JPH0968961A - Character data converter - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) 【Abstract】 PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To convert gradation character image data that can output a family typeface having different thicknesses (weights) in a character (character) represented by a gradation image with a reduced storage capacity. do. SOLUTION: The character data of the first typeface is read (S1), the weight information of the second typeface to be output by instructing with the input means is read (S2), and the first density and the second concentration using the weight information as parameters. From the conversion table with concentration,
The gradation image data of the character for a predetermined one weight is stored (S3), and in accordance with the instructed weight information,
The stored first density of each pixel of the first typeface is converted into the second density to be output (S4 to S6), and the second density to be output.
The second density of the typeface is set (S7) so that the second typeface of the image in which the high / low density portions are increased / decreased can be output.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for outputting an image of a character (typeface) having gradations of light and shade, and in particular character data capable of outputting many types of typefaces with a small amount of data. The present invention relates to a conversion device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, output devices such as printers and displays have come to be able to express gradations of light and shade of an image, and various types of fonts (fonts).
The characters that can be output have appeared. And in this type of output device, even for each family typeface such as Mincho typeface, Gothic typeface, writing brush type, etc. with the same basic design of typeface, for example, the apparent line of the writing typeface It is desired to be able to output a family typeface such as a thick brush brush and a thin brush brush whose weight is changed.

For that purpose, it is necessary to generate the image information of each character of each family typeface, that is, the gradation image which is the information of the density of the pixels forming the image of the character. Conventionally, an output device capable of outputting a character of a family typeface has previously stored gradation image data of the character for each family typeface and character (character), and reads out gradation image data of a desired character. , The character gradation image was obtained and output. For example, in a word processor or printer, a floppy disk in which gradation image data is stored for each family typeface (font) is prepared and subjected to printing processing.

[0004]

However, with the diversification of the typefaces used as described above, the number of characters required to store gradation image data becomes huge, and in proportion to this, in the output device, or Since the capacity of the memory required to store the gradation image data of the character provided outside the same also increases, the cost of the product is increased.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and provides a character data conversion device capable of outputting various family typefaces with a smaller storage capacity than the conventional method. That is.

[0006]

In order to achieve this object, the character data conversion device of the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that the first gradation character data, which is the gradation image data of the character of the first typeface, In a character data conversion device for converting into second gradation character data which is gradation image data of a character of the second font, an output font instruction means for instructing font information of the second font to be output,
Pixel information reading means for reading the information of each pixel of the first gradation character data, and a first density, which is the density of the pixels read by the pixel information reading means, according to the typeface instructed by the output typeface instructing means. The density of the pixel of the second gradation character data corresponding to the pixel of the first typeface read by the density converting unit and the pixel information reading unit is the second density obtained by the density converting unit. And a setting means.

The invention described in claim 2 is the same as claim 1
In the character data conversion device described in (3), the density conversion means stores in advance table information defining a second density with respect to a first density for each possible value of the typeface information, and the output typeface instructing means gives an instruction. The second density corresponding to the written typeface information and the first density read by the pixel information reading means is obtained from the table information.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the character data conversion apparatus according to the first aspect, the density conversion means divides the range of values of the first density into one or a plurality of sections. , The conversion function from the first density to the second density is stored in advance for the combination of the typeface information and the section of the first density, and is read out by the typeface information and the pixel information reading unit instructed by the output typeface instructing unit. The second density is obtained by the conversion function corresponding to the first density.

Further, in the invention described in claim 4, in the character data converter according to claim 1, the typeface information is information that can be converted into numerical value information, and the density conversion means converts the typeface information into numerical values. The possible range of the converted value is 1
Divided into one or a plurality of sections, and the section of the typeface information and the first section
A conversion function for converting the numerical value of the typeface information into the second density for each combination of the densities is stored in advance, and corresponds to the typeface information designated by the output typeface designating means and the first density read by the pixel information reading means. The second density is obtained by the conversion function.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the character data conversion device according to the first aspect, the typeface information is information that can be converted into numerical value information, and the density conversion means outputs the value of the first density value. The possible range is divided into one or a plurality of sections, and a conversion function from the numerical value of the first density and the typeface information to the second density is stored in advance for each section of the first density, and pixel information is read out. The second density is obtained by the conversion function corresponding to the first density read by the means.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The embodiment shown below is
A mode in which the present invention is applied to a character display device provided with an output device such as a display device and an inkjet printer that can express the output density of each pixel in the range of 0 to 15 (the higher the density is, the higher the density is, the same applies hereinafter) is shown. .

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present embodiment, which is a central processing unit (CP) for executing processing.
U) 20, a program memory 22, a working memory 24, a font memory 26, an output image memory 28, an input unit 212, a printer control unit 213 and an inkjet printer 215, and a display control unit 2
14 and the CRT 216 are connected to each other via the bus 210.

The CPU 20 converts the character data of this embodiment and performs control for outputting an image of a predetermined typeface, and the program memory 22 stores the C data.
It stores a program defining a control procedure performed by the PU 20, and various information referred to by the program. The working memory 24 also processes the programs stored in the program memory 22 by the CPU 20.
It stores temporary data when executing in.

The font memory 26 stores the first gradation character data representing the density of each pixel representing the shape of the character in 16 gradations of 0 to 15, and the output image memory 28 is the output image memory 28 of this embodiment. The second gradation character data converted by the processing of 1 is stored. The first gradation character data is for defining an image of a character of the first typeface input by the input unit 212 described later, includes density information, and defines an image with a set of pixel information. Grayscale character data.

Similarly, the second gradation character data is
It is for defining the image of the character of the second typeface after conversion of the density distribution of the image of the character of the first typeface, including density information, and defining the image by a set of pixel information. It means gradation character data. The gradation character image is an image in which the contour portion representing the shape and the internal area thereof are composed of pixels, and the density value of each pixel is not constant. FIG. 3 shows an example of the first typeface, and FIG. 4 shows the second typeface after the density conversion of the character of the first typeface described later.
The grid in FIGS. 3 and 4 corresponds to each pixel, and the numerical value in the grid indicates each density value. A shape composed of a grid having a non-zero density value corresponds to a character image.

The gradation character data is data in which the image of the character on the output device is represented by numerical values of the densities of the pixels constituting the image. Numerical values written in the grids representing the pixels in FIGS. 3 and 4 are information on the density corresponding to each pixel. As described above, in this embodiment, 16 from 0 to 15 is used.
The density of the pixel is represented by the gradation. The larger the value, the darker the density (higher density).

The input section 212 inputs the character code and weight information of the character to be output. The character code is information that identifies the type of character,
The weight information is information in which the apparent thickness of the typeface is expressed by a numerical value, and is the typeface information of the second typeface to be output. The weight information of the present embodiment is expressed in 10 steps from 1 to 10, and the larger the numerical value is, the thicker it is. The input information is stored in the working memory 24.

The display control unit 214 reads the second gradation character image stored in the output image memory 28 and displays the second typeface image on the CRT 216. Similarly, the printer control unit 213
Reads the second gradation character image stored in the output image memory 28, and the inkjet printer 2
At 15, the image of the second typeface is printed and displayed on a recording medium such as paper.

The gradation-represented image is displayed on the CRT 216.
The processing of displaying by (1) and the processing of printing on a recording medium such as paper by the inkjet printer 215 are technologies that have already been put to practical use in various systems, and are not the main part of the present invention. Therefore, detailed description is omitted for the purpose of clarifying the gist of the present invention. Hereinafter, the weight conversion processing of the gradation character image according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

This processing is performed by the gradation character image (first gradation character image) of the character of the first typeface corresponding to the character code input from the input unit 212.
Data is read from the font memory 26, and the data of the second gradation character image is stored in the output image memory 28 in accordance with the weight information selectively input from the input section 212.

In FIG. 2, when the processing is started, first, the first character corresponding to the character code input from the input section 212 and stored in the working memory 24 is displayed.
The gradation character image is read from the font memory 26 into the working memory 24 (S1). Next, the weight information stored in advance in the program memory 22 as a part of the program is selected and read by the input of the input unit 212 (S2), and the information referred to in the subsequent density conversion processing is initialized (S3). .

In the form of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 5, a density conversion table is used as the density conversion processing method. As conceptually shown in FIG. 5A, the density conversion table is information representing the correspondence relationship between the first density and the second density, and defines the second density for the first density for each weight information. Information. That is, the second concentration can be obtained as a numerical value in the lattice from the relationship between the first concentration (higher concentration as it goes downward in the vertical axis direction) and the weight (higher weight as it goes to the right in the horizontal axis direction). The density conversion table is stored in the program memory 22 as a part of the program. Then, the density conversion table is initialized by using the working memory 24 as a table showing the correspondence relationship between the first density and the second density according to the weight information selected according to the degree of the thickness of the second typeface desired by the user. It is to generate in.

For example, when the weight 8 is selected in the input section 212, the table portion of the eighth vertical column in the horizontal axis direction is extracted from the density conversion table of FIG.
Information (b) is generated (copied and stored) in the working memory 24. This table is called a reference density conversion table. In the reference density conversion table of the weight 8, for example, when the first density is 0, the second density is 0, when the first density is 3, the second density is 5, and the first density is 9.
Then, the correspondence relationship is the second density 12.

Next, the upper leftmost pixel of the first gradation character image in the working memory 24 is set as a read pixel position, and the same pixel position of the second gradation character image is initialized as a write pixel position ( S4). Subsequent processing is processing performed for each pixel until there are no more pixels to be processed.

First, the density of the pixel at the read position of the first gradation character image is read as the first density (S).
5). Next, the second density corresponding to the first density is obtained by referring to the reference density table stored in the working memory 24 (S6). Further, the output image memory 28
The value of the density of the pixel at the writing position in the storage area of the second gradation character image prepared therein is written as the obtained second density value (S7).

Next, it is judged whether the processing has been completed for all pixels (S8), and if not completed (S8: n
o), the read position and the write position are updated so as to move to the next pixel (S9), and the process for each pixel is repeated. In this example, the pixel processing sequence starts from the upper left and moves in the right direction (X-axis direction), and when it reaches the rightmost position, it is said that it moves to the leftmost position on the lower stage (Y-axis). Process to the bottom right, in order. For example, in the case of the first gradation character image as shown in FIG. 3, the process is started from the pixel (0,0), and the pixel (1,0), (2,0) ,. . .
(X, 0), ... (15,0) are processed in this order. When the processing is completed up to the pixel (15,0), the leftmost row in the lower stage is processed next, so the pixel (0,1) is processed, and next, the pixels (1,1), (2,1) are processed. ) ,. . . (X, 1) ...
Process (15,1). The process is repeated in the same manner, and when the process is performed up to the lower right pixel (15, 15), this process ends.

In that case, the first density of the pixel (5, 3) in the first typeface is 5 in FIG.
Using the reference density conversion table in the case of the weight information 8 of (b), the second density of the pixel of the second typeface at that location is 8
The density of each pixel of the first gradation character image shown in FIG. 3 is set to the density of the second gradation character image shown in FIG. 4 according to the reference density conversion table read in the working memory 24. Will be done.

In the above example, the input section 212 corresponds to the typeface designating means, the process S3 corresponds to the pixel information reading means, the process S6 corresponds to the density converting means, and the process S7 corresponds to the density setting means. According to the present invention, when a large value is input to the instructed weight information, conversion is performed to increase the number of high density pixels, and conversely, when a small value is input to the weight information, the number of low density pixels is increased. The principle is to control the apparent weight (thickness) of the character image by conversion. For example, the density conversion table of the present embodiment (see FIG. 5A) is set in advance so that the intermediate density becomes higher as the weight becomes larger and the intermediate density becomes lower as the weight becomes smaller. Therefore, if a large value is input as the weight information, there are many areas with high density, and the font appears to be thick (second font).
Further, if a small value is input as the weight information, it is possible to generate a gradation character image of a typeface (second typeface) that appears thin in appearance with few high density portions.

According to the principle of the present invention, the density conversion processing of the processing S6 can achieve the purpose other than the method using the density conversion table described above. Some of them are illustrated below. The second embodiment shown in FIG. 6 is a system in which a conversion function from the first density to the second density is defined in advance for each weight information. That is, FIG. 6A shows a function q from p to q when the first density is p and the second density is q.
fn (p) is defined for each possible weight information and stored in the program memory 22. In this case,
Instead of the map of (a), the relationship between the weight information and the conversion function as shown in FIG. 6 (b) may be stored (stored).

In this method, when it is desired to reduce the weight (to output the second typeface with a thin line), a conversion function that does not increase the value of the second density q until the value of the first density p becomes sufficiently large is used. When setting and increasing the weight (when outputting the second typeface with a thick line), by setting in advance a conversion function that increases the value of q even if the value of p is small, Further, the processing in this embodiment can be realized.

In order to carry out this, the operator (user) uses the input unit 212 as an output type designating means.
When a desired weight is selected at, the conversion function corresponding to the weight information is read out to the working memory 24 in the initialization processing (S2) of the density calculation processing in FIG. 2, and the density conversion processing for each pixel is performed. In the density calculation process (S6), the conversion function read into the working memory 24 can be simply changed to calculate the second density q from the first density p.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the first concentration p
Is a variable that varies continuously, and the corresponding second
The concentration can be determined. In the example shown in FIG. 6, 1
For each of the specified weight information, the conversion function for knowing the first density and determining the second density is set so that only one conversion function is available within the range of the first density. In other words, it is set to calculate the second density q from the first density p with one conversion function that becomes one continuous curve for each weight information in the entire range that the first density can take. 7 (a) and 7 (b), the range in which the first concentration can be taken is divided into a plurality of sections, such as the first section to the third section, and each section and each piece of weight information. Alternatively, the conversion function may be set. In other words, a linear conversion function having different proportional constants is adopted according to the size of the weight for each possible interval of the first density. In this case, the reference information for calculating the density of the program memory 22 is: The conversion function as shown in FIG. 7B is stored.

Also in this method, when a small weight information is designated, a conversion function of a linear curve is set so that the value of the second density q does not increase until the value of the first density p becomes sufficiently large, and the large weight information is set. If you specify
By presetting the conversion function of the linear curve that increases the value of the second density q even if the value of the first density p is small, the processing in the present embodiment based on the above-described principle can be realized.

In order to carry out this, the operator (user) uses the input section 212 as an output type designating means.
When a desired weight is selected by, the conversion function corresponding to the weight information is read out to the working memory 24 in the initialization processing (S2) of the density calculation processing in FIG. 2 in association with the section of the first density. Then, in the density calculation processing (S6) in the density conversion processing for each pixel, the section in which the first density is included is checked, the conversion function in that section is selected from the functions read out to the working memory 24, and with that function,
It is possible only by changing so as to calculate the second density q from the first density p.

In the first to third embodiments, the conversion function for calculating the second density from the first density is used with the weight information as a parameter, but FIGS. 6 (a) and 7 (a) are used.
In, the weight information may be taken on the horizontal axis and the second density may be taken on the vertical axis, and a conversion function that is a curve or a polygonal line using the first density as a parameter may be adopted. This method is effective when the first density has a discrete distribution and the number is small to some extent, and when the weight information has a value that provides a continuous distribution.

The fifth embodiment is a system in which a conversion function from the first density and the weight to the second density is defined in advance.
For example, if the value of the weight information is w, the conversion function q = f10 when the weight information in FIG.
(P) and q = f1 (p) when the weight information is 1 are stored in the program memory 22, and q = (f10 (p) −
The conversion function may be f1 (p)) × w / 10 + f1 (p). In this method, the function when the weight is 1 does not increase the value of q until the value of p becomes sufficiently large. By setting in advance so as to increase the size, the processing according to the present embodiment based on the above-described principle can be realized. To implement this, in the initialization process (S2) of the density calculation process in FIG. 2, the conversion function described above is read into the working memory 24, and the density calculation process in the density conversion process for each pixel is performed. In (S6), the function read out to the working memory 24 may be used to calculate the second density q from the first density p and the weight information w. In this case, the first
Not only the density p but also the weight information w may be a value having a continuous distribution.

As a modification of the fifth embodiment, the range in which the first density p can take is divided into a plurality of sections as in the third embodiment, and the first density and the weight information are used for each section to determine the first density p. You may comprise so that the conversion function to 2 density may be defined.

[0038]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the character data conversion device of the invention described in claim 1, the font information (weight information) of the first density and the second font for the first font. Since the density conversion means capable of knowing the second density is provided from the above, if the typeface information of the second typeface to be output is designated by the output typeface designating means, the density conversion means reads out by the pixel information reading means. The first density, which is the density of each pixel of the first gradation character data, is converted into the second density corresponding to the typeface instructed by the output typeface instructing means, and then the pixel information reading means in the density setting means is used. The density of the pixel of the second gradation character data corresponding to the read pixel of the first typeface is set to be the second density obtained by the density conversion means.

As described above, according to the present invention, the first gradation character data, which is the gradation image data of the character of the first typeface, is converted into the second typeface by simply instructing the typeface information (weight information) of the family typeface. Can be converted into the second gradation character data which is the gradation image data of the character of, and if the font information is changed, it is possible to output the family font with the changed line thickness, so the storage capacity is smaller than before. It is possible to provide a character data conversion device capable of outputting a family typeface.

According to the character data conversion device of the second aspect, the density conversion means stores in advance table information defining a second density for the first density for each possible value of the typeface information. However, since the second density corresponding to the font information designated by the output font designating means and the first density read by the pixel information reading means is configured to be obtained from the table information, a smaller amount of storage than before is stored. It is possible to output a family typeface with the capacity, and it is possible to obtain and convert the second density corresponding to the first density only by the table information of the portion of the typeface information designated by the output typeface designating means, and there is little calculation processing, high speed Thus, it is possible to provide a character data conversion device that can be processed.

Further, according to the character data conversion device of the third aspect, the density conversion means divides the range in which the value of the first density can be taken into one or a plurality of sections, and divides the typeface information and the first density. A conversion function from the first density to the second density is stored in advance for a combination with a section, and the conversion function corresponding to the type information designated by the output type designating means and the first density read by the pixel information reading means is used. , The second density is obtained.

Therefore, when the font information is selected and input,
Only the necessary conversion function can be selected and stored, and the second density can be obtained corresponding to the first density read by the pixel information reading means in accordance with this conversion function, and a family typeface can be output with a smaller storage capacity than before. Therefore, it is possible to provide a character data conversion device that requires a small amount of calculation processing and can be processed at high speed, and even if there are many possible values of density information, or even if the values are continuously distributed,
The effect is that it can be handled.

Further, according to the character data conversion device of the fourth aspect, the typeface information is information that can be converted into numerical value information, and the density conversion means has a range in which the digitized value of the typeface information can be 1. Or a plurality of sections, and a conversion function for converting the numerical value of the typeface information into the second density for each combination of the typeface information section and the first density is stored in advance and is instructed by the output typeface instruction means. The second density is obtained by the typeface information and the conversion function corresponding to the first density read by the pixel information reading means.

Therefore, when the typeface information to be selected is input, only a predetermined conversion function can be selected by combining the digitized typeface information and the first density. Then, according to this conversion function, the second density can be obtained corresponding to the first density read by the pixel information reading means, the family typeface can be output with a smaller storage capacity than before, and the calculation processing is small and the high-speed processing is possible. It is possible to provide a possible character data conversion device, and it is possible to cope with a large number of values that can be taken by the typeface information, and even if the values are continuously distributed.

According to the data converter of the fifth aspect, the typeface information is information that can be converted into numerical information.
The density converting means sets the range of values of the first density to 1
Divided into one or a plurality of sections, a conversion function for converting the first density and the typeface information into a second density is stored in advance for each section of the first density, and read by the pixel information reading means. The second density is obtained by a conversion function corresponding to one density.

Therefore, when the typeface information to be selected is input, only the predetermined conversion function can be selected by the combination of the digitized typeface information and the first density in the predetermined section. Then, it is possible to obtain the second density corresponding to the first density read by the pixel information reading means in accordance with this conversion function, and it is possible to output the family typeface with a smaller storage capacity than before,
It is possible to provide a character data conversion device that requires a small amount of arithmetic processing and can be processed at high speed, and even if there are many possible values (information) for the typeface information and the first density,
Even if the values are continuously distributed, it is possible to deal with them.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a character data conversion device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of gradation character data conversion processing according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of first gradation image data according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of second gradation image data according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a density conversion table according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6A is a graph of a density conversion function with weight information as a parameter according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 6B is a diagram showing a density conversion function for each weight information.

FIG. 7A is a graph of a density conversion function having weight information as a parameter when the first density is set to 3 intervals in the present embodiment, and FIG. 7B is a graph for each weight information and each 1st density interval. It is a figure which shows the density conversion function of.

[Explanation of symbols]

 20 central processing unit (CPU) 24 working memory 26 font memory 28 output image memory 212 output unit 213 printer type control unit 215 inkjet printer

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A character data conversion device for converting first gradation character data which is gradation image data of a character of a first typeface into second gradation character data which is gradation image data of a character of a second typeface. In output type designating means for designating the typeface information of the second typeface to be output, pixel information reading means for reading the information of each pixel of the first gradation character data, and of the pixel read by the pixel information reading means. Density conversion means for converting the first density, which is the density, into a second density according to the typeface instructed by the output typeface instructing means, and the density corresponding to the pixel for the first typeface read by the pixel information reading means. Density setting means for setting the density of the pixel of the second gradation character data to the second density obtained by the density converting means. Character output device to be. 2. The density conversion means stores in advance table information defining a second density with respect to a first density for each possible value of the typeface information, and the typeface information instructed by the output typeface instructing means. 2. The character data conversion device according to claim 1, wherein the second density corresponding to the first density read by the pixel information reading means is obtained from the table information. 3. The density converting means divides the range of values of the first density into one or a plurality of sections, and the first density to the first density are selected for the combination of the typeface information and the section of the first density. It is configured such that a conversion function for converting to two densities is stored in advance, and the second density is obtained by the conversion function corresponding to the typeface information designated by the output typeface designating unit and the first concentration read by the pixel information reading unit. The character data conversion device according to claim 1, which is characterized. 4. The typeface information is information that can be converted into numerical information, and the density conversion means divides a range in which the digitized value of the typeface information can be taken into one or a plurality of sections, and a section of the typeface information. The conversion function for converting the numerical value of the typeface information into the second density for each combination of the first density and the first density is stored in advance, and the typeface information designated by the output typeface designating means and the pixel information reading means are read out. The character data converter according to claim 1, wherein the second density is obtained by a conversion function corresponding to one density. 5. The typeface information is information that can be converted into numerical value information, and the density conversion means divides a range of values of the first density into one or a plurality of sections, and each section of the first density. With respect to the first density and the conversion function for converting the numerical value of the typeface information into the second density in advance, the conversion function corresponding to the first density read by the pixel information reading means
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second density is obtained.
The character data conversion device described in.