JPS6251444A - Designation of intercharacter space in displayed character string - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable well-arranged intercharacter space to be designated by designating an allocation area for a character string using a coordinate input device and displaying each character which constitutes a character string uniformly allocated in the allocation area. CONSTITUTION:The first character of a character string is fixed in position and an allocation area is designated by designating the position of the last character in display. For instance, the left Chinese character is fixed in position, whilst the the position of a point located at lower right of the frame of the right Chinese character is designated as 'Q' point. In this case, the allocation area extends from 'P' to 'Q' point. Each position in display is designated by a digitizer. A character string is uniformly allocated within the allocation area by designating the space between 'P' and 'Q' position as an allocation area. Selection of the method to allocate characters uniformly has only to be made beforehand by designating either space adjustment in ordinary Japanese writing style or that in Roman writing style.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a method for specifying character spacing in a character string, and particularly to a method for specifying character spacing in a character string allocated on a display.

[Prior art and its problems]

With the development of computers, methods of allocating characters on a display have become popular. In this case, in order to perform layout with a greater degree of freedom, a function that allows the character spacing of character strings to be specified freely is required.

However, the method of specifying character spacing conventionally used in word processors, CAD systems, etc. mainly uses a keyboard to specify the character spacing by inputting numerical values. Even in systems that use a digitizer instead of a keyboard for input, the digitizer is used to specify a numerical menu, so in the end there is not much difference from numerical input using a keyboard. Digital character spacing designation through numerical input has the problem that it is difficult for the operator to grasp the actual character spacing, resulting in very poor operability.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for specifying the character spacing of a character string on a display with good operability.

(Summary of the Invention) A feature of the present invention is that in a method for specifying the character spacing of a character string allocated on a display, a coordinate input device is used to specify the allocation range of a character string, and each character forming the character string is The present invention is such that the character spacing can be specified evenly within this allocation range and displayed on the display, making it possible to specify character spacing with good operability.

[Embodiments of the invention]

The present invention will be explained below based on illustrated embodiments.

Now, as shown in FIG. 1, it is assumed that a character "large i x 1 character" is allocated to a predetermined position on the display. Each character is allocated within a frame of width W. That is, ,
The distance between the centers of each letter is also equal to W.

In this embodiment, the allocation range is specified by fixing the position of the first character of the character string and specifying the position of the last character on the display. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 1, the position of the character "dai'" is fixed, and the position of the lower right point of the frame of the character "hon" is designated as point Q. The allocation range in this case is the range between point P and point Q. Each location on the display can be designated by a digitizer. That is, when coordinates are specified with the spiral pen of the digitizer, a cart mark appears at the corresponding position on the display. The operator moves the cursor to the point Q in FIG. 1, turns on the spiral pen, and specifies this position.

By specifying the area between point P and point Q as the allocation range, character strings are evenly allocated within this allocation range. There are two methods for this equal allocation. One method is called general typeface character adjustment, and the layout as shown in FIG. 2 is performed, and the other method is called Latin typeface character adjustment, and the layout as shown in FIG. 3 is performed. General typeface character spacing adjustment is a method of adjusting the character spacing so that the distance between the centers of each character constituting a character string is equal to each other. As shown in Figure 2, the frames of each character are allocated at the same spacing a, The distance between the centers of each character is also equal to each other. As shown in FIG. Then, if 3) is n, then the distance between the frames of each character after equal allocation l
11ta is found by a=j)/(n-1). Therefore, after specifying point Q, if a is calculated based on the above-mentioned formula, the layout result as shown in FIG. 2 can be immediately displayed on the display. On the other hand, the adjustment between Roman script characters is
End of one character that makes up a character string (right end in horizontal layout)
and the tip of the next character (the left edge in horizontal layout)
It is a method of adjusting the character spacing so that they are equal to each other,
As shown in FIG. 3, the distances between the end points of each character are assigned at the same interval C. As shown in Figure 4, arrange each character so that the right end of one character touches the left end of the next character, and dot the right end of the last character in the string ('N'' in this example). The distance between Q and Q is m, and the width of each character is W.
l , w2 , w3 , ... and the number of characters constituting the character string (3 in this example) is n, then the distance C between the end points of each character after equal allocation is c=m/(n-1 ). Comparing Figure 1 and Figure 4, nW+J7
=W1 +W2 +w3 +・+m.

Therefore, by specifying point Q in FIG. 1, C can be found, and the allocation result as shown in FIG. 3 can be immediately displayed on the display.

The choice of whether to perform equal allocation by adjusting between characters in a general typeface or by adjusting between characters in a European typeface can be specified in advance. For example, both can be displayed on a portion of the display, and one of them can be specified using a digitizer. By moving the cursor on the display and specifying point Q as described above, the operator can visually check the allocation range, and this allocation range can be specified at any position in an analog way. Very easy to operate. Furthermore, as soon as an allocation range is specified, evenly allocated characters are displayed within that range, so it is possible to immediately determine whether or not the character spacing is appropriate.

In the embodiment described above, the position of point Q was specified by actually moving the cursor to the position of point Q on the display, but this position may be specified using another method. For example, the position of point Q can be specified by displaying an arrow as shown in FIG. 5 on a part of the display and specifying a point on this arrow with a digitizer. That is, let the arrow shown in Figure 5 be a one-dimensional coordinate system, and make a linear correspondence between the actual position of point Q and this one-dimensional coordinate system.
There is a one-to-one correspondence between one point on the arrow No. 1 and the actual position of point Q.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which character strings are laid out horizontally has been described, but the present invention can be similarly applied to a case in which character strings are laid out vertically.

Note that when character strings are allocated on a display and the result of specifying character spacing is used for printed matter, the data regarding character spacing can be output as is and used for a phototypesetting machine. For example, when adjusting the spacing between characters in a general typeface as shown in Figure 2, the center-to-center pressure 1b can be used as the tooth feed pitch number in a phototypesetting machine, and adjusting the spacing between characters in a European font as shown in Figure 3. In this case, the endpoint distance C can be used as the character spacing in a phototypesetting machine. Also, when specifying character spacing, b or C
If you display the value of on a part of the display,
The operator can now specify accurate character spacing.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, in the method of specifying character spacing of a character string on a display, a coordinate input device is used to specify an allocation range, uniform allocation is performed, and the result is displayed on the display. , it becomes possible to specify character spacing with good operability, and there is no need for the operator to calculate the tooth feed pitch when outputting from a phototypesetting machine.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a display diagram during a character spacing specification operation according to the method according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a display display diagram after character spacing is specified by adjusting the general font character spacing using the method according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a display display diagram after performing character spacing adjustment and specifying character spacing using the method according to the present invention;
The figure is an explanatory diagram of a method for calculating character spacing in the adjustment between characters in a Roman script, and Figure 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a one-dimensional coordinate system used for specifying an allocation range. P...Fixed point, Q...Specified point, W...Width of character frame, wl, w2, w3...Width of character, a...Space between character frames, b...Center distance Distance, C...Distance between end points.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method for specifying the character spacing of a character string allocated on a display, the method comprising specifying the allocation range of the character string using a coordinate input device and configuring the character string. A method for specifying character spacing for a character string on a display, characterized in that each character is displayed on the display with each character being equally allocated within the allocation range. 2. A method for specifying character spacing of a character string on a display as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that a digitizer is used as the coordinate input device. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the allocation range is specified by specifying the position of the last character of the character string on the display using a coordinate input device. How to specify character spacing for strings on the display. 4. Specify the allocation range by providing a one-dimensional coordinate system on the coordinate input device, making linear correspondence between the one-dimensional coordinate system and the width of the allocation range, and specifying one coordinate value of the one-dimensional coordinate system. Claims 1 to 3 are characterized in that
How to specify character spacing for a character string on a display as described in any of the sections. 5. Equal allocation within the allocation range is performed such that the center distances of each character constituting the character string are equal to each other, according to any one of claims 1 to 4. How to specify the character spacing of a string on a display. 6. Claims characterized in that equal allocation within the allocation range is performed such that the distance between the rear end of one character constituting a character string and the front end of the next character is equal to each other. A method for specifying character spacing of a character string on a display according to any one of items 1 to 4.