WO2004019249A1

WO2004019249A1 - Font providing method and system and master font server

Info

Publication number: WO2004019249A1
Application number: PCT/JP2002/008388
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hiroshi Nou; Katsuya Shimatu; Tomoko Motokado; Yasunori Toda; Nobuaki Usui
Original assignee: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2002-08-20
Filing date: 2002-08-20
Publication date: 2004-03-04
Also published as: JPWO2004019249A1

Abstract

A system includes a plurality of subsystems (10) each having a plurality of client apparatuses (12), databases (22) of a plurality of font manufacturers (20) connected via a network to the subsystems, and a master font server (24) connected to the subsystems and the font manufacturers. The number of clients in each subsystem, information on resolution of a printer (14), and the like are stored in the master font server in advance. When download of a font is requested from a client apparatus belonging to one of the subsystems, a character code of a font provided by one of the font manufacturers in response to the request is converted into a character code common to the font manufactures in the maser font server and is provided to the client apparatus. Moreover, according to the number of clients, printer resolution, and other information, the master font server decides the font price, presents the price to the client, and charges the client.

Description

Description Font Font providing method and system, and master font server

The present invention relates to a method and a system for enabling a client to obtain a desired font not installed in a network environment, and a master font server. Background art

In recent years, due to the widespread use of the Internet environment, it has become common to send documents as electronic data. For various tasks, forms that have been handled on paper have been managed and processed as electronic data. With the introduction of the Basic Resident Register network system on the administrative side, administrative services for application and notification will be provided electronically.

Character data handled by personal computers (hereafter PC) and workstations (hereafter WS), that is, fonts, are uniquely coded based on standard character code systems such as JIS and Shift-JIS. This is the so-called "inner character". However, there are many kanji for personal names and kanji for place names that are not actually included in the standard character code system. In particular, the kanji for personal names has a variety of "variant characters" that are considered to be derived from one parent character. For example, there are "Saisai Saisei" and "Henbebe". There is also a demand for fonts such as company logos and special characters necessary for business.

Normally, these characters are registered as “external characters” by assigning an arbitrary code to each PC / WS. For this reason, documents containing external characters When doing so, there is a problem that the external character is not displayed or an incorrect character is displayed because another external character is registered in the same code.

In addition, there are general tools for making external characters, but if an amateur makes them, the shape of the characters is not good, or only the external characters are registered as image data and the internal characters are registered. When used in combination with, the quality may be poor. In the current document creation environment where high-quality outline fonts are installed on PC and WS and are also printed at high resolution, external characters are also registered as outline data with the same quality. It is desirable. Disclosure of the invention

A first object of the present invention is to automatically assign the same character code to the same character and provide the same to the same character regardless of the font manufacturer when the user needs the external character font. This is to avoid troubles related to the use of external characters.

A second object of the present invention is to make it possible for a user to efficiently input and receive an external character font via a network when the user needs the font.

According to the present invention, a plurality of subsystems each having a plurality of client devices, a plurality of font providing devices connected to the subsystem via a network, and the plurality of subsystems via a network are provided. A font providing method in a font providing system comprising a system and a master font server connected to the font providing apparatus, wherein a font download is requested from one of the subsystems, and the requested font is provided. From one of multiple font providers

Provided by the font providing device on the master font server. A font providing method including a step of converting a character code of a font to a common character code and downloading a font having the converted character code to a subsystem.

According to the present invention, there is provided a font providing system including a plurality of subsystems each having a plurality of client devices, and a master font server connected to the subsystems via a network, wherein the subsystems are Includes means to request font download from the font providing device via the network, and the master font server converts the font character code provided by the font providing device into a common character code A font providing system including means for downloading a font having the converted character code.

According to the present invention, a plurality of subsystems each having a plurality of client devices, a plurality of font providing devices connected to the subsystem via a network, and the plurality of font providing devices connected to the subsystem via a network are provided. A master font server for use in a font providing system comprising a font providing device and a master font server connected to the font providing device, wherein the master font server is requested from one of the subsystems and provided from one of a plurality of font providing devices. Also provided is a master font server having means for converting the character code of the font to a common character code and means for providing the converted character code to the subsystem.

According to the present invention, a plurality of subsystems each having a plurality of client devices, a plurality of font providing devices connected to the subsystem via a network, the subsystem and the plurality of font providing devices via a network are provided. A master font for use in a font providing system comprising a master font server connected to a font providing device. There is also provided a master font server which is an on-server and which includes means for charging for fonts requested by one of the subsystems and provided by one of the plurality of font providing devices.

According to the present invention, a plurality of subsystems each having a plurality of client devices, a plurality of font providing devices connected to the subsystem via a network, and the plurality of subsystems via the network A program for causing a computer to execute a master font server for use in a font providing system including a master font server connected to the font providing apparatus, the program comprising: a plurality of fonts requested by one of the subsystems; A program is provided for causing a computer to implement means for converting a character code of a font provided from one of the data providing devices into a common character code, and means for providing the converted character code to a subsystem. You. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a font providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 shows an example of a menu screen displayed on the client device;

Fig. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation when "Character search" in Fig. 2 is selected;

Figure 4 shows an example of the screen displayed in "Specify Font" in Figure 3;

Figure 5 shows an example of the screen displayed in "Character search" in Figure 3;

Figure 6 shows an example of the screen displayed when downloading; Figure 7 is displayed when specifying the installation destination file Figure showing an example of the screen;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the operation when “letter order” in FIG. 2 is selected;

Fig. 9 shows an example of the screen displayed in "Specify font" in Fig. 8.

Figure 10 shows an example of the screen displayed in the "character search" of Figure 8;

Figure 11 shows an example of the screen displayed when downloading; Figure 12 shows an example of the screen displayed when specifying the installation destination file;

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of information held by the master font server; FIG. 14 is a flowchart for explaining a billing process;

Fig. 15 illustrates the price determination based on the number of down calls. Fig. 16 illustrates the price determination based on the number of clients; Fig. 17 illustrates the price determination based on the resolution of the printer. Figure and

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a flow of processing of the entire system. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 10 shows subsystems interconnected by LA Nil, 12 of which are PC and WS user terminals connected as multiple clients. 14 is an output device such as a printer, 16 is a font server, and 18 is a database of font data. Reference numeral 20 denotes each font maker, each of which has a font database 22 for external characters. 24 is a master font server.

The user does not have the required external characters installed on his terminal 12 Then, the font database 18 is searched through the font server 16. If the desired external character is included in the font database 18, it is downloaded to the terminal 12 and used. If it is not included, it is downloaded from the font database 22 of the desired font maker 20 via the master font server 24, and the downloaded font is stored in the font server 16 and the user terminal 12 from there. Downloaded to A character code common to each maker is already assigned to the external character font in the master font server 24, and font data is automatically installed at the code position. At that time, the master font server 24 sends the accounting information to the font terminal 20 and the user terminal 12. The user pays for the font at regular intervals, and the font maker pays the management fee of the master font server 24 to the system manager.

Once an external character is installed on the font server 16 in the subsystem 10, if another user in the system searches for the external character, the user can install the external character from the font server 16 to the terminal. There is no need to purchase from a manufacturer.

Alternatively, when an external character is installed in the font server 16, the font server 16 may have a function of automatically installing an external character in all the client terminals 12.

Normally, PC * WS has about 10,000 fonts per typeface, but some font manufacturers have more than 60,000 characters. With this system, users can utilize a huge amount of font resources with simple operations.

In addition, even if a character code is independently given in each font manager, the character code is converted into a common character code in the master font server 24 and is automatically installed. The problem of missing or incorrect display of external characters due to differences in character codes between fonts is solved.

When a user receives an electronic document and contains external characters that the user does not have, the user launches a dedicated application to obtain the external character data. The application displays the menu screen by inputting the user name and password.

Fig. 2 shows the menu screen of the user's application, and Fig. 3 shows the flow of processing when [Character Search] is activated. First, [character search] is started (step 1000), a font is specified (step 1002), and a desired character is searched (step 1004). The database 18 of the font server 16 in the subsystem is searched, and if there is no corresponding character, a message to that effect is displayed (step 1006). If it exists, a screen to select whether to download is displayed (Step 1008), and the download is executed (Step 1012) or Cancel is selected. At this time, specify the file name of the external character font that stores the downloaded characters (step 1010). The same code as the character code of the font server 16 is assigned to the downloaded character.

If the character does not exist in the font server 16 in the subsystem and it is necessary to obtain the character from the font maker 20, start [Character Order] from the menu screen. First, specify the font. Multiple fonts may be provided from 20 Perform a character search in the same way as the previous character search screen, and specify the desired character. When a character is specified, the character code, amount, etc. of that character are displayed, a selection screen for downloading is displayed, and execution or cancellation is selected. When executed, the database 22 of the font maker 20 having the specified font is accessed, and first, the font in the subsystem is accessed. Downloaded to the terminal server 16, and then automatically downloaded to the terminal 12. The same code as the character code of the master font server 24 is assigned to the font.

FIG. 4 shows a screen displayed in “designate font” of step 1002 in FIG.

When [Character Search] is started, the screen shown in Fig. 4 (1) is displayed. Here, specify the font to be searched. In the screen shown in Fig. 4 (2), the font name stored in the font server is displayed in the pull-down menu. Similarly, the type of font is selected on the screen of FIG. 4 (3), and the typeface name is selected on the screen of FIG. 4 (4).

FIG. 5 shows a screen displayed in “character search” in step 1004 of FIG.

As shown in Fig. 5 (1), characters can be searched by entering the radical, stroke count, and reading. Alternatively, a character list can be selected and selected from a list as shown in FIG. 5 (2). If you double-click the searched character, the character and its information are displayed as shown in Fig. 5 (3), and when you select it, the screen of Fig. 5 (4) is displayed. If you want to select another character, the screen returns to Fig. 5 (1).

FIG. 6 shows the screen displayed in step 1008 of FIG. When the selection of the character is completed, a screen for selecting whether to download the character is displayed.

FIG. 7 shows the screen displayed in step 1010 of FIG. When you select a download, a screen to select or enter the font file to download to is displayed.

Fig. 8 shows the flow of processing when [Character Order] is started on the menu screen of Fig. 2, and Fig. 9 shows the menu screen when [Character Order] is started. When [Character Order] is activated (Fig. 8: Step 1100), the screen shown in Fig. 9 (1) is displayed, and the font to be searched is specified here (Step 1102). In the screen shown in Fig. 9 (2), the name of the font maker provided via the master font server is displayed in a pull-down menu. Similarly, the type of font is selected on the screen of Fig. 9 (3), and the font name is selected on the screen of Fig. 9 (4).

FIG. 10 shows the screen displayed in steps 1104, 1104 and 1106 of FIG.

As shown in Fig. 10 (1), characters can be searched by inputting radicals, stroke counts, and readings. Alternatively, a character list can be selected and selected from a list as shown in FIG. 10 (2). When the searched character is double-clicked, the character and its information are displayed as shown in Fig. 10 (3). When the character is selected, the screen of Fig. 10 (4) is displayed and the amount of money is displayed. If you want to select another character, the screen returns to Fig. 10 (1).

FIG. 11 shows a screen displayed in step 1110 of FIG. When the character selection is completed, a selection screen for whether to download the character is displayed.

FIG. 12 shows a screen displayed in step 1112 of FIG. When download is selected, a screen for selecting or inputting the font file of the download destination is displayed.

If the font maker does not have the characters when ordering the characters, order the characters by transmitting the desired glyphs by mail, fax, e-mail with image files attached, etc. The stall is performed as described above.

Figure 13 shows the information held by the master font server 24 (Figure 1). The master font server 24, as shown in Fig. 13 (1), assigns a character code uniquely assigned by each font manufacturer to each manufacturer. It has a character code conversion table for converting to character codes and unifying character codes. The character font downloaded via the master font server 24 is given a code determined by this conversion table. As a result, a plurality of subsystems 10 (FIG. 1) have the same code for the same character even between fonts downloaded from different font makers 20.

The master font server 24 also has user management information as shown in FIG. 13 (2). Information such as the address of the font server of each user connected to the master font server, the number of clients, and the resolution of the printer used is registered when the system is installed.

The master font server 24 further has information on the unit price and the number of downloads for each character as shown in Fig. 13 (3). In the master font server 24, the unit price can be automatically reduced according to the number of downloads.

The master ounce serper 24 further has charge information as shown in FIG. 13 (4). When a font is downloaded from the font maker's server, the downloaded user, date, font, number of characters, etc. are recorded, and the amount calculated by the specified method is also recorded. Whether downloading from the font server in the subsystem or downloading from the font server of the font maker, the user specifies the font file at the time of downloading and the character code common to each font maker is specified in advance as the external character. The external character is automatically installed in the font file and registered as the external character because the password is assigned. As in the past, when fonts were provided on a medium, such as when purchasing a font package or directly ordering and purchasing fonts, it was easy to illegally copy and use them. However, in the present invention, the downloaded font is stored in the font file. Since the installation is automatically performed, it is not easy to extract the font data alone, and as a result, it may help the font maker to prevent the copying of the fonts that are nervous.

Next, the accounting process will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. When a font is downloaded from the font database 22 of the font maker 20 (step 1200), the master font server 24 creates accounting information (step 1202). The master font server 24 records the download user, date, font type and number of characters, and determines the amount. Although the amount of money may be simply set by the number of characters or the amount of data, weighting may be performed for each character or for each user.

Some characters take a long time to produce due to the large number of strokes, and others are produced at low cost, such as being able to reuse existing characters. In addition, as shown in Fig. 15, newly created products have a high unit price, and those that have collected many developments due to a large number of downloads can be set at a low unit price. The unit price for each character is set in the master font server 24 (step 1206).

Even when downloading the same character, the billing amount differs depending on the user. As shown in Fig. 16, users with a large number of clients should pay more than users with a small number of clients, and output printers should also pay more for users with higher resolution. (Step 1212). As shown in FIG. 1 7, such as less than 300Dp i, less than 600d _P i, the pricing in distinction of less than 1200 dpi (step 1214). This information can be referred to from the user management information of the master font server.

The payment from the user may be a transfer or a debit from a designated account. There is also a service that can be downloaded freely with a fixed amount of usage.

Users shall register user information in the master font server when introducing the system.

On the other hand, the system maker charges administrative fees for the master font server to the font maker. This may be a fixed amount or a fixed percentage depending on the font download.

FIG. 18 shows an outline of the processing flow described so far. First, user information such as the number of clients and the printer resolution described with reference to FIG. 13 (2) is sent from the subsystem 10 to which the client belongs to the master font server 24 and registered ( Step 1300) If there is a character search request from the terminal 12 of the subsystem 10 (Step 1302), the result is returned from the font maker 20 (Step 1304). When a character is ordered from the subsystem 10 (step 1306), billing information is created in the master font server 24 (step 1308) and transmitted to the font maker 20 and the subsystem 10 (step 1306). 1310). When the purchase is determined by the subsystem 10 (step 1312), the font requested for purchase is first sent to the master font server 24 (step 1314). The attached character code is converted to a common character code and provided to the subsystem 10 (step 1318).

As described above, the present invention has the following effects.

(1) The user can access and use vast character resources across multiple font manufacturers by simple operations.

(2) The font downloaded from the font maker Without any special operation, it is first stored in the font server in the system, and then downloaded to the user terminal. Character codes are also automatically assigned.

(3) By centrally managing character codes in the master font server, it is possible to uniquely determine external character codes between font manufacturers and users.

(4) Font makers can sell letters without letting them use their text resources and without any operating costs.

(5) Due to the effect of the above (2), fonts are not distributed by themselves, so that font manufacturers are prevented from illegally copying fonts.

(6) By managing users on the master font server, font makers can obtain appropriate font usage fees according to the number of clients and the output environment.

(7) Systems that are built with large printers and servers have been equipped with fonts procured by system manufacturers, and there was no room for font enthusiasts to enter. According to the present invention, it is possible to expand the market for font printing.

(8) The system maker can provide a comfortable external character environment to users who install the system.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. A plurality of subsystems each having a plurality of client devices, a plurality of font providing devices connected to the subsystem via a network, and the subsystem and the font providing device via a network. A font providing method in a font providing system comprising a master font server connected to a plurality of font providing devices, wherein a font download request is made from one of the subsystems and the requested font is sent to a plurality of font providing devices. The master font server converts the character code of the font provided by the font providing device into a common character code,

A method for providing a font comprising downloading a font having a converted character code to a subsystem.

2. Store user information in the subsystem in the master font server in advance,

The master font server determines the price of the requested font based on the user information,

2. The font providing method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of transmitting the determined font price from the master font server to the subsystem.

3. The font providing method according to claim 2, wherein the user information includes the number of client devices in a subsystem.

4. The font providing method according to claim 2, wherein the user information includes a resolution of a printing device in a subsystem.

5. The font providing method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the font price is further determined based on the number of downloads.

6. The font providing method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising the step of automatically installing the downloaded font on the client device.

7. A font providing system comprising a plurality of subsystems each having a plurality of client devices, and a master font server connected to the subsystem via a network, wherein the subsystem is connected via a network. Including means for requesting the font provider to download fonts,

The master font server includes means for converting a font character code provided by the font providing device into a common character code, and the subsystem further has the converted character code. A font providing system that includes a means for downloading fonts.

8. The master phone

Claims further comprising means for storing user information in each subsystem in advance, means for determining the price of the requested font based on the user information, and means for transmitting the price of the determined font to the subsystem. A font providing system as described in 7.

9. The font providing system according to claim 8, wherein the user information includes the number of client devices in a subsystem.

10. The font providing system according to claim 8, wherein the user information includes a resolution of a printing device in a subsystem.

11. The font providing system according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the means for determining the font price further determines the font price based on the number of downloads.

12. The client according to any of claims 7 to 11, wherein the client device further comprises means for automatically installing the downloaded font. The font providing system described in 1.

13. A plurality of subsystems each having a plurality of client devices, a plurality of font providing devices connected to the subsystem via a network, and the subsystem and the font providing device via a network. A master font server for use in a font providing system comprising a master font server connected to

Means for converting a font character code requested by one of the subsystems and provided by one of the plurality of font providing devices into a common character code;

Providing the converted character code to the subsystem.

14. It further comprises means for storing user information in each subsystem in advance, means for determining the price of the requested font based on the user information, and means for transmitting the price of the determined font to the subsystem. 13. The master font server according to claim 13, wherein

15. The master font server according to claim 14, wherein the user information includes a number of client devices in a subsystem.

16. The master font server according to claim 14, wherein the user information includes a resolution of a printing device in a subsystem.

17. The master font server according to any one of claims 14 to 16, wherein the means for determining the font price further determines the font price based on the number of downloads.

18. A plurality of subsystems each having a plurality of client devices, a plurality of font providing devices connected to the subsystem via a network, and the subsystem and the firewall via the network. A program for realizing a master font server for use in a font providing system having a master font server connected to a font providing device and a master font server, the program comprising:

Means for converting a character code of a font requested from one of the subsystems and provided from one of a plurality of font providing devices into a common character code;

A program for causing a combination user to provide a means for providing a converted character code to a subsystem.

19. Means for storing user information in each subsystem in advance, means for determining the price of the requested font based on the user information, and means for transmitting the price of the determined font to the subsystem. The program according to claim 18, which is executed by a computer.

20. The program according to claim 19, wherein the user information includes a number of client devices in a subsystem.

21. The program according to claim 19, wherein the user information includes a resolution of a printing device in a subsystem.

22. The program according to any one of claims 19 to 21, wherein the means for determining the font price further determines the font price based on the number of downloads.