JP2538631B2 - How to handle vector characters - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that creates a document including multi-size high quality characters, and is particularly suitable for creating a document including large or small characters. The present invention relates to a vector character processing method.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in order to generate high quality characters, etc., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 50-1423
As described in No. 0, outline information such as characters is stored in a storage device as stroke (polygon) data, a search code is given to extract the character data, and the character size is linearly converted to a display etc. The output device was developed using the polygon fill algorithm to output dots.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the above conventional technique, the thickness of a character, that is, the line width is only proportional to the character size. However, in general, when the character size is small, it is necessary to make the line width thinner so that the character is not crushed, and when the character size is large, it is necessary to make the line width thicker so that the character is powerful.

By the way, generally, in the case of the Mincho type, the width of the horizontal line is thin and the width of the vertical line is thick. Therefore, when the character size is gradually reduced, the vertical lines come closer to each other, and a so-called "blurred" phenomenon occurs. On the contrary, when the character size is gradually increased, the character looks weak. As described above, when characters of different sizes are generated from the contour information of one character, there is a disadvantage that the quality of the character is impaired due to the size.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a vector character processing method that outputs various characters of high quality and different sizes from the outline information of one character.

[Means for Solving the Problem] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is directed to an information processing apparatus that uses coordinate data of the vertices of a polygon (polygon) as contour information of a character, as shown in FIG. This is a vector character processing method, and when changing the coordinate data of the vertices to change the line width of the character, the coordinate data of the vertices is defined in advance with directionality, and each side defined by the vertices is defined. Changes the coordinate data so as to move in parallel in the 1-axis direction by a specified change amount, and in that case, the direction of movement on the 1-axis is determined based on the directionality. .

When the line width is enlarged, it is desirable to save the vertices whose coordinates before the change are close to each other in the coordinate data after the change as close vertices.

The coordinate data after the change of each vertex can be obtained using the coordinate data before the change of the vertex and the vertices before and after the vertex.

After changing the line width of the character in the 1-axis direction, for example, exchanging x, y coordinate data, changing the line width of the character again, and returning the x, y coordinate data to the original, It is also possible to change the line width of the character in the direction orthogonal to the uniaxial direction.

The word "character" in the present invention is not limited to a character in a narrow sense, but includes a figure and the like.

[Operation] In the present invention, the coordinate data of the vertices of the polygon are defined with directionality to approximate the contour line of the vector character. That is, the inside of the polygon is defined in such an order as to always look in one direction (for example, the right side). This allows
To increase or decrease the line width of characters,
It is automatically determined in which direction each side of the polygon should be moved.

Further, according to the present invention, when the line width of a character is increased or decreased, each side of the polygon is moved in parallel only in the uniaxial direction by the designated change amount. Therefore, the amount of change in the actual line width varies depending on the angle of the vector. For example, when the 1-axis direction is the x-axis direction, the actual amount of change in the line width is the largest for the vector parallel to the y-axis and 0 for the vector parallel to the x-axis.

As described above, according to the present invention, since the line width of a character can be changed only in one axis direction, it is particularly suitable for obtaining data of various character sizes based on vector data of Mincho type characters. It is also possible to change the line width separately in each axial direction.

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an information processing apparatus used for implementing the present invention. This information processing apparatus includes a storage device 201 for storing data such as operation programs and vector characters, a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU) 202, a display 203 for displaying data such as characters in a dot format, and data for characters. It has a printer 204 for printing in dot format and a keyboard 205 for inputting a character search code and the like.

In FIG. 12, the contour information is defined by a polygon (polygon) 1201 using the character “a” as an example. In the following embodiments, for simplicity of explanation, it is assumed that the contours are all polygons. The same can be done when a part of the contour is interpolated by a curve such as a spline.

The letter “a” in FIG. 12 is the ordered vertices 1202-12.
It is composed of one contour 1201 defined in 12. In the ordering here, the right side of the vector connecting the two vertices is the area where the characters are filled. The direction of the vector may be determined in the opposite way, but it is necessary to make it uniform for all characters.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a table when the contour information of vector characters is stored in the storage device 201 in the polygon data format. In the index table 301 for retrieving the character data with the search code, for example, in correspondence with the search code 302 of “a”, the start address of the character data in the character contour information table 304 in which the character data is stored. A pointer 303 indicating is stored.

The character outline information table 304 includes the number of polygons (that is, the number of loops) 305 that form the outline of the character data, the number of vertices 306 that form the outline (loop) 1, the coordinate data 307 to 309 of the vertices that form the loop, and The number of loops of the next character data 310, the number of vertices of loop 1 311 and the like are included.

Next, a method of changing the line width of a character will be described according to the flow of FIG.

Character contour information is retrieved from the keyboard 205 or program (block 102).

In block 103, the width is set in one axis direction (for example, x axis direction).
Change the coordinate values of the vertices that make up the outline of the character so that it changes only to.

Using this coordinate data, the size is changed linearly to the target character size, and the data is stored in the specified memory area.
Characters should be dot expanded and output.

Contrary to this procedure, regarding the contour information extracted in block 102, the character size may first be changed linearly, and then the line width may be changed.

Next, the algorithm of block 103 for changing the coordinate data so as to widen the line width in the direction of one axis will be described using the flow of FIG.

Vertex (x _i, y _i) new coordinates _{(x i ', y i'} ) assuming that determines the vertex (x _i, y _i) and before and after the vertex _{(x i-1, y i} -1)
And (x _{i + 1} , y _{i + 1} ) are fetched (block 402). If these two points are not close to (x _i , y _i ), (x _i-1 ,
y _i−1 ), (x _i , y _i ), and (x _{i + 1} , y _{i + 1} ) are used to calculate new coordinates as described later, and (x _i ′, y _i ′) Is obtained (block 404).

However, when increasing the line width, when (x _i-1 , y _i-1 ) (or (x _{i + 1} , y _{i + 1} )) is close to (x _i , y _i ) (that is, characters If the processing is performed as it is, the vertices that are close to each other will be separated, so that there is a problem that the quality of the characters is changed such that the pointed part cannot be seen sharply. For vertices approaching there, the following treatment is performed separately.

(X _i-1 ,, y _i-1 ) (or (x _{i + 1} , y _{i + 1} )) becomes (x _i , y _i )
Is close to the point (x _i-2 ,
Let y _i-2 ) (or (x _{i + 2} , y _{i + 2} )) be (x _i-1 ,, y _i-1 ) (or (x _{i + 1} , y _{i + 1} ) (block 405 ). For example,
In the case of FIG. 10, since (x _i , y _i ) 1002 and the next vertex 1003 are close to each other, the vertex 1004 next to the vertex 1003 is (x _{i + 1} , y
_{i + 1} ). If the vertex 1004 is also close, the next vertex is set to (x _{i + 1} , y _{i + 1} ). In block 406, the new coordinates are calculated in the same manner as in block 404 using the three points thus obtained, and (x _i ′, y _i ′) is calculated. Then, this (x _i ′, y _i ′)
If is too far from (x _i , y _i ), then (x _i ′, y _i ′) is modified (block 407). The point 1109 in FIG. 11 is (x _i−1 ,
y _i-1 ) 1101, (x _i , y _i ) 1103, (x _{i + 1} , y _{i + 1} ) 1104 is the new coordinates, but the distance between point 1109 and (x _i , y _i ) 1103 But,
Since it is larger than W determined in advance, a point 1010 having a distance W from (x _i , y _i ) 1103 is defined as (x _i ′, y _i ′).

As described above, for all vertices, the coordinates of the change point are obtained from the coordinates of the vertices before and after the vertex that are not close to each other.

Next, calculation of new coordinates will be described with reference to FIG. In this example, it is assumed that the character is widened only in the x-axis direction, the width to be widened is h, and the right side of the vector direction is the solid area of the character. The value h can be automatically changed according to the size of the character. Character sizes that are close to each other may be grouped, and a representative value of h may be set for each group. Alternatively, the value h may be freely specified by the user.

Using the three points (x _i-1 ,, y _i-1 ) (x _i , y _i ) (x _{i + 1} , y _{i + 1} ), the new coordinate (x _i ′) of (x _i , y _i ) , y _i ′) is calculated, but the blocks 502-504 are divided into four processes from block 505 to block 508 by judging the manner of change of the y-coordinate of three points. Block 505 is a process when the y coordinates of three points are the same. In this case, the same coordinates as (x _i , y _i ) are converted into (x
_i ′, y _i ′) (FIG. 7). Block 506 is processing when two consecutive y-coordinates have the same y-coordinate. At this time, the x-coordinate is shifted h toward the left side of the vector connecting the two points whose y-coordinates have changed (first (Fig. 6). Block 507
Is a process in the case of monotonous increase or monotonic decrease except the above two cases, in which case the x coordinate is shifted to the left side of the vector by h (FIG. 8). A block 508 is a process for other cases, and as shown in FIG. 9, (x _i-1 ,
A straight line 905 obtained by translating a straight line 905 passing through y _i-1 ) and (x _i , y _i ) by h along the x-axis to the right, and (x _i , y _i ) and (x _{i + 1} , y
The _{i + 1)} linear 907 through the left side, to the intersection 904 of the straight line 908 parallel translated by h along the x-axis and _{(x i ', y i'} ). By performing such processing, the inclination (direction) of the vector is saved.

The result of performing this process for the character "a" in FIG. 12 is shown by the broken line in FIG.

In the above, only a specific example of enlarging the line width is shown, but in the case of reducing the line width, the same process can be performed by reversing the direction of shifting the contour line.

Further, in the above embodiment, the method of changing the line width in only one direction (x-axis direction) has been described, but in order to more faithfully correspond to the printed characters, the line width may be slightly changed in the direction orthogonal to the direction. It is necessary to change the line width of. In such a case, it can be easily dealt with by exchanging the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate of the vertices obtained in the above embodiment, performing the same processing as above, and exchanging the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate again.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, it is possible to create a character whose line width in the uniaxial direction is arbitrarily changed from the contour information of one character. Can be obtained, and for large size characters,
You can get the same characters as a bold bold typeface.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart for changing a line width according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an information processing device for characters and the like used for implementing the present invention, and FIG. Schematic diagram showing a table for storing contour information, fourth
5 and 5 are flowcharts showing the processing flow of the present invention, FIGS. 6 to 11 are explanatory diagrams showing how to obtain new coordinates, and FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing contour information of the character "a" by polygons. First
FIG. 13 is an explanatory view showing the contour information after changing the line width of the characters by polygons. 201 …… Storage device 202 …… Central processing unit 203 …… Display 204 …… Printer 205 …… Keyboard 301 …… Index table 302 …… Search code 303 …… Pointer to character outline information table 304 …… Character outline information table 1201 …… Character contour 1301 …… Character contour after changing line width

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Michihiro Maze 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Inside Microelectronics Development Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Kazuko Suzuki Yoshida, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa 292, Machi, Hitachi, Ltd., Microelectronics Device Development Laboratory (72) Inventor, Tsukasa Yamauchi, 292, Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, Hitachi, Ltd., Microelectronics Device Development Laboratory (72) Inventor, Yasumasa Matsuda, Kanagawa Address: 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Japan Inside Hitachi, Ltd. Microelectronics Device Development Laboratory (56) References JP-A-61-246877 (JP, A) JP-A-62-82484 (JP, A)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A polygon as contour information of a character.
In the processing method in the information processing device using the coordinate data of the vertices, when changing the coordinate data of the vertices to change the line width of the character, the coordinate data of the vertices is defined in advance with directionality, The coordinate data is changed so that a part of the plurality of sides defined by the apex moves in parallel in the specified amount in the 1-axis direction. In the vector character processing method in which the orientation is determined based on the above-mentioned directionality, when changing the coordinates of two adjacent vertices with an interval smaller than the standard line width of the character, The edge defined between and the modified 2
The sides defined between the two vertices are almost parallel, and
The coordinates of the two vertices after the change are set so that the distance between the two vertices after the change becomes smaller than the standard line width of the character whose line width has been changed. How to handle vector characters. 2. A polygon as the contour information of a character.
In the processing method in the information processing device using the coordinate data of the vertices, when changing the coordinate data of the vertices to change the line width of the character, the coordinate data of the vertices is defined in advance with directionality, The coordinate data is changed so that a part of the plurality of sides defined by the apex moves in parallel in the specified amount in the 1-axis direction. In the method of processing a vector character whose orientation is determined based on the above-mentioned directionality, when changing the coordinates of two adjacent vertices A and B at intervals smaller than the standard line width of the character, together with the vertex B, Vertex D defining side BD, and vertex A
A side having a vertex A as an end point by moving a straight line passing through and in the direction on the one axis based on the directionality by the change amount.
Between the intersection point of the two straight lines after movement, which is obtained when the straight line including AC is moved in the direction on the one axis based on the directionality by the change amount, and the apex A after the change, The coordinates of the vertex A are set, the vertex C defining the side AC together with the vertex A, and the vertex B
A side having the vertex B as an end point is moved by moving the straight line passing through and in the direction on the one axis based on the directionality by the change amount.
Between the intersection point of the two straight lines after the movement obtained by moving the straight line passing through BD by the change amount in the direction on the one axis based on the directionality and the vertex B, A method for processing vector characters, characterized in that the coordinates of vertex B are set.