JPS63224965A - Character generator - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] A. Industrial Application Field The present invention is applicable to changing the line thickness of one character, and changing the size and position of the elements (hereinafter referred to as graphemes) that make up that character. It is about adjusting the balance so that the relationship does not become unbalanced and result in unnatural letterforms.

B. Conventional technology The types of characters (for example, kanji) used in display devices W (for example, printers, CRT displays, etc.) include Mincho typefaces (
Generally, fonts have thin horizontal lines and thick vertical lines.)
There are fonts such as , Gothic, and various sizes and line thicknesses.

In the case of computer-controlled printers, the conventional method has been to store character fonts of basic sizes in the form of dots or vectors in a storage device, and to enlarge or reduce the fonts for use. .

However, controlling the line thickness of characters is not often done. The reason is that the execution of enlargement or reduction is geometric,
This is relatively easy to do mechanically using the similarity conversion method, and can yield good results, but changing the line thickness may cause the shape to become unbalanced, resulting in an unnatural shape. It is from.

An example of a method for changing the line thickness is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 1983-293405, which is an earlier invention of the applicant.

C1 Problems to be solved by the invention The problems are pointed out using actual characters as examples. The term "r-grapheme" used below does not refer to a single point or -stroke (one stroke) as a unit; when one character is decomposed, it can be used as a common component to assemble other characters. Refers to one element or a collection of elements.

By mechanically thinning each of the glyphs that make up the character ``r 道'' using the center line of their strokes as a reference, the grapheme ``L'' is made.
'' becomes thinner and the space under the glyph ``eye'' becomes too large, causing an imbalance (Figure 2).On the other hand, if you make it thicker without thinking, the horizontal stroke of the glyph ``shi'' becomes too large. It comes into contact with or merges with the underside of the bare "eye", resulting in a shape that is difficult to read.

In the example of thinning the lines of the character "tree", the thinner vertical strokes no longer connect with the roots of the diagonal strokes, and the character shape becomes distorted because there is a large distance between them and the strokes that descend diagonally to the lower right. figure).

Similarly, if you make the line for the character "Ai" thinner, the intersection of the stroke diagonally downward to the lower left and the stroke diagonally downward to the lower right will be off.
Figure 4).

Although the above example was shown for Mincho fonts, similar problems occur regardless of the type of font.

Conventional methods for dealing with these problems include, for example, having a character designer create several sets of different weights for different character fonts (e.g., a set of 7,000 kanji characters).
He makes them by hand, stores them all in a storage device, and selectively pulls them out on a computer for use. However, this would require an extremely large number of characters to store (for example, 7
000 characters x 3 sets = 21,000 characters), it requires a large amount of development cost, a long development period, and a huge storage capacity.

In this way, when changing the line size, you have to compromise by ignoring the cost in order to maintain the quality of the characters, staying within a limited range around the standard thickness, or turning a blind eye to unbalanced lines. is normal.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to selectively extract and combine glyphs stored in advance so that the balance of the shape of a character is not lost when changing the line thickness when assembling one character. It is an object of the present invention to provide a new balance control method for economically obtaining high-quality characters with different line thicknesses by adjusting the balance in size and positional relationship between glyphs.

How to solve problem D6 How to create a character whose size and thickness can be changed Taking the grapheme "t" shown in Figure 5 as an example, we will show how to create a grapheme whose size and thickness can be changed. The character rtJ may be considered as a character composed of the graphemes r-J and rLJ, or the entire letter "t" may be considered as one grapheme. The former concept will be explained below.

On the center line of the stroke of each glyme of the letter rtJ.

Center points P1, P2, ... Pn are defined at intervals, and the wall thickness Q1 is calculated from these center points in the width direction of the stroke.
．． Define Q, . . . 12n (arrow).

The outer edge of the stroke can be obtained by interpolating the thick tip of each point using a mathematical formula (with a circular arc or a straight line).

The thickness 12n of the 0 character element rLJ to be filled in is given the attribute M, and the thickness Qn of the 0 character element "-" is given the attribute N.

If you want to change the thickness of the glyph element "-", just apply the magnification Xw to the wall thickness Qn, which has an attribute of 1M.0 glyph element "-"
If you want to change the thickness of
It is sufficient to apply the magnification Yw to n, and if you want to enlarge/reduce the grapheme, you can apply the magnifications Xp and yp to the center point Pn. Details of these can be found in the above-mentioned patent application filed in 1983 by the applicant.
It is disclosed in the specification of No. 293405. Although the premise of the present invention is to have graphemes whose size and line thickness can be changed, it is not necessary to create graphemes using the method described above.
If there is another method that has the same functionality, you may use it.

h Mutual Balance Adjustment This Japanese invention is a case in which a character of a desired size, desired thickness, and thickness is generated by assembling the graphemes whose size and thickness can be freely changed as described above. The present invention provides a method for adjusting the size, position, and angle of each character element so that the balance between the character elements is not lost when the thickness of the line of one stroke is changed.

First, when designing a single character, the following steps are taken. In Fig. 6a, for example, the glyph 61 of the character to be designed is accommodated in the glyph frame 62, and the size of r glyph 61 = the size of the glyph frame 62 (occupied space). It is assumed that the thickness of the line of the grapheme is increased or decreased within this character frame.

The character frame 62 is a one-character element frame 62 placed inside the character frame 63.
The position of the character element frame 62 in the zero character frame 63 is represented by Ax (horizontal direction) and Ay (vertical direction). This will be called elementary assembly information.

Note that there are several pieces of grapheme assembly information other than Ax, Ay, Bx, and By, which will be explained later in the character database section.

The character designer determines whether balance control is necessary for each character when the line thickness of the graphemes that make up the character changes, and if necessary, applies balance control to the grapheme assembly information. The following balance control information (hereinafter referred to as a flag) is added to the flag. Flags are not added to the grapheme assembly information of graphemes that do not require balance control.

In the present invention, when a command is given to change the line thickness of a character to a desired thickness, the command acts on the balance control information (flag) described above to change the line thickness of each glyph element that makes up the character. At the same time, the size of each glyph and the positional relationship and angle between glyphs were corrected, thereby automatically adjusting the balance of the font after changing the line thickness.

E. Example flag The information for the above balance control, that is, the value of the flag, is determined by the following three methods.

(1) First, design a character composed of glyphs with the thickest line width that is considered necessary, with the line thickness balanced.1 For example, create the thickest character ``tree''. This is called the basic (original) typeface (Chapter 7a).
Figure) Next, make the line thickness of each glyph element as thin as possible. In other words, the character 61c (Fig. 6c) consisting only of the skeleton is drawn by setting the wall thickness of 61a to 0.The character designer draws the character shape of the character composed of the latter character. Give each letterme the amount of change necessary to improve the balance.

ax, ay: Amount of change in the size of the character element frame in the horizontal and vertical directions bx, by: Amount of change in the position of the character element frame in the horizontal and vertical directions γ0: Amount of change in the rotation angle from the center of the character element frame as a reference point The amount of change in is defined as a flag, that is, balance control information.

Thus, the size, position, and rotation angle of the character frame after the change are expressed as Ax + ax, Ay + ay Bx + bx, By + by γ0, respectively (Figure 6c). Since Figure 6c is an example where the rotation angle is 0, the character is not rotating.

Therefore, the stage in the process of becoming thinner to the limit is generally expressed as follows.

Size of grapheme frame (i.e. grapheme): Ax+ax(1-Xw), Ay+ay(1-Yw)Xw
+Yw Rotation angle of glyph frame (i.e. glyph): γ'(1--)(2)
Conversely, when you create the thinnest glyph and then flesh it out to make it the thickest glyph, flag each glyph to optimize the balance between glyphs.

(3) Create a medium-thick character, and attach a flag to each character element when the character becomes thicker or thinner.

These methods (1), (2), and (3) differ in where the reference is taken, but the principle of the flag is the same. In the following explanation, characters created according to the idea in (1) are assumed to be the basic (original) typeface.

data base The characters for "tree" are "-", "1", and "ノ".

It is composed of four glyphs called "\". Each of these graphemes is stored in advance in a storage device in a data format that can be retrieved using each grapheme code. 1. Since the flag is shared for assembling various characters, the flag is not attached in this stored state. This is because the flag should be added to the grapheme assembly information as data for giving a unique balance to each character when assembling those characters into a character.

The character designer gives the following data for each grapheme,
This is stored in a storage device to construct a grapheme database.

1. Gronym code number 2, coordinate position Pn3 of center point (usually multiple), wall thickness information (from which center point and how much wall thickness is there)
fin 4. Interpolation information (which thick tip to connect with which thick tip) 5. Paint information (which part to fill in) Character data base The character designer uses the The following data that instructs how to assemble the elements is compiled and stored in a storage device to construct a character database.

1.Character code number 2.Grapheme assembly information (1)Grapheme assembly information (n)Grapheme assembly information is extracted to assemble individual characters (
n pieces are required, equal to the number of graphemes to be called.

For example, when the character code number refers to the character "J", the grapheme information (1) is for the grapheme "-", the grapheme information (2) is for the grapheme "1", and the grapheme information (2) is for the grapheme "1"; 3) is for "ノ", and (4) is for "\", where n=
Ends with 4. With these data, an original ``tree'' typeface as shown in FIG. 7a is created. In order to create an original typeface, values of (a) to (d) excluding flags are required. In other words, using the grapheme (,) and code number, the corresponding grapheme data is retrieved from the grapheme database.

Change the size of the graphemes to Ax and Ay in (b), and change the graphemes to (
Place it at the Bx and By positions in C).

However, at this stage, the flag values (ax, ax
, bx, by, y') is undetermined and this portion in the one-character database is blank. A character database is not complete until flag values are determined and entered.

Let's read through the example of determining the three types of flags to be given in (b), (d), and (e) in the previous section of Flag Determination. Try applying a line thickness magnification of 0x to the original typeface that has been created in the shape shown in Figure 7a (setting the thickness of all four glyphs used in the character ``tree'' to 0). .

Looking at FIG. 7c, which shows the state at this time, the balance between the third grapheme ``ノ'' and the fourth grapheme ``\'' is disrupted.

If you look closely at this, you will see that the top of ``r'' is shifted 10 units to the left from ``1,'' and the bottom of ``J is 2 units too far to the left compared to the left edge of ``-''. Therefore, in order to adjust this, we need to increase the size of ``rノ'', that is, the size of the character frame of this character element, by 8 units horizontally and 0 units vertically, and also change the position of the entire character frame horizontally ( It can be seen that by shifting 2 units to the right (rightward) and 0 units vertically, normalization is achieved as shown in FIG. 7e. Therefore, the values of the flags to be finally added to the grapheme assembly information of the grapheme "ノ" are ax=8, ay=0, bx=2.
by = o, γ0 = 0 (the grapheme ")" does not need to adjust the angle even if it becomes thinner, so the flag for one rotation angle is γ0 = O) Also for the single character element "\" Flag values can be determined in a similar way (ax=13.ay=1
1, bx=-11, by=-11, y"=o), 7 The value of the lag can be negative. Regarding the zero glyphs "-" and "1", the balance is not disrupted, so the flag All values can be 0.

In this way, the flag value for the character ``tree'' in the character database is determined, and the data for the character ``tree'' is completed. When you change the line thickness magnification to extract characters with the desired thickness, the seventh
Characters with good balance can be obtained as shown in Figures d and 78.

There are not many graphemes for which it is better to change the angle as the thickness of the line of the character changes, that is, for the flag γ0 to have a value other than 0.'' (Figure 2) The upper left point "゛" is an example where it is better to change the angle.

Once the grapheme data base and character data base are completed and stored in the storage device as described above, a computer is used to automatically generate well-balanced characters of various thicknesses. I can do it. The main purpose of the present invention is to adjust the balance associated with changing the line thickness of characters.
It is also possible to enlarge or reduce the characters at the same time. These modification steps no longer require the involvement of the character designer and can be carried out by the user himself.

In the schematic configuration diagram of FIG.

Block 1: The user inputs a one-character code, line thickness magnification (Xw, Yw), enlargement or reduction magnification (Xp, Y) as control information.
p).

Block 3: Select and retrieve character data from the one-character database 2 according to the given character code. This data is temporarily stored.

Block 4: Check whether all the graphemes included in the given character data have been processed. Initially, it is N because it has not been processed.

Block 6: Using the unprocessed glyme code contained in the given character data, extract and store the corresponding glyme data from the glyme data base 5.

Block 7: Line thickness magnification of control information (X w , Y w
) to work on the thickness Q of one character element to make the thickness X
Multiply w, Yw.

Block 8: Grapheme size A x ', A y '
Calculate as followsa Ax' =Ax+a x(1
-XW), Ay' =Ay+a y(1-Yw) Set the grapheme sizes to Ax', Ay', (Ax, A
y, ax, ay are in the selected and stored character data) Block 9: To determine where in the character frame the grapheme image should be placed, the position of the grapheme [BX'・Calculate By′ as follows. Bx・=Bx+bx(1-Xw)
, By' = By+by (1-Yw) Place the graphemes at the positions of Bx' and By'<, (Bx.

(By, bx, by are in the selected and stored character data) Block 10: Calculate the rotation angle R' of the grapheme as follows.

R' = y' (1-Xw and Yw (7) average value) Rotate the grapheme by R'. (γ0 is in the selected and stored character data) 6% or more blocks 7.8.
Steps 9 and 10 are performed until all the glyme codes in the selected character data are processed (goes to A). When all the 0 glyme codes are processed, the process goes to B. This completes all the necessary graphemes, determines the line thickness, completes balance control, and creates a standard character.

Block 11: If necessary, enlarge or reduce the standard size characters using the enlargement or reduction magnification (Xp, Yp) in the control information. In this way, the number of characters desired by the user can be created according to the user's control information. Block 1~
11 is repeated for the number of characters desired by the user.

The character data resulting from the processing by each of the blocks 7 to 11 described above is stored in the main memory 1 in numerical data format.
It is sequentially updated and stored in the character frame area in 2. This character data is converted into image data and stored in another area of the main memory 12 in order to provide a visible character image for display.

Block 12: Retrieve image data representing a character image from the main memory 12 and display it. The display device may be a display device such as a CRT display, a printer, or the like.

Effects of the F0 Invention Conventionally, small dot matrix typefaces (for example, 16x16 to 64x64) were created by handwriting directly onto graph paper by a typeface designer.

A large dot matrix typeface (e.g. 500
X500) was created by scanning the original characters (for example, accurately written characters several centimeters square) using a scanner. Conventionally, this dot matrix typeface could be enlarged or reduced to a certain extent optically or using a computer.
It was almost impossible to change the line thickness. Even when it was possible, it was difficult to maintain the balance between the graphemes. In order to have all the typefaces necessary for a publication, you need about 10 sets of typefaces of different sizes and thicknesses (each set has an average of about 5000 characters), and two types: Mincho and Gothic. Because it was necessary, a total of 20 sets, or about 100,000 glyph shapes, had to be prepared.

On the other hand, according to the present invention, the character alignment equivalent to the above-mentioned prior art example is basically one set each (5000 characters) for Mincho typeface and Gothic typeface, that is, two sets in total (approximately 10000 characters). All you need to do is prepare an original font. Therefore, the total development cost of characters and the capacity of the storage device for storing the characters can be reduced to nearly 1/10.

Moreover, even if a relatively large number of character shapes are generated by changing the line thickness and size of a relatively small number of original fonts, the quality of the characters can be maintained because no imbalance occurs.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a character generating device of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 4 are diagrams showing problems that occur when character lines are mechanically made thinner with the center line as a reference point. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the structure of the character "rt", and FIG. 6a. Figures 6b and 6c are diagrams explaining the meaning of grapheme balance control information (flags), Figure 7a is a diagram showing the original typeface created by the designer, Figures 7b and 7c
The figure shows the character shape when the thickness of the line is changed without performing balance control, and Figures 7d and 7e show the character shape when balance control is performed according to the present invention. 1...Control information input means, 2...Character data.
Base storage device, 3...character data selection and storage device, 5...grapheme data base storage device, 6...
・Grapheme data selection and storage device, 12...main memory, 13...display device. Applicant International Business Machines Corporation Sub-Agent Patent Attorney Shino 1) Text Yu 2 @ Figure 8 Figure 4 Character rt Figure 5 Origin J typeface Figure 7a

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A grapheme data storage device that stores individual graphemes having basic sizes and line thicknesses that constitute a character in a data format that can be retrieved using a grapheme specification code, and individual characters. The above-mentioned grapheme specification codes of the graphemes necessary for assembling the grapheme, along with at least the control information necessary to specify the amount of correction of the line thickness of each grapheme and the positional relationship between each grapheme, respectively. a character data storage device for storing data in a data format that can be retrieved by a character designation code; an input device for designating a desired character and the line thickness of the character; and character data for the character designated by the input means. is retrieved from the character data storage device, and in response to the input specifying the control information and the line thickness of the character included in the retrieved character data, at least one of each glyme constituting the specified character is retrieved. Balance adjustment means for selectively correcting the thickness of the line and the positional relationship between each glyme; means for converting the balanced character data into a visible character image and outputting it; A character generator consisting of (2) The pixel data storage device stores at least a pixel designation code and a coordinate position of the center point of a pixel stroke. The character generating device according to claim 1, characterized in that a plurality of glyme data each containing thickness information are stored in advance. (3) The character data storage device stores in advance a character specification code for each character and a set of grapheme assembly information necessary to assemble that character, and the grapheme assembly information is a grapheme specification code. Claim (1) characterized in that it includes information that enables selective modification of the positional relationship between graphemes in response to the input specifying the line thickness of the code and graphemes. Or the character generator described in paragraph (2). (4) The balance control means selectively corrects the line thickness of the grapheme and the size of the grapheme in response to the amount of correction of the line thickness and the control information. , a character generating device according to claim (1), (2), or (3).