US3581302A - Apparatus and method for providing graphical configurations by sequentially directing a radiant energy beam to present image positions - Google Patents

Apparatus and method for providing graphical configurations by sequentially directing a radiant energy beam to present image positions Download PDF

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Publication number
US3581302A
US3581302A US710349A US3581302DA US3581302A US 3581302 A US3581302 A US 3581302A US 710349 A US710349 A US 710349A US 3581302D A US3581302D A US 3581302DA US 3581302 A US3581302 A US 3581302A
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Prior art keywords
character
signals
coordinate
along
axes
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US710349A
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English (en)
Inventor
Edwin R Kolb
Robert M Horvath
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Harris Corp
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Harris Intertype Corp
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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41B—MACHINES OR ACCESSORIES FOR MAKING, SETTING, OR DISTRIBUTING TYPE; TYPE; PHOTOGRAPHIC OR PHOTOELECTRIC COMPOSING DEVICES
    • B41B19/00—Photoelectronic composing machines
    • B41B19/01—Photoelectronic composing machines having electron-beam tubes producing an image of at least one character which is photographed
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41B—MACHINES OR ACCESSORIES FOR MAKING, SETTING, OR DISTRIBUTING TYPE; TYPE; PHOTOGRAPHIC OR PHOTOELECTRIC COMPOSING DEVICES
    • B41B27/00—Control, indicating, or safety devices or systems for composing machines of various kinds or types
    • B41B27/28—Control, indicating, or safety devices for individual operations or machine elements
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
    • G09G—ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION
    • G09G1/00—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with cathode-ray tube indicators; General aspects or details, e.g. selection emphasis on particular characters, dashed line or dotted line generation; Preprocessing of data
    • G09G1/06—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with cathode-ray tube indicators; General aspects or details, e.g. selection emphasis on particular characters, dashed line or dotted line generation; Preprocessing of data using single beam tubes, e.g. three-dimensional or perspective representation, rotation or translation of display pattern, hidden lines, shadows
    • G09G1/08—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with cathode-ray tube indicators; General aspects or details, e.g. selection emphasis on particular characters, dashed line or dotted line generation; Preprocessing of data using single beam tubes, e.g. three-dimensional or perspective representation, rotation or translation of display pattern, hidden lines, shadows the beam directly tracing characters, the information to be displayed controlling the deflection and the intensity as a function of time in two spatial co-ordinates, e.g. according to a cartesian co-ordinate system
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
    • G09G—ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION
    • G09G1/00—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with cathode-ray tube indicators; General aspects or details, e.g. selection emphasis on particular characters, dashed line or dotted line generation; Preprocessing of data
    • G09G1/06—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with cathode-ray tube indicators; General aspects or details, e.g. selection emphasis on particular characters, dashed line or dotted line generation; Preprocessing of data using single beam tubes, e.g. three-dimensional or perspective representation, rotation or translation of display pattern, hidden lines, shadows
    • G09G1/14—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with cathode-ray tube indicators; General aspects or details, e.g. selection emphasis on particular characters, dashed line or dotted line generation; Preprocessing of data using single beam tubes, e.g. three-dimensional or perspective representation, rotation or translation of display pattern, hidden lines, shadows the beam tracing a pattern independent of the information to be displayed, this latter determining the parts of the pattern rendered respectively visible and invisible

Definitions

  • a phototypesetting system employs a cathoderay tube to present characters of typesetting quality wherein each of the characters displayed is generated by directing the cathode-ray tube beam to a series of locations, each immediately adjacent its previous location, where the beam is energized for a predetermined period of time.
  • a character memory such as an optically encoded disc, supplies digital information to electronic circuitry which initially locates the beam within a character field and then directs the beam sequentially to additional locations,'each of the locations immediately adjacent the previous location, thus forming characters from a series of illuminated spots. Additional deflection signals are supplied to control the cathode-ray tube to move the beam automatically to the next character position after each character has been formed in preparation for the writing of subsequent characters.
  • FIG -H A Dm-m-ws TOFlG.-HB
  • High speed phototypesetting devices using cathode-ray tubes are commonly employed to display characters forsubsequent recordation on photographic film.
  • Different types of character generators have been used to form these characters, such generators including character grids used inconjunction with a scanning video tube, or core matrix or magnetic drum memories which are used to generate the characters by scanning the character field in a raster scan pattern either by forming the characters from a series of lines with the cathoderay tube beam being energized only in those areas where the character is present, or by turning the beam off and on as it is moved in a series of incremental steps in the raster pattern.
  • This invention relates to an improved typesetting apparatus wherein the characters may be fonned by moving a beam of energy, such as the electron beam of a cathode-ray tube, to a plurality of discrete locations in a predetermined sequence and energizing he beam of energy at each of those locations for a predetermined'period of time.
  • the beam is therefore never directed to an area which forms no part of the character, with the result that the character is generated in a minimum of time.
  • Each of the characters in a font of type is represented by digital information recorded in character memory means,
  • optical character memory adapted to be rotated at a relatively high rate of speed.
  • the digital character information is recorded as a series of bytes, each consisting of three bits, each byte forming an instruction to cause the beam to move to one of the locations immediately adjacent its previous location.
  • the character is therefore formed by focusing a beam of energy onto the energy responsive surface of the tube and moving the beam to a plurality of predetermined locations by modifying the output of a circuit which controls the vertical and horizontal location of cathode ray tube beam in discrete increments.
  • a group of codes are associated with each character track on the optical character memory to supply control information to the electronic circuitry used in the formation of the characters. For example, it has been found that more rapid access to the character information may be accomplished by dividing each character into a plurality of sections, and supplying each of those sections with a code identifying the starting coordinates of that section with respect to the remainder of the character. A more complete explanation of this type of character generation may be found in the above mentioned .copending US. Pat. application, Ser. No. 805,l05. Also, the
  • control information may be included as part of the control information, thus providing for flexibility in the generation of the character.
  • the control information may also include codes indicating the normalized width of the character, which, when multiplied with the actual horizontal point size of the character being displayed, will give a signal which will cause the beam of energy to be moved to the proper horizontal location after the formation of that character is completed. Still another portion of the control data may indicate the point size of the recorded character which, when multiplied with the vertical an horizontal point size, will produce signals controlling the size of the character formed as well as the time during which the beam is energized in each location.
  • objects of this invention are to provide an improved method and apparatus for generating characters of typesetting quality by energizing a beam of energy to form a spot and positioningthe spot at a plurality of predetermined, immediately adjacent locations within a character field in information from a character memory, each of the locations forming the character being identified by reference to its immediately preceding location, without directing the beam into areas which form no part of the character; to provide a method and apparatus for generating characters of typesetting quality wherein the characters are formed from a plurality of spots, the spacing between spots being consistent within a character, and the spot size relative to the total size of the character being predetermined to produce characters of high resolution; to provide a method and apparatus for forming characters of typesetting quality wherein the digital information representing a character is stored on a cyclically moving memory, and wherein rapid access to the character information is provided by dividing each character into a number of sections with the location of each section within the character field being so identified that a complete character maybe formed from any sequence of sections which make up a complete character, and
  • FIG. 2 represents a character memory and illustrates the recorded information representing a character being repeated about the character memory with each repetition being divided into a number of sections;
  • FIG. 3 is an enlarge view of a portion of the character memory disc shown in FIG. 2, with two clock tracks and a single discrete character track being shown;
  • FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the direction in which the cathode-ray-tube. beam moves in accordance with the numerical instructions derived from the character memory;
  • FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the letter a made up of several numbers, each number representing an instruction for moving the cathode-ray tube beam to a location immediately adjacent its present location to form the character;
  • FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a portion of the letter a shown in FIG. 5 showing how the cathode-ray tube beam is moved in response to specific instructions from the character memory counter, the distribution gates, the skip counter and the section counter;
  • FIGS. A through 10D are detailed logic diagrams showing the control logic of the character generator of his invention.
  • FIGS. 11A and 11B are detailed logic diagrams of the clock used to control the character generator of this invention in response to clock signals from the character memory;
  • FIGS. 12A and 12B are detailed logic diagrams showing the x and y up-down counters, the PREDlPS register and the normalized width register.
  • the character storage memory is shown schematically at 10 and is formed from a transparent disc having alphanumeric characters optically stored thereon as a plurality of digital bytes which may be presented in a sequential manner.
  • the character storage memory may be similar in its construction and arrangement of tracks containing character information to that character storage memory shown and described in copending US. Pat. application Ser. No. 608,l6l, filed Jan. 9, 1967, and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.
  • copending application
  • each of the bands con taining 35 discrete tracks having optical marks permanently recorded thereon.
  • a singlediscrete track is herein described as containing the information for a single character in serial form, it is, understood that a plurality of tracks, usually adjacent, may also be used to represent in parallel form the information required for the generation of a single character. In either case, the information for character generation will be regarded as being contained in a single discrete track in this application. It is also understood that a plurality of character storage memories may be provided and that a pickup device is associated with each of the bands on each of the character memories. Either mechanical or electronic switching may be employed to select the character storage memory to be used and the particular band within the selected memory.
  • the digital information contained within the tracks on the character memory 10 is illuminated by a light source 11 and the image of a plurality of these tracks is projected onto a fiber optic pickup assembly 12 where that image is optically magnified and focused onto individual fiber optic bundles l3 and transmitted by means of these bundles 13 to photomultiplier tubes 15, one photomultiplier tube for each of the tracks within a band.
  • the character memory 10 is rotated by means of a motor 16 to cause relative movement between the character memory 10 and the pickup means 12.
  • two of the photomultiplier tubes are used to sense the timing tracks contained on the character memory 10 and generate electrical pulses which are thereafter used to provide the timing or clock signals for the remainder of the character generating apparatus, as will be described in detail hereinafter.
  • the remainder of the photomultiplier tubes sense the digital information contained in corresponding tracks on the character memory 10, and the electrical signals produced thereby are used to control the position of a beam of energy, such as the electron beam in a cathode-ray tube, to form a character by moving the beam to a plurality of predetermined locations within a character field.
  • Appropriate switching circuitry is provided to select the photomultiplier output to direct this character generating function in response to external commands.
  • each photomultiplier tube 15 is applied to a character generator circuit 20, the function of which is to sense the digital information contained within a selected one of the character tracks and convert that information into control signals, hereinafter described as character generating signals, which are then applied to the vertical and horizontal deflection amplifier circuits 21 and 22 for the cathode-ray tube 25.
  • the character generator circuit 20 also controls the energization of the cathode-ray tube beam generating means and energizes the beam only in those areas which form a part of the character to be displayed.
  • a control record such as a magnetic tape 27, passes through a tape reader 28 where it is read and the electrical output fed into a buffer 30.
  • control means such as the output of a computer or paper tape, may be used in supplying the control signals to the buffer 30.
  • the control record 27 contains information relating to, but not limited to, character selection, intercharacter and interword spaces, and leading instructions when the system is used as a phototypesetter.
  • the buffer 30 accepts information from the control record at its optimum read out rate, and then transfers that information to the decoder circuit 31 at a rate which can be accepted by the phototypesetting system. Different control functions will take differing amounts of time, and even the generation of certain characters will take longer than the generation of other characters.
  • the output of the decoder 31 is applied to the control circuit 35 which in turn supplies the character positioning signal to the horizontal and vertical circuits 21 and 22 for positioning the electron beam of the cathode-ray tube, and thus the entire character, prior to the generation of each character. Selection among the characters within a band on the character memory 10 is determined by another output from the decoder 31 to the character selection circuit 36.
  • the cathoderay tube displaying the characters uses electromagnetic deflection means, and both the character positioning and character generating signals are applied to modify the'current through the same deflection means. It has been found that this arrangement is to be preferred, especially when characters of typesetting quality are to be generated.
  • amplifier circuit- 21 supplies the current through an electromagnetic coil 37 controlling the vertical location of the beam, and in like manner, the horizontal amplifier circuit 22 controls the current through the electromagnetic coil 38 controlling the horizontal location of the beam. Both the vertical and horizontal amplifier are responsive to voltages supplied by the control circuit 35 and the character generator circuit 20.
  • the character positioning signals position the beam to locate the character horizOntally and vertically on the face of the cathode-ray tube while the character generating signals actually develop the character on the face of the cathode-ray tube.
  • the image of the characters so formed are recorded by photographic materials such as film or paper.
  • the characters developed on the face of the cathode-ray tube 25 in H6. 1 will have different widths.
  • the letter a for example, may be assigned a width value of Wu, while the letter i has a width value of Wi and the letter m has a width value of Wm.
  • Each of these width values will depend upon the type and style of the font being generated, but
  • each of the characters stored on the character memory 10 has a width code associated therewith, and this width code is multiplied by the horizontal point size of the character to be generated, as determined by a signal from the control record 27. This multiplication occurs in the control circuit 35, and the horizontal character positioning signal is modified to reposition the cathode-ray tube beam after the character generation has been completed.
  • the character memory 10 includes a pair of clock tracks 40 and 41, an several character tracks 42.
  • the portion of the character memory 10 includ-

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Radar, Positioning & Navigation (AREA)
  • Remote Sensing (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Controls And Circuits For Display Device (AREA)
US710349A 1968-03-04 1968-03-04 Apparatus and method for providing graphical configurations by sequentially directing a radiant energy beam to present image positions Expired - Lifetime US3581302A (en)

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US71034968A 1968-03-04 1968-03-04

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US (1) US3581302A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
JP (1) JPS5140456B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
DE (1) DE1907967B2 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
FR (1) FR1600594A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
GB (1) GB1265731A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3696717A (en) * 1969-10-14 1972-10-10 Tokyo Shibaura Electric Co Apparatus for printing railway tickets and the like
US4580231A (en) * 1978-09-15 1986-04-01 Alphatype Corporation Ultrahigh resolution photocomposition system employing electronic character generation from magnetically stored data
US4682189A (en) * 1978-05-31 1987-07-21 Purdy Haydn V Reproduction of character images, particularly for typesetting apparatus

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS53159850U (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) * 1977-05-19 1978-12-14

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3325802A (en) * 1964-09-04 1967-06-13 Burroughs Corp Complex pattern generation apparatus
US3337860A (en) * 1964-12-31 1967-08-22 Ibm Display tracking system
US3471847A (en) * 1966-08-03 1969-10-07 California Computer Products Cathode ray tube digital display system

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3325802A (en) * 1964-09-04 1967-06-13 Burroughs Corp Complex pattern generation apparatus
US3337860A (en) * 1964-12-31 1967-08-22 Ibm Display tracking system
US3471847A (en) * 1966-08-03 1969-10-07 California Computer Products Cathode ray tube digital display system

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3696717A (en) * 1969-10-14 1972-10-10 Tokyo Shibaura Electric Co Apparatus for printing railway tickets and the like
US4682189A (en) * 1978-05-31 1987-07-21 Purdy Haydn V Reproduction of character images, particularly for typesetting apparatus
US4580231A (en) * 1978-09-15 1986-04-01 Alphatype Corporation Ultrahigh resolution photocomposition system employing electronic character generation from magnetically stored data

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DE1907967A1 (de) 1969-09-25
GB1265731A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1972-03-08
JPS5140456B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1976-11-04
FR1600594A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1970-07-27
DE1907967B2 (de) 1978-05-24

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