JPH07137222A - Interval between character-adjusting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the work efficiency by a method wherein the intervals in the character array direction, among intervals between virtual bodies and character faces, are increased/decreased by a spacing rate for character intervals which is input, and the spacing amount in the character array direction is calculated, and the distances between virtual bodies are adjusted, and respective characters are arranged in the character array direction in order. CONSTITUTION:A file name of a character-string data file which becomes a character interval adjusting objective is input, and the written in a character array storage memory. By the written character array data, each character data is read from a font storage unit, and is written in a character data expansion memory. At this time, each character is arranged under a condition in which virtual bodies are in contact. Then, a spacing rate for characters is obtained, and stored in a setting memory. By this spacing rate, a character spacing parameter which is the spacing amount for each character in the character array direction is calculated. Each character is shifted based on the character-string data and character spacing parameter, and all character data is written in the character data expansion memory, and output. A worker inputs a new spacing rate by a judgement that a character interval adjustment is required, and this motion is repeated, and the process is completed by the a judgement that the character interval adjustment is not required.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a character typesetting and the like of a character typesetting editing apparatus used in desk top publishing (DTP) and the like, and more particularly to a character spacing adjusting method for performing a character filling process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, Japanese characters handled by a character typesetting / editing device are contained in a frame having a predetermined size, regardless of the character type such as kana or kanji. Therefore, first, the constituent elements of Japanese characters are shown in FIG.
It is defined with reference to the schematic diagram of. In the following description, "character" includes ordinary characters and characters in a narrow sense used to form words, as well as numbers and various symbols.

<Character composition> This schematic diagram shows, as an example,
The constituent elements of the character "shi" are shown. The character font shape is stored in a "virtual body" IB, which is a rectangular frame indicating the minimum arrangement unit of characters, and the horizontal length X of the virtual body IB is "character width", and the vertical length. Let Y be the "character height". In general, the character width X and the character height Y have the same value.

Inside the virtual body IB, "character faces" F indicating the character font shape are arranged at appropriate intervals, and the character faces F are dot data composed of a collection of dots or mathematically shaped. It is composed of vector data representing.
A rectangular frame surrounding the maximum outer shape of the character plane F is defined as a bounding box BB, a lateral length W of the bounding box BB is defined as “character width”, and a vertical length H is defined as “character height. ” The character surface width W and the character surface height H are collectively referred to as a character surface dimension.

The difference between the character width W of the character surface F arranged in the virtual body IB and the character width X of the virtual body IB is given by:
As shown in the figure, the spacing is a and the spacing is b, and the difference between the character surface height H and the character height Y is the spacing c and the spacing d. These intervals differ depending on the size and shape of the character surface F accommodated in the virtual body IB, that is, for each character. Further, when the above character is arranged at a desired coordinate BP in the user space (hereinafter referred to as an arrangement reference point), a reference position for arranging at the coordinate is appropriately set on the character, Here, the lower left corner of the virtual body IB is the reference point P. The face F of each character is drawn with this reference point P as a reference.

The above bounding box BB
May be referred to as a rectangular frame that includes an appropriate gap (side bearing) around the character surface F as necessary, but in the following description, the bounding box includes the side bearing. Make it not exist.

<Conventional method> A conventional character spacing adjusting method is
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a view in which the character string “beautifully packed” is arranged horizontally.

In the horizontal layout, the characters are generally arranged by first arranging the first character, then by setting the feed width to the character width X, and arranging the second character.
Place each character. FIG. 11A shows a case where the feed amount is the character width X in this way (so-called “solid combination” in a state where virtual bodies are in contact with each other). In this solid combination, adjacent characters cannot be visually seen at equal intervals due to the size and shape of the character surface in the virtual body, and therefore the appearance is not good. Therefore, the character feed amount is adjusted to adjust the character spacing, and this method includes the following methods.

(1) Packing of character faces A dimension indicating the position of the character face in the virtual body, for example, the interval a to
The dimension of d is stored as data, and when an instruction to adjust the character spacing is given, the spacings a to d corresponding to the respective characters are stored.
Based on the above, the character spacing is adjusted by adjusting the feed amount of each character in the desired character arrangement direction so that the bounding boxes of each character come into contact with each other. in this way,
Since you can only adjust in two ways, "solid set (no feed adjustment)" or "character filling", you cannot adjust the intermediate character spacing, so that you can visually see the spacing between adjacent characters at equal intervals. Can not do it.

(2) Uniform filling of virtual body This is a method for solving the above-mentioned problem of (1) character filling, which is an intermediate character spacing between "solid assembling (no feed amount adjustment)" and "character filling". This is an adjustable method. The feed amount in "solid set" is used as a standard, and the feed amount in the desired character arrangement direction is changed by adjusting the ratio to this, and each character is evenly arranged with the changed feed amount, and the character spacing is adjusted. Is the way to do it. That is, each character is evenly fed based on the specified ratio to the length of the virtual body in the desired character arrangement direction (character width X in horizontal writing mode, character height Y in vertical writing mode). Adjust the amount and place each letter. Therefore, the feed amount is adjusted by adjusting the ratio, and the character spacing can be adjusted arbitrarily. An example in which the feed amount is varied and the character spacing is adjusted by this method is shown in FIGS. The figure (b) is an example in which the feed rate is adjusted to 85% from the feed rate of the "solid assembly" of the figure (a), and the figure (c) is further reduced from that of the figure (b). However, this is an example of 70%.

[0011]

However, the conventional example having such a structure has the following problems. That is, since the conventional character spacing adjustment method adjusts the feed amount "equally in proportion to the virtual body", there is a margin in the spacing between certain characters (Fig. 11 (c)).
The character spacing is adjusted without taking into consideration the area (bounding box) in which the characters are arranged, such as the "character" in "," and the character surfaces of certain characters overlap ("filling" in FIG. 11C). There is a problem that
In addition, when the above problem occurs, the operator
There is also a problem that the work efficiency is poor because the ratio of the feed amount is adjusted and the character spacing is adjusted in consideration of the area where the character surface is arranged.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a character spacing adjusting method in which the character spacing is adjusted in consideration of the size of the characters and the work efficiency is good. To do.

[0013]

The present invention has the following constitution in order to achieve such an object. That is, the character spacing adjusting method according to the present invention provides a character in which a character surface indicating a character shape is arranged inside a virtual body, which is a minimum arrangement unit of characters, at a predetermined distance from an end side of the virtual body. A character spacing adjustment method in which the virtual bodies are arranged in a desired arrangement direction so that they are adjacent to each other, and the character spacing of the arranged character strings is expanded or reduced by adjusting the spacing between the arranged characters. And a step of inputting a filling ratio of the character spacing for adjusting the character spacing of the arranged character string, and a spacing in the character arrangement direction among the spacing between the virtual body and the face, the input filling ratio. And a step of calculating the amount of padding in the character arrangement direction, and a step of sequentially arranging each character in the character arrangement direction by adjusting the distance between adjacent virtual bodies by the calculated amount of padding of each character,
It is characterized by including.

[0014]

The operation of the present invention is as follows. That is,
According to the packing ratio of the character spacing specified by the operator or designer, the spacing in the character array direction among the spacing between the character faces that are set inside the virtual body in advance and the edges of the virtual body is set. By increasing or decreasing, the amount of padding of each character in the character arrangement direction is calculated. At this time, the character size of each character is invariable, and among the distances between the character surface and the edge of the virtual body, only the distance in the character arrangement direction is changed according to the filling ratio, and the filling amount of each character is obtained. . And
The characters are arranged by adjusting the distance between the virtual bodies of the characters by the calculated packing amount.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a character typesetting editing apparatus that uses the character spacing adjusting method according to the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a character filling processing controller that mainly executes and controls processing related to character filling, and a character string data file such as a character code of a character string for performing character filling processing is input via an input buffer 2. To receive. The input buffer 2 is connected to an input storage device 31 including an auxiliary storage device such as a floppy disk device and a keyboard connected via the interface 30. The input buffer 2 receives a character string data file from a file or the like stored in the external storage device 33, or the input device 3
The filling ratio setting memory that stores the filling ratio of characters input and set via the input device 31 in the character filling processing controller 1 that receives character string data such as a character code of a character string input from the keyboard of FIG. 3 and a packing parameter memory 4 for storing packing parameters calculated based on the packing ratio setting memory 3, and a bus line 1 to which a storage device for various operations described later is connected.
0 is connected. This character filling processing controller 1
It has a built-in work RAM (not shown).

The bus line 10 is composed of an auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk device or a magneto-optical disk, and a font data group of characters (including symbols and special characters) is provided for each typeface (fonts such as Mincho typeface and Gothic typeface). Font file storage unit 11 that stores the file name and the character string data received by the character filling processing controller 1 via the input buffer 2, and stores the character array storage memory 12 and the character array storage memory 12 that stores the character string data. The stuffing controller 1 converts the character data corresponding to the character string data stored in the character array storage memory 12 into the font file storage unit 11.
Is connected to the character data expansion memory 13 which is read out from and written into.

Here, the structure of the font file will be described with reference to FIG. This figure is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a font file stored in the font file storage unit 11. Font file storage unit 11
Are filed for each font name (font name 1, ...), and each font file includes a character code, character data (vector data) corresponding to the character code, and character parameters (FIG. 10) corresponding to the character data. The distances a to d shown in (1) and the character width W and the character height H) are included.

A CPU 20 for controlling the character typesetting editing device is connected to the character filling processing controller 1. This C
The PU 20 stores an RO that stores a character typesetting editing program.
The M21 is connected to the RAM 22 which is used as a work area for editing work and an execution program developed when the apparatus is started up. Further, the CPU 20 has a display device 35 for displaying edited contents and the like via the interface 30.
And an output device 36 such as a printer for outputting the edited character string data or the like or an auxiliary storage device for storing the edited character string data as a file.

<Character Spacing Adjustment Process> The processing procedure of the character spacing adjusting method according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This character spacing adjustment processing is a part of the function of the character typesetting editing program, but since the subject of the present invention is this portion, only this processing will be described in detail.

In step S1, the operator inputs the file name of the character string data file to be adjusted for character spacing. In the present embodiment, data of the character arrangement direction “horizontal” and the character string “beautifully packed” will be described as an example. This character string data file is created in advance by a general-purpose word processor or the like, and a file created in a floppy disk or the like is loaded in the external storage device 33. This character string data file is configured in the format shown in FIG. 3, and indicates the font name, the character size that is the size of the character represented by the following character code, and the direction in which the following character code is arranged. The array direction (horizontal, vertical) shown, a pointer of a padding parameter indicating an address in the padding parameter memory 4 in which padding parameters to be described later are stored, and each character code corresponding to the character string are data. have.

In step S2, the character filling processing controller 1 fetches the data of the character string data file input in step S1 via the input buffer 2 and writes it in the character array storage memory 12.

In step S3, the character filling processing controller 1 reads each character data from the font file storage unit 11 by the character string data (see FIG. 3) of the character array storage memory 12 and converts it according to the specified character size. After that, the data is sequentially written in the character data expansion memory 13. When written in the character data development memory 13 in this manner, the character string is displayed on the display device 35 by the CPU 20 of the character typesetting editing device. The display size at this time is displayed in correspondence with the designated size on the display screen, and is not necessarily the designated size itself. A schematic view of the character string data expansion memory 13 in this state is shown in FIG. In the figure, the symbol C1 is the letter "beauty", the symbol C2 is the letter "shi", the symbol C3 is the letter "ku", the symbol C4 is the letter "tight", the symbol C5 is the letter "me", and the symbol C6 is the letter "ru".
And the symbols R _{1 to} R ₆ indicate reference points of each character. In this example, the font data is vector data representing a character face by a mathematical expression, and each character is enlarged / reduced according to the specified size and drawn based on a reference point R (R _{1 to} R ₆ ) of each character. (BP is an arrangement reference point indicating the display start position). In addition, each character at this time is sequentially arranged and displayed in a state in which a virtual body corresponding to the size converted into the designated size is in contact (called a solid set).

In step S4, the character packing ratio k is acquired and stored in the packing ratio setting memory 3. The method of setting the packing rate k may be such that the operator inputs the packing rate numerically from the keyboard of the input device 31 or the like, but in the present embodiment, the operability is taken into consideration and it is determined in advance according to the size of the packing rate. This is done by selecting a specific mode from among the plurality of modes set. Regarding the setting of this packing rate,
This will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, reference numerals M1 to M3 indicate the filling mode, which is a mode M1 in which the filling ratio is constant regardless of the character size, a mode M2 in which the filling ratio is gradually changed at a certain character size, and a character size. There is a mode M3 in which the packing rate is linearly variable. For example, if the designated size is P points, the packing ratio k becomes D1 when the mode M1 is selected, the packing ratio k becomes D2 when the mode M2 is selected, and the packing ratio k becomes D2 when the mode M3 is selected. The packing rate k is D3. Even in the same mode, such as the modes M2 and M3, the filling ratio is changed according to the character size. When the character size is small, the characters are packed at the same ratio as when the character size is large. However, since it may have a large visual impact, it is specified by the operator's judgment. Therefore, in the present embodiment, even if the same mode M2 is selected, the filling ratio D2 'is selected when the character size is small, and the filling ratio D2 (D2>D2') is set when the character size is large.
In the present embodiment, when setting the packing ratio, the character packing processing controller 1 sets the packing ratio based on the specified size in the character string data file and the mode set by input, and sets the packing ratio to the packing ratio setting memory 3 Store in.

In step S5, the filling parameter, which is the filling amount of each character in the character arrangement direction, is calculated based on the filling ratio k stored in the filling ratio setting memory 3 in step S4.

First, the character filling processing controller 1 reads each character parameter of the character string data file from the font file storage unit 11 and stores it in the built-in RAM. Here, since the arrangement direction is “horizontal”, the intervals a and b corresponding to each character code are stored in the internal RAM of the character filling process controller 1.

Next, the character filling processing controller 1 has the filling ratio k stored in the filling ratio setting memory 3 and the built-in R.
The padding amount a ′ and the padding amount b ′ based on the spacing a and the spacing b among the character parameters of each character stored in the AM.
Is calculated by the following calculation formula (see FIGS. 7A and 7B). a '= ka ......... (1) b' = kb ..... (2) Packing amount a _x 'of each character calculated by this formula,
b _x '(x = 1 to n, x = character number, n = total number of characters)
Are sequentially stored as the closing parameters in the closing parameter memory 4. FIG. 8 shows a schematic diagram of the contents of the stored filling parameters. The padding parameters are sequentially stored in the padding parameter file as a series of padding parameter data according to the character code of the character string data file. Then, the address of this padding parameter file on the memory is written into the padding parameter pointer (see FIG. 3) of the original character string data file.

In step S6, the character array storage memory 1
Based on the character string data stored in 2 and the filling parameter data stored in the filling parameter memory 4, all the character data is written in the character data expansion memory 13, and the character data is written in the same manner as described above. CP of typesetting editor
It is output to the display device 35 by U20. The arrangement of the characters at this time will be described with reference to FIG. First,
The first character is the placement reference point BP that has already been placed.
(See FIG. 4 (a)) and is shifted in a predetermined direction. This shift is performed only for the character packing parameter a ₁ ′, and the shift direction is the direction opposite to the character arrangement direction when the sign of the character packing ratio k stored in the character packing ratio setting memory 3 is “positive”, When the sign is "negative", it is the direction of character arrangement. Here, the sign of the packing factor k will be described as "positive", that is, the shift direction will be the opposite direction (left direction) to the character arrangement direction (see FIG. 4B). Next, the character width X from the reference point R _{1 of the first} character as the feed amount
The second character is shifted in the direction of the character arrangement, and then the second character is moved in the direction opposite to the character arrangement direction, and the filling parameter a ₂ 'of the second character and the character of the first character. Shift by the sum of the closing parameter b ₁ '. Similarly, the target character is shifted in the character array direction from the reference point R _(X-1) of the previous character using the character width X of the previous character as the feed amount, and then the filling parameter a _x 'of the target character and the previous character The character is arranged by shifting in the opposite direction by the amount of the sum of the character and the filling parameter b _(x-1) '.

In step S7, the operator looks at the character string output to the display device 35 in step S6,
Further, it is determined whether the character spacing needs to be adjusted. Then, if adjustment is necessary, the process branches to step S8 to input a new packing ratio k, and steps S5 and thereafter are repeated. If the adjustment is not necessary, the character spacing adjustment processing ends.

Thereafter, if necessary, the character spacing is adjusted based on the character string data of the character string data file, the filling parameters of this filling parameter file, and the font data of the font file in the same manner as the character filling display in step S6. The generated character string is printed out by the output device 36 such as a printer. The output character size at this time is of course the actual size of the designated size, unlike the case of display.
Further, the filling parameter can use the filling parameter data stored in the filling parameter memory 4.

Regarding the packing rate k input in steps S4 and S8, if the sign is "negative", it means that the character spacing is widened, and if the sign is "positive", It means that the character spacing is reduced. In this sense, "packing rate" includes not only packing but also expanding.

In step S3 of this embodiment, a character string with a packing rate of 0% is once displayed, but this is for confirmation before processing and is not always necessary.

In the above description, the character arrangement direction is "horizontal", but the character spacing can be adjusted in the same manner even when the character arrangement direction is "vertical". In this case, in step S5, the filling amount, which is the calculated filling parameter, is the vertical spacing c shown in FIG.
It is calculated by the following formula using d. c '= kc ... (3) d' = kd ... (4) At this time, the character feed amount is the character height Y.

<Comparison with Conventional Method> A comparison between the conventional method of uniform filling of virtual bodies and the method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. This figure shows an example in which the character packing parameter is adjusted so that the character string "pack beautifully" has almost the same character string length by the method of the present invention and the conventional method.

The character spacing shown in FIG. 9B is the case where the character spacing is made smaller (the character closing parameter is made larger) than that in FIG. In the conventional method of FIG. 1A, the character string "shiku" appears to be wide, but
The distance between the two seems to be narrow. On the other hand, in the method of the present invention, the intervals of all character strings are felt to be substantially equal. Further, in the conventional method of FIG. 1B, the character faces are overlapped at the part of the character string "stuffing", but in the method of the present invention, the character faces are not overlapped.

In the present embodiment, the case where the bounding box BB does not include an appropriate gap (side bearing) around the character face F in the character construction has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. BB
However, it is of course possible to implement it even with a character configuration including a side bearing. In this case, the side bearing amount is set commonly for each character, and the packing rate k =
The character faces may not come into contact with each other in the vicinity of 100% (character face packing).

[0037]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the space in the character arrangement direction among the space between the virtual body and the character face is increased or decreased according to the close ratio of the character space input by the operator. , The padding amount in the character arrangement direction is calculated, and the distance between the adjacent virtual bodies is adjusted accordingly, and each character is sequentially arranged in the character arrangement direction, that is, the area where the character surface is arranged (character surface and virtual area). Since the character spacing is adjusted in consideration of the space between the characters, the character spacing is adjusted in a well-balanced manner, and the character spacing adjustment work can be performed efficiently.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a character typesetting editing apparatus using a character spacing adjusting method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of character spacing adjustment processing.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the contents of a character array storage memory.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the contents of a character data expansion memory.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the contents of a font file storage unit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining setting of a packing rate according to modes.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining calculation of a character closing parameter.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the contents of a padding parameter memory.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for comparative explanation of the method of the present invention and the conventional method.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing constituent elements of a character.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a conventional method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Character filling controller 2 ... Input buffer 3 ... Filling ratio setting memory 4 ... Filling parameter memory 11 ... Font file storage 12 ... Character array storage memory 13 ... Character data expansion memory a, b, c, d ... Interval a ', B', c ', d' ... Filling parameter X ... Character width Y ... Character height W ... Character width H ... Character height k ... Packing rate

[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] November 5, 1993

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be corrected] Drawing

[Name of item to be corrected] Figure 7

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Figure 7]

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A character formed by arranging a character surface indicating a character shape at a predetermined distance from an end side of the virtual body inside a virtual body which is a minimum arrangement unit of characters, and each virtual body is adjacent to the character. Is arranged in a desired arrangement direction so as to increase or decrease the character spacing of the arranged character string by adjusting the spacing between the arranged characters, wherein the arranged characters In the process of inputting the packing ratio of the character spacing for adjusting the character spacing of the column, among the spacing between the virtual body and the character surface, the spacing in the character array direction is increased or decreased according to the input packing ratio, And a step of arranging each character sequentially in the character arrangement direction by adjusting the distance between the adjacent virtual bodies by the calculated packing amount of each character. Character spacing adjustment method