JPH11190990A - Outline font displaying and printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make obtainable an expansion result of high quality for all sizes, make an optimum expansion result corresponding to the resolution of an output device obtainable, and make fast expandable even when characters of small size are displayed. SOLUTION: A plurality of pieces of outline information specified for outputs of respective sizes are prepared by the output sizes and when a specific expansion size is specified (step 101), the outline for the size is automatically selected, and it is judged (step 102) which of large, intermediate, and small sizes the expansion size is. When the size is a large size, a large-sized outline is selected (step 103) and after a large-size correcting process is performed (step 104), bit map generation is performed (step 105). For the intermediate size and small size, exactly the same processes pre performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for displaying and printing characters and graphics in a computer system, and more particularly to a method for displaying and printing an outline font that can develop an optimum outline in accordance with a processing speed and development quality.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Fonts (character styles) and print quality are factors that determine the properties of printed characters. For example, the print kanji typefaces are:
There are various typesetting characters. In addition, dot characters output from a Japanese word processor are also recognized. For dot characters, a standard of 24 × 24 dot pattern has been established, but other dot number patterns are also available. Various sizes were prepared. Printed characters are classified into a single character (single font) and a plurality of characters (multi-font), and display methods, printing, recognition, and other processing methods are different. When processing on a computer system, multi-fonts are usually used. In the conventional outline font general technique, a single outline is used to develop bitmaps for all output sizes irrespective of required processing speed, development quality, and resolution of an output device. on the other hand,
Proposals for maintaining character quality include, for example,
"Character generator" described in JP-A-8-16143
As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-157, there is a method in which the type of occurrence of a character contour is switched according to the output size of character data to reduce the size of bitmap data mounted on the apparatus and maintain sufficient character quality. Further, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-10627
As in “Character pattern generation device” described in Japanese Patent Publication No.
There is a method of generating a high-quality character pattern having the same character skeleton but different typefaces from one outline font. Further, as in "image forming apparatus" described in JP-A-6-127649, the frequency of use of characters or fonts differs for each user, so that the user can specify in advance the characters to be developed. is there.

[0003]

As described above, in the conventional general technology, all sizes are developed with one outline, so that it is not always possible to obtain high-quality development results in all sizes. could not. In this case, since all the sizes are developed with one outline, it is necessary to perform a large amount of correction processing at a small size. As a result, it takes a lot of time to display a small-sized character. Was. Further, since the entire size is developed by one outline, it is impossible to obtain a development result according to the resolution of the output device. In addition, 1
Since all the sizes are developed using the individual outlines, it is impossible to perform the development in accordance with the required processing speed and development quality. For this reason, it took a lot of processing time to achieve a high-quality development result, but high quality is not required for all developments, and a lot of processing time is spent when low quality is sufficient. It is useless. On the other hand, in the above-described technology that has been conventionally proposed, it is necessary to provide one means for generating a character pattern having a different contour according to the output size of character data.
The design and manufacturing process for this is cumbersome. Also, in the above-described technology, as in the case of the above-described technology, means for generating a different typeface from one outline font is required, and the structure is complicated. Further, in the above-described technology, a character pattern to be developed for each user can be specified. However, it is necessary to provide a circuit for identifying a user every time printing is performed. There is a problem that it takes extra time to identify the.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve these conventional problems, to obtain high-quality development results in all sizes, and to develop at high speed even when displaying small-size characters. It is another object of the present invention to provide an outline font display / printing method capable of obtaining an optimum development result according to the resolution of an output device. Another object of the present invention is to obtain a high-quality development result in all sizes, particularly for frequently used characters and characters requiring high quality, and also for outline graphics. An object of the present invention is to provide an outline font display / printing method that can develop a character at a high speed even when displaying small-sized characters, and that can obtain an optimal development result according to the resolution of an output device. Still another object of the present invention is to select and develop an optimal outline in accordance with the required processing speed and development quality, and to perform development in accordance with the processing speed and development quality required in all cases. An object of the present invention is to provide a possible outline font display / printing method.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the outline font display / printing method of the present invention has a plurality of outlines optimized for each output size, so that the quality of all output sizes can be improved. High display and print results can be obtained. In addition, by having an outline optimized for each output size, it is possible to perform high-speed correction processing of an output result required for each output size. For example, when displaying small-sized characters, developing a low-size outline that is easy to perform correction processing reduces the correction processing to be performed in small size, and can be developed faster than the conventional method. I made it possible. By having as many optimized outlines as necessary for each output size, it is possible to perform correction processing on the result of a specific font output for each output device. As a result, it is possible to obtain the optimum development result according to the resolution of the output device.For example, a high-resolution printer obtains a development result in which even details with backlash and the like are clearly expressed, and obtains a screen font. However, it is possible to improve the digital characteristics of which details are omitted, to obtain a highly readable expansion result.

By preparing an outline font that is applied to only some of the characters selected in advance instead of all the characters, the following effects can be obtained depending on conditions such as the frequency of use and the importance of each character. Further, by applying the method to the outline figure, the following effects are obtained. Furthermore, by having multiple outlines for high resolution to achieve high quality and multiple outlines for low resolution pursuing high-speed processing, small data size, and digital characteristics, the required processing speed, high-speed display and printing are achieved. -It is possible to obtain display and print results according to the resolution of the output device. Since there are multiple outlines for each resolution, the optimum outline can be selected and developed according to the required processing speed and development quality, and development according to the processing speed and development quality required in all cases is possible. It becomes possible. further,
By applying the present invention to outline figures, it is possible to obtain a display / print result in accordance with a required processing speed / display or printing speed / resolution of an output device.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a processing flowchart of an outline font display / printing method according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, a plurality of outline information specified for each size output for each output size is provided in the bit pattern memory. When a specific development size is designated (step 101), an outline for that size is automatically selected from the bit pattern memory and developed on the bitmap memory. In this case, it is determined whether the developed size is a large size, a medium size, or a small size (step 102), and if it is a large size, a large size outline is selected (step 103). After performing the large size correction process (step 104), a bitmap is generated (step 10).
5). If it is a medium size, a medium size outline is selected (step 106), a medium size correction process is performed (step 107), and a bitmap is generated (step 108). Similarly, if the size is small, a small size outline is selected (step 109), a small size correction process is performed (step 110), and a bitmap is generated (step 111).

As described above, in this embodiment, since a necessary number of outlines are provided for each size, a higher quality expansion result can be obtained in all sizes than in the conventional case. In addition, in the present embodiment, when displaying small-sized characters, a low-size outline that can be easily corrected is developed.
Further, in this embodiment, it is possible to obtain an optimum development result according to the resolution of the output device. For example, with a low-resolution output device, it is possible to obtain a highly readable expansion result with good digital characteristics omitting details, and with a high-resolution output device, it is possible to obtain a beautifully expressed expansion result with details such as backlash. . Further, in the present embodiment, it is also possible to apply only to frequently used characters or characters requiring high quality. Further, in the present embodiment, the present invention can be applied to outline graphics.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are diagrams showing the differences between the present invention and the conventional method. FIG. 2 shows the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows a conventional method, wherein (a) to (c) show a large size, a medium size, and a small size, respectively. In the conventional method, since only one outline information is provided, only the same design can be developed regardless of the size. For example, in the case of the character “A” of “Toa”, all characters have only the same outline font of “A” regardless of the large size, medium size, and small size.
As shown in 1, 22, 22 of (b), and 23 of (c), display or printing is performed in the same font in any case. On the other hand, in this embodiment, since the outline information is optimized for each size, in the large size, the outline is beautifully expressed with details such as backrest, etc.
On the other hand, in the small size, it is possible to develop a highly readable outline omitting details. For example, in the case of the character “A”, a beautiful “A” having a curved portion in the flat portion and a curved portion in detail is developed for the large size 11, while the thickness is enlarged for the medium size 12. Only have, but no curves. In the case of the small size 13, only linear characters are developed. As described above, in this embodiment, since the outline specific to the development of the small size 13 is provided, the quality of the development result of the small size 13 is better than that of the conventional method.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrams showing the differences between the processing flows of the present invention and the conventional method. (A) is a flowchart, and (b-1) to (b-3) show processing for expanding a bit pattern into a bitmap.
First, in the conventional method, since only one outline is provided for all sizes, the outline shown in (b-1) is taken out from the bit pattern memory regardless of which size is designated (step 311). ), (B)
An outline is developed on a bitmap as shown in -2) (step 312). Then, the expansion result is corrected as shown in (b-3) (step 313), and a bitmap is generated (step 314). On the contrary,
In this embodiment, since the outline is prepared for each size, the outline for the small size is extracted as shown in (b-1) (step 301), and the outline for the small size is extracted as shown in (b-2). (Step 30)
2) As shown in (b-3), the expansion result is corrected (step 303), and a bitmap is generated (step 304). As described above, in this embodiment, since the outline has a small number of contour points for the small size, the correction process is easily performed at the time of the small size. In addition, in this embodiment, since the outline information is optimized for each size, the expansion processing and the correction processing after the expansion can be performed at a higher speed than in the related art. Then, in this embodiment, it is possible to prepare in advance outline information that facilitates the correction processing for each size. As a result, it is possible to obtain a higher quality deployment result than the conventional method.

[0011] Attempting to achieve the same effect as the present invention using a plurality of fonts causes the following problems. That is, from the viewpoint of an application program using fonts, in the case of the present invention, the number of fonts is finally one, and processing such as selection of an outline according to the size is automatically performed by the program, and the selected font is selected. The extracted one outline is developed into a bitmap. On the other hand, in the method using a plurality of fonts, the side using the font such as an application program needs to select the font to be used in consideration of the development size and the like. Therefore, the present invention has the advantage that there is no need to consider any application or the like on the side that uses the font with respect to the development of the optimum outline according to the size. That is, the present invention can be realized only by the font data and the font development program, and does not depend on a specific application or the like. They have to be prepared, leading to increased costs.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an outline font displaying / printing method according to another embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, a plurality of outline information specified for each output size is provided for each output size, and an outline to be automatically expanded is selected and expanded according to a requested processing speed and expansion quality. The selection of the outline to be developed is made based on specific criteria. First, in response to an instruction to start the development (Step 401), the development conditions are evaluated (Step 402). This evaluates processing speed, quality, and the like. Next, an outline is selected (step 403), and the used outline is used according to the evaluation (step 404). For example, in the case of high-speed processing, a small size outline is developed (step 405). In the case of high quality processing, a large outline is developed (step 407). In addition, a moderately high-speed process and a high-quality process are also performed. That is, if the process is an intermediate process, a medium-size outline is developed (step 40
6). In the present embodiment, since a plurality of pieces of outline information are provided for each resolution, an optimum outline can be developed according to the required processing speed and development quality. As a result, the processing speed required in all cases is obtained. And a deployment result according to the deployment quality can be obtained. Further, in the present embodiment, it is possible to obtain a development result according to the processing speed and the development quality also for the outline figure by applying to the outline figure.

The program for displaying and printing an outline font according to the present invention includes an output device control unit,
It is also possible to store it in the memory of the display control unit,
It is also possible to store the information in a main memory arranged near the CPU. According to the present invention, (1) since the development size sheet has outline information specified for the development of each development size, it is necessary to process the development of all sizes with one piece of outline information as in the related art. In comparison, high quality results can be obtained for all sizes. (2) Since outline information specified for each development size is provided for each development size, the amount of correction processing required for each development size required after development is reduced, and development is performed at high speed. be able to. (3) Since the outline information specified for the expansion of the expansion size is provided, the expansion result can be operated for each expansion size. For example, a large size can achieve a fine-grained expansion result that captures details such as backlash, and a small size can achieve a good digital-characteristic expansion result that is mainly horizontal and vertical lines, omitting details. it can. Also, (4) it is also possible to apply to not only all characters but only some of the characters selected in advance. Character selection is based on criteria such as frequency of use and importance of each character. . (5) The present invention can be applied to not only characters but also outline figures. further,
(6) An optimum outline can be developed according to the processing speed and the development quality. (7) The above (6) can also be applied to outline figures.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention,
High-quality rendering results can be obtained at all sizes, high-speed rendering can be performed even when displaying small-sized characters, and optimal rendering results according to the resolution of the output device can be obtained. Can be. When small size characters are displayed, especially for frequently used characters or characters requiring high quality, and for outline figures, high quality expansion results can be obtained in all sizes. It is also possible to develop the image at high speed, and to obtain an optimum development result according to the resolution of the output device.
Furthermore, depending on the required processing speed and deployment quality,
The best outline can be selected and expanded.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a processing flowchart of an outline font display / printing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a character pattern indicating a development result in each size according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a character pattern indicating a result of development in each size in the related art.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a small-size correction process according to the present invention and a process explanatory diagram.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram and a process explanatory diagram showing a correction process in a small size in the related art.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an outline font display / printing method showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

11: Large font of the present invention, 12: Medium font of the present invention, 13: Small font of the present invention, 21
... conventional large font, 22 ... conventional medium font, 23 ... conventional small font.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An outline font display / computer system for displaying or printing at a plurality of output sizes.
In the printing method, it has a plurality of outline fonts optimized for each output size, and at the time of output, when the expanded size is determined, it selects each of the large, medium, and small outline fonts according to the large, medium, and small size of the expanded size, A method of displaying and printing an outline font, comprising generating and displaying or printing a bitmap of a selected outline font. 2. The outline font display / printing method according to claim 1, wherein after the outline font is selected, the output result is corrected for each output size. . 3. The outline font display / printing method according to claim 1, wherein, when selecting the outline font, the outline font is selected according to the resolution of the output device, regardless of the development size. An outline font display / printing method characterized by performing optimal correction processing according to resolution. 4. The outline font displaying / printing method according to claim 1, wherein, when selecting the outline font, an outline font to be applied to only some of the characters selected in advance, instead of all the characters, is selected. An outline font display / printing method, wherein the outline font is selected only for characters that meet the conditions according to conditions such as frequency of use or importance of each character. 5. The outline font display / printing method according to claim 1, wherein when selecting the outline font, the outline font is also applied to an outline graphic. 6. An outline font display / computer system for displaying or printing in a plurality of output sizes.
The printing method has multiple outline fonts for high resolution to achieve high quality, and outline fonts for low resolution pursuing high-speed processing, small data size, and digital characteristics. An outline font display / printing method characterized in that high-speed outline fonts and quality outline fonts are developed according to print quality or resolution of an output device. 7. The outline font display / printing method according to claim 6, wherein when selecting the outline font, the outline font is also applied to an outline graphic.