JPH06297784A - Font information storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide a font information storage device capable of approaching the character quality of a dedicated bitmap font while suppressing an increase in storage capacity to a minimum. [Structure] First storage means (101) for storing a reference font of basic points, thinning means (104) and interpolation means (105) for generating fonts of different points, and setting for different points Second storage means (110) for storing a detail font prepared based on the created bitmap font, and a logical sum of the font information generated at a different point and the detail font of the point corresponding to the point A font information storage device including means (107) for performing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a font information storage device, and more particularly to a font information storage device capable of storing a plurality of font data as dot fonts in the form of bitmap.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The structure of a font information storage device of this type, which is conventionally equipped in a computer, word processor, printer, etc., and its output procedure will be described with reference to FIG.

Here, 201 is the font data storage device, and 202 is the font data storage device that outputs the font data from the address where the predetermined font data is stored when a predetermined font is designated by the host device. Address control device for controlling 201, 203
Is a font size selection device that outputs a bitmap corresponding to the instructed point when a point for a predetermined font is instructed, 204 is a thinning device, and 205 is an interpolation device.

In the font information storage device configured as described above, the font data storage device 201 is controlled by the address control device 202 so as to output the font data designated from a predetermined address, and the font size selection device 203 is controlled. Points for the font data are input. Then, the point is checked by the size selection device 203 and the font data storage device 2
If it matches the point of the font data stored in 01, the font data output from the storage device 201 is not thinned and interpolated by the thinning device 204 and the interpolating device 205, and is used as the font of the point as it is. Is output.

If the above-mentioned points input to the size selection device 203 are larger than the points of the font stored in the font data storage device 201, the font data of the points output from the storage device 201 are input. Is interpolated by the interpolator 205 and output.

Furthermore, if the above-mentioned points input to the size selection device 203 are smaller than the points of the font stored in the storage device 201, the font data of the font is set to the size of the input points. It is thinned out by the pulling device and then output.

In this case, the so-called simple thinning method and simple interpolation method are adopted for the above thinning and interpolation. For example, as shown in FIG. A new line is created for each line. That is,
In FIG. 7, (B) is an example (16 points in this case) of font data stored in the storage device, and (A) is one point of the font data shown in (B).
An example of font data of a thinned font reduced to 2 points and an example of font data of an interpolated font in which the points of the font data shown in (B) are enlarged to 24 points are shown.

FIG. 8 shows another example of the processing by simple thinning. In the case of this example, 24 is shown as (B) on the right.
Point data is the font data stored in the storage device, and (A) is the 12-point output font data obtained by the simple thinning method.

Although not described in detail other than the above-mentioned example, O is applied to a line in the vicinity of a line to be thinned out.
It is known that a thin line or the like is saved by performing R processing or the like to appropriately perform thinning,
In this way, fonts of different sizes are dealt with by performing appropriate processing for the missing dots or the extra dots.

[0010]

However, as in the above-mentioned conventional example, when the font data of a new point is generated based on the existing font data stored in the storage device, it is not possible to generate the font data of a special bit map. It may not be possible to obtain beautiful fonts. In addition, it is difficult to prepare fonts of various points for each font and store them in a storage device because the storage capacity becomes too large.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems and to minimize the increase in the storage capacity and to bring the font quality close to the character quality of a dedicated bitmap font. To provide.

[0012]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a first storage means for storing a reference font consisting of a font of a basic point,
Decimation means and interpolation means for generating a font of a point different from the font of the reference font, and setting for each of the different points for generating a font of a point different from the font from the font of the reference font Second storage means for storing a detail font prepared based on the prepared bitmap font, font information obtained through the thinning means or the interpolation means, and the font information of the detail font among the detail fonts. And a means for generating a logical sum of the point and the detail font information corresponding to the point.

[0013]

According to the present invention, when the font and the size of the font are designated, the thinning means or the interpolation means is used to set the basic point of the reference font stored in the first storage means to the designated point. The means performs thinning or interpolation to output font information. On the other hand, the detail font information corresponding to the designated point is output from the second storage means, and the logical sum of these pieces of information is output through the means for generating a logical sum to output a high definition font. can do.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail and specifically with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration according to the present invention. Here, 101 is a storage device in which font data is stored. Hereinafter, these font data are referred to as reference fonts, and the storage device 101 is referred to as a reference font storage device. Reference numeral 110 denotes a detail font storage device. Here, the detail font is a dot font obtained as an exclusive OR of a bitmap font and a reference font by a design designed as a font for each size. Yes, FIGS. 2A and 2B show examples of detail fonts, respectively.

That is, in FIG. 2A, the reference font 1A shown in FIG. 3 is changed to 1 as shown in FIG.
An example of the detail font 1B obtained from the exclusive OR of the thinned-out two-point font and the corresponding original bitmap font (not shown),
In addition, FIG. 7B shows the reference font 1A shown in FIG. 3 interpolated into 24 points as shown in FIG. 7B and an original bitmap font (not shown).
Detail font 1C obtained from exclusive OR with
Is an example of. As described above, the detail font storage device 110 shown in FIG.
Each detail font is stored according to the type of point conversion required for the reference font stored in 01.

In FIG. 1, 102 is an address control device, 103 is a font size selection device, 104 and 105 are thinning devices and interpolation devices, respectively.
Reference numeral 06 is a selector, and 107 is a logical sum circuit for obtaining a logical sum of the thinned-out or interpolated font data output via the selector 106 and the detail font data output from the detail font storage device 110.

The operation of the font information storage device thus configured will be described.

Now, when the size designation together with the font for one print is inputted from the host device, the address control device 102 controls the reference font storage device 101 so as to output the reference font from the designated address. And size selection device 103
The bit map corresponding to the point of the size designated from is sent to the thinning device 104 and the interpolating device 105. Also,
At the same time, a signal is output from the address control device 102 and the size selection device 103 to output a detail font of a corresponding font and size from a corresponding address of the detail font storage device, and the detail font storage device 110 responds to the signal. The detail font required by the above is supplied to the logical sum circuit 107. The font shown in FIG. 4A is the 12-point thinned font 1D thus obtained through the thinning device 104, and the font shown in FIG. 4B is obtained through the interpolating device 105. The respective interpolated fonts 1E are shown.

Therefore, in the OR circuit 107, when the required size is 12 points, the thinning font 1D shown in FIG. 4A obtained from the thinning device 104 through the selector 106 and the thinning font 1D shown in FIG. From the detail font 1B shown in (A), a logical sum is obtained for each bit on the map, and a corrected font (called a generated font) 10A as shown in FIG. 5A is output from here. be able to. Similarly, the required size is 2
In the case of 4 points, the generated font 1 as shown in FIG. 5B is obtained from the logical sum of the interpolation font 1E shown in FIG. 4B and the detail font 1C shown in FIG. 2B.
It is possible to output 0B.

As can be seen from the above embodiment, the fonts having different points have a high correlation with respect to the variable intervening therebetween, but the detail font according to the present invention has an entropy for forming the fonts. Since it is pressed low, the amount of information stored in the detail font storage device 110 can be pressed extremely low as compared with the case where a dedicated bitmap font is provided,
Therefore, the information storage device can be simplified.

Needless to say, the above-described operation according to the present invention can be implemented as a program.
Further, it is needless to say that the application of the present invention can be applied not only to an independent device but also to a system or device including a combination of various electronic devices.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, the first storage means for storing the reference font consisting of the font of the basic point and the point different from the font of the reference font are used. Decimation means and interpolation means for generating a font, and details prepared on the basis of the bitmap font set for each of the different points, when a font of a point different from the font of the reference font is generated Logic of second storage means for storing a font, font information obtained through the thinning-out means or the interpolation means, and detail font information of a point corresponding to a point of the font information in the detail font. Since it has a means for generating a sum, Without significantly increasing the capacity of the 置全 body, yet can provide font information storage device comparable print quality can be obtained in the case provided with the dedicated various bitmap fonts.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a circuit according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing two examples of a pattern of a detail font according to the present invention as (A) and (B).

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a pattern of a reference font according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a thinning font (A) and an interpolation font (B) based on the reference font shown in FIG.

5A and 5B are diagrams showing a configuration example of a pattern of a generated font according to the present invention as (A) and (B).

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a circuit according to a conventional example.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a thinning font (A) according to a conventional example, an original font (B) and an interpolation font (C) stored in a storage device, respectively.

FIG. 8 is an example of forming another thinned font according to the conventional example (A).
It is a figure which respectively shows the interpolation font formation example (B).

[Explanation of symbols]

 1A Reference font 1B, 1C Detail font 1D Thinned font 1E Interpolated font 10A, 10B Generated font 101 Reference font storage device 102 Address control device 103 Size selection device 104 Thinning device 105 Interpolation device 107 Logical sum circuit 110 Detail font storage device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A first storage means for storing a reference font consisting of a basic point font, a thinning means and an interpolation means for generating a point font different from the font from the reference font font. Second storage means for storing a detail font prepared based on a bitmap font set for each different point, when a font of a point different from the font of the reference font is generated, And a means for generating a logical sum of the font information obtained through the drawing means or the interpolation means and the detail font information of the point corresponding to the point of the font information in the detail font. Font information storage device. 2. The detail font is obtained by an exclusive OR of font information obtained for each of the different points and a bitmap font set for each of the different points based on the reference font. Item 1. The font information storage device according to item 1.