wherein a character component (splashes) created by a user is stored in the storage device. , Harai, etc.)
User character font dictionary that stores the fonts, a user character font feature extraction device that extracts the features from the fonts of the character parts, a user character font feature dictionary that stores the features, and a basic character of all characters. An existing character font basic feature dictionary that stores features (existing character font basic features), and a user-specific font for all of the characters is created based on the features and the existing character font basic features. A font creation system comprising: a user character font synthesizing device for storing in a font dictionary, and creating a font for all characters from a font of character parts created by a user.