JPH0934434A - Character generating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the grade of a character pattern from deteriorating at changing a character pattern. SOLUTION: This character generating device is constituted of a character data memory part 101 storing character data consisting of pattern codes showing the stroke patterns of characters and restored information showing the positions and sizes of the stroke patterns, a pattern memory part 102 storing deformation stroke patterns for changing standard stroke patterns and character patterns and these pattern codes and restored information, an input part 103 inputting character codes and the like, a searching part 104 searching for character data from the character data memory part 101, a changing part 105 changing the searched character data to the character data having the pattern codes and restored information of the deformation stroke patterns, a coordinate conversion part 106 converting in coordinates the positions and the sizes of restored information to an input character size, a restoring part 107 restoring the stroke patterns based on the restored information after coordinate-conversion, a developing part 108 developing the restored stroke patterns to dot patterns, and an output part 109 outputting the dot patterns.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a character generator, and more particularly, to a word processor, a computer,
The present invention relates to a character generation device which is applied to an electronic information processing device such as an electronic notebook and generates a character pattern by combining stroke patterns.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for higher quality characters to be generated and printed or displayed in this type of apparatus, and an outline font which can realize high quality character output in place of a conventional bitmap font is installed. Has become necessary. Such an outline font is stored in the system in the form of a font ROM or the like, with the coordinate values of a plurality of points obtained by sampling the outline of a character as font data. These coordinate values are read out as needed, the coordinates are converted according to the character size, typeface, etc., and then the interior of the contour is further filled to generate a character pattern. This has a higher degree of freedom in character patterns than conventional character generation using bitmap fonts, and has the advantage of generating smooth characters without jaggedness even when generating characters of various sizes. As a result, the amount of font data becomes very large. Further, there is a problem that the processing time until the conversion into the bit map is troublesome and the processing speed is reduced.

Therefore, as a device for reducing the amount of font data and increasing the speed of character pattern expansion, the table numbers and starting points of the basic patterns constituting the font data are disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 132698/1993. A character generator that has information such as the enlargement / reduction ratio, sets the reference point of the basic pattern to match the start point, converts the basic pattern to dot data, and then synthesizes and outputs the dot font pattern is known. Has been. A similar device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-167963.
A method of generating a character pattern in which graphic information (element information) expressing common graphic elements that form a character pattern is prepared, and the graphic elements are combined to generate a character pattern based on the configuration information of the graphic element in each character. And devices are known.

[0004]

For example, a character pattern is composed of a combination of various stroke patterns, but a Chinese character is also composed of a combination of various radicals. Therefore, these various radicals are created as specific stroke patterns and stored in advance, and the specific stroke patterns are restored in a well-balanced manner and combined as font data, thereby reducing the types of stroke patterns and at high speed. Character generation is possible.

However, in the character generator disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 132698/1993, since the basic pattern has a simple shape, in order to form one character pattern, several basic elements are formed for each element (stroke pattern). Since it is necessary to combine and express the patterns, the balance between the elements is likely to be lost, and the quality of the character pattern is deteriorated. Further, as the number of types of basic patterns increases, not only the data capacity increases, but also the processing time for extracting the basic patterns and synthesizing the font data becomes long, which is not suitable for generating character patterns such as Chinese characters.

Further, in the character pattern generating method and apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-167963, when generating a character pattern, the element number of the graphic element forming the character is referred to The element data is expanded or reduced according to the character size, and is composed, so it is suitable for generating character patterns such as Chinese characters, but it is suitable for changing the typeface or stroke thickness, for example. Not configured. For this reason, the pattern of the same shape is always restored in the element portion which is the graphic element, and thus there is no degree of freedom in the character pattern. When changing the typeface of a character pattern, there is a problem in that element information of a different typeface is required for each character and the data capacity increases.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and it is, for example, to provide a character generation device which does not deteriorate the quality of a dot pattern when the character pattern is changed. Another object of the present invention is to provide a character generation device capable of reducing the data capacity of a stroke pattern and restoring the stroke pattern at high speed by making the pattern code of the stroke pattern forming a character into a hierarchical structure. It is in.

[0008]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the present invention relates to a character data storage unit 101 that stores character data for each character pattern, including character code, pattern code indicating a stroke pattern, and restoration information indicating the position / size of the stroke pattern, and a standard character data storage unit 101. A pattern storage unit 102 that stores a standard stroke pattern of size, a modified stroke pattern of modified size, and pattern code / restoration information thereof, and an input unit 103 that inputs character code, character size, character pattern change information, and the like. ,
A search unit 104 that searches character data corresponding to an input character code from the character data storage unit 101, and, when change information of a character pattern is input, the searched character data has a pattern code / restoration information of a modified stroke pattern. A changing unit 105 that changes to character data, a coordinate converting unit 106 that performs coordinate conversion so that the position / size of the restored information of the changed character data matches the input character size, and a stroke pattern based on the restored information after coordinate conversion. A character generation device comprising: a restoration unit 107 for restoration, a development unit 108 for developing the restored stroke pattern into a dot pattern, and an output unit 109 for outputting the developed dot pattern.

In the present invention, the input unit 103 is
It is composed of input devices such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a pointing device. The character data storage unit 101, the pattern storage unit 102, the search unit 104, the change unit 105, the coordinate conversion unit 106, the restoration unit 107, and the expansion unit 108 are the CPU and R.
It is composed of a microcomputer consisting of an OM, a RAM, and an I / O port. In particular, the ROM functions as a character data storage unit 101 and a pattern storage unit 102, and stores a stroke pattern forming a character pattern and various data related thereto. Further, the ROM stores a control program that causes the CPU to function as the changing unit 105, the coordinate converting unit 106, the restoring unit 107, and the expanding unit 108. Further, the RAM includes a changing unit 105,
It functions as a work area for the coordinate conversion unit 106, the restoration unit 107, and the expansion unit 108. The output unit 109 is a display device such as a CRT display or an LCD display,
The printer is composed of a thermal printer, an inkjet printer, a laser printer, and the like.

It is preferable that the stroke pattern is composed of an outline font. It is preferable that the stroke pattern is restored in a hierarchical structure based on the pattern code and the restoration information. It is preferable that the stroke pattern is configured as a radical pattern in Chinese characters.

According to the present invention, in FIG. 1, the character data storage unit 101 stores character data including character codes for individual character patterns, pattern codes indicating stroke patterns, and restoration information indicating the position / size of stroke patterns. The standard stroke pattern of the standard size, the modified stroke pattern of the modified size, and the pattern code / restoration information thereof are respectively stored in the pattern storage unit 102, and the character code, the character size, and the character pattern are changed. When various information is input from the input unit 103, the search unit 1 searches for character data corresponding to the input character code.
When the character data storage unit 101 is searched by 04 and the character pattern change information is input, the pattern code / restoration information of the character data searched by referring to the pattern storage unit 102 is used as the pattern code of the modified stroke pattern. / The change unit 105 changes to character data having restoration information. The conversion unit 106 performs coordinate conversion so that the position / size of the changed character data restoration information matches the input character size, and the restoration unit 107 restores the stroke pattern included in the character data based on the restored information after the coordinate conversion. To do. The restored stroke pattern is expanded by the expansion unit 10
The dot pattern is expanded by 8 and the expanded dot pattern is output from the output unit as a character pattern. Therefore, when a character pattern is changed, a plurality of pattern codes included in one stroke pattern and restoration information can be individually designated and restored to a stroke pattern suitable for each character pattern, so that the quality of the character pattern is not deteriorated. A character generation device can be provided.

Since the pattern data has a hierarchical structure, the character data can be expressed only by the stroke code and the restoration information, so that the data capacity of the stroke pattern can be reduced and the character can be generated at high speed. When the stroke pattern is composed of radicals in Kanji notation, the volume of data forming the Kanji of the outline font data is reduced and the stroke pattern is restored in a well-balanced manner by the restoration information, so the quality as Kanji is improved. .

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the drawings. The present invention is not limited to this. The present invention is applied to a character generation device of an electronic information processing device such as a word processor, a computer, an electronic notebook.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the character generator of the present invention. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes an input device composed of a keyboard, a mouse, a pointing device, etc., for inputting character code, character size, character pattern change information and the like. 2 is a character data memory composed of a ROM, for each character a character code,
Character data including a pattern code indicating a stroke pattern forming a character pattern and restoration information indicating a position / size of the stroke pattern is stored. It also functions as the character data storage unit in FIG. A pattern table memory 3 composed of a ROM stores a stroke pattern normalized to a standard size and its pattern code / restoration information, and a modified stroke pattern for changing the typeface and its pattern code / restoration information. ing. It also functions as the pattern storage unit in FIG.

A program memory 4 is composed of a ROM and stores a control program for controlling various processes. Reference numeral 5 denotes a development memory composed of a RAM, which stores the dot pattern after the development of the coordinate-converted outline data. Reference numeral 6 is a work memory composed of a RAM, which is a work area for executing various processes,
Functions as a temporary buffer. An output device 7 includes a display device including a CRT display and an LCD display and a printing device including a line thermal printer and an inkjet printer, and outputs a dot pattern generated as a character pattern.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a data processing unit composed of a CPU. The data processing device 8 uses the control program stored in the program memory 4 to convert the character data corresponding to the input character code input from the input unit 1 into characters. When the search unit for searching from the data memory 2 and the change information of the typeface are input, the pattern code of the deformed stroke pattern corresponding to the change information from the pattern code of the character data searched by referring to the pattern table memory 3 and the restoration information Change part to change to character data that has, a coordinate conversion part that performs coordinate conversion so that the position and size of the restored information of the changed character data matches the input character size, included in the character data based on the restored information after coordinate conversion Restoration unit that restores the stroke pattern that is restored, the restored stroke pattern to a dot pattern Respectively function as the expansion portion for opening. Then, the data processing device 8 causes the output section 7 to output the developed dot pattern as a character pattern.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the operation of the character generator of the present invention. Hereinafter, description will be made according to this flowchart. Step S101: Start character generation processing. Step S102: The character code / character size / change information input from the input device 1 is read into the data processing device 8. Step S103: Search the character data memory 2 for character data corresponding to the read character code. Step S104: The retrieved character data is read from the character data memory 2 into the data processing device 8. Step S105: Change to the character data having the pattern code of the modified stroke pattern and the restoration information according to the change information. Here, a modification example (modification A) in which the thickness of the stroke pattern is made thick will be described.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the character data of "A" stored in the character data memory. For example, this character data represents “A”, the character code indicating “A”, the stroke data outline data SD1 and SD2, and the pattern code (PC20) of the stroke pattern “Kozatohen” at the time of restoration. Restoration information (P1, P that indicates the position and size of the required stroke pattern)
2), the pattern code (PC30) of the stroke pattern "mouth" and its restoration information (P3, P4) are stored respectively. The two points of the restoration information here indicate the coordinates of both ends of a rectangular size surrounding the stroke pattern. The stroke data SD1 and SD2 may be respectively composed of a pattern code indicating the stroke patterns “1” and “hanebo” and restoration information.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an image example of a stroke pattern having three sizes. In FIG. 5, for example, a pattern code PC1 which is a typical radical
The stroke patterns of "Nenben" of 0, "Kozatohen" of the pattern code PC20, and "Kuchi" of the pattern code PC30 are shown. The left column is a standard size stroke pattern, the middle column is a thick stroke pattern, and the right column is a right column. Indicates a thin stroke pattern.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a modification of the pattern code and the restoration information of the stroke pattern of FIG. 5 stored in the pattern table memory. When the character data is changed, the transformation offset of the restoration information is performed by using the offset values at the coordinate positions of the upper left and lower right points, which are the restoration information of the stroke pattern. For example, with respect to the character data of "A", the stroke thickness is changed to be thick (transformation A). First, the stroke data SD1 and SD shown in FIG.
Increase the thickness of 2. This may be done by a method in which the size is made thicker by calculation from the stroke thickness at each point of the stroke data, an offset value representing the amount of movement of each point may be prepared in advance, or another method may be used.

Next, the transformation of "kozatohen" represented by the pattern code PC20 is performed by the transformation offset of the restoration information. When the modification A is applied to the PC20 of this pattern code, the pattern code becomes PC21 from the pattern table memory, and the restoration information becomes a value (P1 ′, P2 ′) obtained by adding the offset value ΔA2. P1 ′ = P1 (X1, Y1) + ΔA2_1 (−1, + 1) P2 ′ = P2 (X2, Y2) + ΔA2_2 (+ 1, −1) Therefore, “kozatohen” is changed to a thicker pattern, and the restoration information is also modified A Is changed to a value suitable for. Similarly, the pattern code of the next "cut" is changed from PC30 to PC31, and the restoration information has a value (P3 ', P4') obtained by adding ΔA3. P3 '= P3 (X3, Y3) + [Delta] A3_1 (-1, + 1) P4' = P4 (X4, Y4) + [Delta] A3_2 (+ 1, -1) As a result, the process of modification A is completed. Further, the offset value ΔB of the restoration information corresponding to the deformation B can be used in the process of reducing the stroke thickness, but the description thereof is omitted here. Further, since the pattern code PC10 is "Nenben", it is not related to the character data of "A".

Step S106: Coordinate conversion such as enlargement or reduction is performed on the changed character data according to the character size read in step S102. The size of the character data before coordinate conversion is M, and the character size read in step S102 is m. At this time, for stroke data other than the stroke pattern in the character data, coordinate conversion is performed by multiplying each point coordinate by m / M. With respect to the stroke pattern, the pattern code is left as it is, and each point coordinate of the restoration information other than that is similarly multiplied by m / M to perform coordinate conversion.

Step S107: It is determined whether or not the pattern code is included in the character data read by the data processing device 8. If it is included, the process proceeds to step S108, and if it is not included, the process proceeds to step S110. Step S108: The pattern table memory 3 is searched for a pattern code in the character data. Step S109: The stroke pattern corresponding to the retrieved pattern code is restored. This restoration process will be described below.

Since "Kozatohen" has been changed A now, the pattern code is PC21 and the restoration information is (P1 ', P
2 '). To restore the stroke data, the coordinates of the constituent points of the stroke pattern PC21 are converted so that the size of the stroke pattern 021 becomes a rectangular size having two points (P1 ′, P2 ′) as a diagonal, and the strokes after the conversion are converted. This is done by restoring the pattern within this rectangular frame. After the "kozatohen" is restored, the process returns to step S107, and the stroke pattern of "kuchi" which has not been restored is searched in the pattern table memory 3 and similarly restored using the restoration information (P3 ', P4'). Step S110: The character data in which all the pattern codes are restored is expanded into a dot pattern. Step S111: The developed dot pattern is output to the output device 7. Step S112: The process ends.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing an image example of a stroke pattern composed of five types of radicals. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the pattern code and the restoration information of the stroke pattern of FIG. In FIG. 7, for example, the pattern code PC1 indicates a “horizontal bar” stroke pattern composed of four points P10 to P13. The pattern code PC2 indicates the stroke pattern of the "edge" configured by 10 points P20 to P29. The pattern code PC3 is a stroke pattern of a "word" that is composed of 10 points from P30 to P39, and the portion of "Kuchi" in this is composed of the pattern code PC2 and its restoration information. Other parts are pattern code PC
1 and its restoration information.

The pattern code PC4 is P40 to P43.
It is a stroke pattern of "Ni-ni" composed of four points up to and indicates that it is composed of two pattern codes PC1. The pattern code PC5 is P50 to P
It is a stroke pattern of "dry" composed of 8 points up to 57, and is composed of pattern codes PC4 and PC1. The pattern codes PC3 to PC5 have a hierarchical structure. Further, all stroke patterns are normalized to a fixed size.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing stroke patterns and stroke data of the character data "mute" and "ki".
In FIG. 9, when the character data "mute" is read,
Since the "pencil" portion "mouth" is composed of the pattern code PC2, the stroke data is restored after the "make" portion "sub" is enlarged / reduced based on the character size. Now, the restoration information of PC2 is 2 points P
5 and P6. To restore the stroke data, the coordinates of the points P20 to P29 are converted so that the size of the stroke pattern of the PC2 becomes a rectangular size with two points P5 and P6 as the diagonal, and the stroke pattern after conversion is converted into this rectangular frame. Do by restoring in.

When the character data "" is read,
"Hon" part "Word Gomben" is pattern code PC3
Since it is composed of, "make" based on the font size
After the enlargement / reduction conversion of the portion "self" is performed, the stroke data is restored. Similar to the case of the character data “Muta”, the coordinate conversion of the points P30 to P39 is performed so that the rectangle size has diagonal points of two points P7 and P8 which are the restoration information of the PC3. PC1, PC2
Therefore, after transforming only these points,
Restoration processing is further performed using the coordinate values as restoration information of each pattern code. The restoration process is repeated until all the pattern codes are restored to the stroke data. Although an example in which part of the character data is pattern coded is shown here, all of the character data may be pattern coded. Even when restoring the same stroke pattern, the size of each stroke pattern contained inside can be freely selected, and strokes of various shapes can be restored. In the present embodiment, the outline font of Kanji has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this.

[0029]

According to the present invention, when a character pattern is changed, a plurality of pattern codes included in one stroke pattern and restoration information can be individually designated to restore the stroke pattern suitable for each character pattern. Therefore, the quality of the character pattern is not deteriorated. Since the character data can be expressed only by the stroke code and the restoration information by forming the pattern code into a hierarchical structure, the data capacity of the stroke pattern can be reduced and the character can be generated at high speed. When the stroke pattern is composed of radicals in Kanji notation, the volume of data forming the Kanji of the outline font data is reduced and the stroke pattern is restored in a well-balanced manner by the restoration information, so the quality as Kanji is improved. .

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a character generation device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the character generation device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing character data of “A” stored in a character data memory.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an image of a stroke pattern having three sizes.

FIG. 6 FIG. 5 stored in a pattern table memory.
FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a modification of the pattern code of the stroke pattern and the restoration information.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an image example of a stroke pattern composed of five types of radicals.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a pattern code and restoration information of the stroke pattern of FIG.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing stroke patterns and stroke data of character data “mute” and “ki”.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Input Device 2 Character Data Memory 3 Pattern Table Memory 4 Program Memory 5 Development Memory 6 Work Memory 7 Output Device 8 Data Processing Device

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Susumu Hasegawa 22-22, Nagaike-cho, Abeno-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Inside Sharp Corporation (72) Minehiro Konya 22-22, Nagaike-cho, Abeno-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Within Sharp Corporation

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A character data storage unit for storing character data including character codes for individual character patterns, pattern codes indicating stroke patterns, and restoration information indicating position / size of stroke patterns, and standard strokes of standard size. Corresponds to the input character code, the pattern storage unit that stores the pattern, the modified stroke pattern of the modified size, and the pattern code / restoration information of each of these, the input unit that inputs the character code, the character size, the modification information of the character pattern A search unit for searching the character data storage unit for the character data to be stored, and when the change information of the character pattern is input, the searched character data is converted into the pattern code of the modified stroke pattern /
A change unit that changes to the character data with the restoration information, a coordinate conversion unit that performs coordinate conversion so that the position and size of the restored information of the changed character data matches the input character size, and strokes based on the restored information after the coordinate conversion. A character generation device comprising: a restoration unit that restores a pattern, a development unit that develops the restored stroke pattern into a dot pattern, and an output unit that outputs the developed dot pattern. 2. The character generation device according to claim 1, wherein the stroke pattern is written in an outline font. 3. The character generation device according to claim 1, wherein the stroke pattern is restored in a hierarchical structure based on a pattern code and restoration information. 4. The character generation device according to claim 1, wherein the stroke pattern is a radical written in Chinese characters.