JPH0916147A - Character processing apparatus and method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To improve the output quality and readability of characters. [Structure] Character "all" data is read from the font data stored in the HD 120 into the RAM 103. RA
Among the strokes forming the character “whole” stored in M103, the strokes that are in the included / included relation are stored in the ROM1.
In accordance with the control program stored in 02, the CPU 10
The stroke patterns are grouped by 1, and each stroke pattern of the grouped stroke group is corrected. The stroke pattern obtained by the correction is converted into bitmap data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a character processing apparatus and method having a function of generating a character based on outline type font data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An outline font expresses the outline of a character pattern by an equation such as a straight line or a curved line. With this equation, it is possible to generate a bitmap font of any size from one character data. The font can have a smaller area for storing character data than a bitmap font having a plurality of sizes. Therefore, in recent years, outline fonts have become widespread instead of bitmap fonts. The outline font includes a full contour method in which one polygon is geometrically defined as one contour, and a stroke method in which a portion formed by approximately one stroke of motion is defined as one contour.

[0003]

Since the stroke type outline font holds only the coordinate information of the outline of the character, it is possible to correct the stroke or control the space between the strokes arranged in parallel. Have difficulty.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a character processing apparatus and method capable of solving the above problems and improving the output quality and readability of characters.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

1) The character processing device according to the present invention includes a grouping unit for grouping strokes that are included and included among strokes that form one character for each character, and a stroke group that is grouped by the grouping unit. First correction means for correcting each stroke pattern, conversion means for converting the stroke pattern corrected by the first correction means into bitmap data, and characters based on the bitmap data obtained by the conversion by the conversion means. And an output means for outputting a pattern.

2) In the character processing device described in 1) above, the output means is a printer.

3) In the character processing device described in 1) above, the output means is a display.

4) The character processing device according to the present invention is grouped by the grouping means for grouping strokes that are in the inclusion / exclusion relation among the strokes forming one character for each character, and the grouping means. Second correction means for correcting each stroke pattern of the stroke group according to the dot diameter reproduced by the output device, and conversion means for converting the stroke pattern obtained by the correction by the second correction means into bitmap data. And output means for outputting a character pattern based on the bitmap data obtained by the conversion by the conversion means.

5) In the character processing device described in 4) above, the output device is a printer.

6) In the character processing device described in 4) above, the output device is a display.

7) A character processing method according to the present invention includes a step of grouping strokes that are included and included among strokes that form one character for each character, and stroke patterns of the grouped stroke group. Is corrected, the stroke pattern obtained by the correction is converted into bitmap data, and the character pattern is output based on the bitmap data obtained by the conversion.

8) In the character processing method according to the present invention, a step of grouping strokes which are included and included among strokes forming one character for each character and each stroke pattern of the grouped stroke group. To
A step of correcting according to the dot diameter reproduced by the output device, a step of converting the stroke pattern obtained by the correction into bitmap data, and a step of outputting a character pattern based on the bitmap data obtained by the conversion. It is characterized by having and.

[0013]

[Action]

1) In the character processing device according to the present invention, among the strokes that form one character for each character, the strokes that are included or included are grouped by the grouping means, and each stroke pattern of the grouped stroke group is first grouped. 1
The stroke pattern corrected by the correction unit is converted into the bitmap data by the conversion unit, and the character pattern is output by the output unit based on the bitmap data obtained by the conversion.

2) In the character processing device according to the present invention, among the strokes forming one character for each character, the strokes that are included or included are grouped by the grouping means, and each stroke of the grouped stroke group is grouped. The pattern is corrected by the second correction unit according to the dot diameter reproduced by the output device, the stroke pattern obtained by the correction is converted into bitmap data by the conversion unit, and converted into bitmap data obtained by the conversion. Based on this, the character pattern is output by the output means.

3) In the character processing method according to the present invention, among the strokes that form one character for each character, strokes that are included or included are grouped, and each stroke pattern of the grouped stroke group is corrected. The stroke pattern obtained by the correction is converted into bitmap data, and the character pattern is output based on the bitmap data obtained by the conversion.

4) In the character processing method according to the present invention, among the strokes that form one character for each character, strokes that are included or included are grouped, and each stroke pattern of the grouped stroke group is output. Corrected according to the dot diameter reproduced by the device, convert the stroke pattern obtained by correction into bitmap data,
A character pattern is output based on the bitmap data obtained by the conversion.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention. As a character processing device, a word processor,
An electronic typewriter, a printer such as a laser beam printer or an inkjet printer, a workstation, or a computer system is preferable. FIG.
In the figure, 101 is a CPU (central processing unit)
That is, the control and arithmetic processing of the entire character processing device are performed. Reference numeral 102 denotes a ROM (read only memory), which is a storage area for a system startup program, character pattern data, and the like. 103 is a RAM (random access m
emory), and as a data storage area with no usage restrictions,
Programs and data are loaded to perform various processes. A keyboard control unit 104 receives key input data from the keyboard 105,
To communicate. A display control unit 106 drives and controls the display 107.
Reference numeral 109 denotes an FD (floppy disk drive), which stores programs and data. 120 is HD (harddis
k drive), in which programs and data are stored. A disk control unit 108 controls the FD 109 and the HD 120. A printer control unit 110 drives and controls the printer 111. 112 is a system bus.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an example of the control program stored in the ROM 102 shown in FIG.
This control program adds horizontal stem group information to stroke-type outline font data.

In step S201, a character code of a character pattern to be processed is obtained as an input parameter. For example, in the case of the character "all", JIS code 4134 (hexadecimal notation) is obtained. Character codes include JIS code, Microsoft Kanji code (Shift JIS), EUC code, and internal code. The character code depends on which character code system the target system defines. Then, in step S202, the data of the character "all" is stored in the RAM from the font data stored in the ROM 102 or the HD 120.
Read in 103. FIG. 3 shows an example of a storage format of font data. The character "all" specified in step S201
When the data of is drawn on the x, y plane, it becomes as shown in Figure 4.

In step S203, the horizontal stem is taken out from the character "all" stored in the RAM 103. Among the stems shown in FIG. 4, the stems st2, st3, and st4 are recognized as horizontal stems. The method of taking out the horizontal stem will be described later. Information on these horizontal stems is stored in the RAM 103 (or FD10).
9, HD120). In step S204,
The horizontal length of the horizontal stem extracted in step S203 is extracted. The length of stems st2, st3, st4 is that
It is 400,200,600. A method for extracting the horizontal length of the horizontal stem will be described later.

In step S205, the stem having the maximum horizontal length is set as the parent stem. The length of stem st4 is 60
Since it is 0, it is the largest stem among the stems st2, st3, and st4, and the stem st4 is the parent stem. This parent stem serves as a standard for grouping. In step S206, a child stem is selected with respect to the parent stem determined in step S205. The child stem here is a stem that can be in the same group as the parent stem.
Among the horizontal stems taken out in step S203, the stems to be selected as the slave stems are not the master stems. There are several methods for selecting the child stem, but one of them will be described here. When the parent stem and the stem to be selected are translated only along the y-axis and the stem to be selected is completely included in the parent stem in the horizontal direction, the stem to be selected is the slave stem. Stem st4
X min and x max are respectively 200 and 800, while the stem x2 has x min and x max of 300 and 700 respectively. Here, x minimum value of stem st4 <x minimum value of stem st2 x maximum value of stem st4> x maximum value of stem st2, so when st2 and st4 are superposed,
2 is contained in stem st4. Therefore, the stem st2 is a child stem of the stem st4. Similarly, stem st3 is a child stem of stem st4.

In step S207, stem information is added to the character data. FIG. 5 shows an example of the storage format of the stem information. The stem information is as follows in the character pattern shown in FIG. That is, 1 (number of parent-child pairs), 0 (horizontal), 1 (number of parents), 2 (number of children), 4 (parent stem number), 2 (child stem number), 3 (child stem number) Is.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the flow of step S203 for extracting the horizontal stem from the character data of FIG. 2 and step S204 for obtaining the horizontal length of the horizontal stem. This control program is executed for each stroke. For explanation, the i-th point of the target stroke is P
Let i be the edge formed by Pi and Pi + 1.
Here, the stem st2 of FIG. 4 will be described as an example.

In step S601, data for one stroke is taken out. The storage format is, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, and the data for one stroke of the stem st2 is
4, 300, 400, 300, 530, 700, 530, 700, 400.
In step S602, the number of coordinate points of the target stroke is 4
If it is 4, it proceeds to step S603, and if it is not 4, it proceeds to step S607. Since the number of coordinate points of the stem st2 is 4, the process proceeds to step S603. In step S603, it is determined whether the side E0 and the side E2 are parallel. If they are parallel, the process proceeds to step S604, and if they are not parallel, the process proceeds to step S607. In the case of the stem st2, if the side E0 and the side E2 are expressed in a vector format, the vector E0 = (0,130), the vector E2 = (0, −
130). Then, vector E0 = -vector E
Since it is 2, side E0 and side E2 are parallel. Therefore, in the case of the stem st2, the process proceeds to step S604.

In step S604, it is determined whether the sides E0 and E2 have the same size. If they are the same, the process proceeds to step S605, and if they are not the same, step S60 is performed.
Go to 7. In step S605, the vertical length and the horizontal length of the stroke are compared. As a result of comparison, if the horizontal length is larger, the process proceeds to step S606, and if not, the process proceeds to step S607. , Step S607
, The target stroke is not a horizontal stem. In the case of the stem st2, since the vector E0 = (100,0), the vertical length is 100, while the vector E1
= (0,400), the horizontal length is 400. Therefore, since the horizontal length is large, step S606 is performed.
In step S606, the target stroke is a horizontal stem, and its lateral length (stem st2
Is 400) is stored in the RAM 103.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing an example of a control program stored in the ROM 102 shown in FIG. 1 for converting font data into bitmap data.

At step S701, input parameters are received. The input parameters include a character code and output size. The output size may be the desired number of dots in the bitmap or a parameter for affine transformation. The affine transformation means that the original coordinates are (x, y) and the transformed coordinates are (x, y '), and A, B, C,
When D is a real number, it is converted by the following equation.

[0029]

## EQU1 ## x '= Ax + By + Cy' = Dx + Ey + F where the parameters of the affine transformation are A = 0.096 and B =
It is assumed that 0, C = 0, D = 0, E = 0.096 and F = 0. Also, x and y are called control points. Then, step S702
At step S701, the RAM 103 stores the character data of the character code designated in step S701, for example, the pattern data shown in FIG. 4 stored in the format shown in FIG.

In step S703, step S702
The control point of the character data obtained in step S701 is converted into the size specified in step S701 by using the affine transformation. Focusing on the horizontal stem, based on the horizontal stem information shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2, the stems st2, st3, and st4 are horizontal stems, and the control points thereof are affine-transformed as shown in Table 1. Since only integer values can be taken in the bitmap format, the decimal points and below are rounded down, but other methods such as rounding and rounding up may be used.

[0031]

[Table 1] Stroke Control point 0 Control point 1 Control point 2 Control point 3 st2 (28,38) (28,50) (67,50) (67,38) st3 (38,60) (38,72) ( 57,72) (57,62) st4 (19,81) (19,95) (76,95) (76,81) In step S704, control points are set for all groups of the grouped stems. Correct the correction of. The control point correction method will be described in detail later. Step S703
The control points of the stems st2, st3, and st4 converted by are changed as shown in Table 2.

[0032]

[Table 2] Stroke Control point 0 Control point 1 Control point 2 Control point 3 st2 (28,38) (28,50) (67,50) (67,38) st3 (38,59) (38,71) ( 57,71) (57,59) st4 (19,81) (19,95) (76,95) (76,81) From Table 2, it can be seen that the arrangement of st3 has been changed. Then, in step S705, dots are plotted on the bitmap so that adjacent control points of each stroke are connected by a straight line. Connect the final point to the starting point. As a method of generating a straight line, D
A method using a DA (digital differential analyzer) or the like can be considered. In step S706, step S70
The inside of the stroke where the contour is dotted in 5 is filled.

In the bitmap font generated by the above process, the space of the stems st2 and st3 is changed by changing the arrangement of the stems st3 in step S704.
It is smaller than the space of stem st3 and stem st4, improving the character quality.

Although the character pattern of the character "all" used in the example does not include a straight line, bit map data can be similarly obtained for a character pattern including a spline or a curve. it can.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing a first example of the flow of step S704 of control point correction using the stem information of FIG. This process is performed on the grouped stems.

In step S801, information about the grouped stems is acquired. In the case of the character pattern in FIG. 4, the information regarding the stems is 1 (the number of parent-child pairs), 0 (horizontal), 1 (the number of parents), 2 (the number of children), 4
(Parent stem number), 2 (child stem number), 3 (child stem number). In step S802, step S80
It is determined whether the number of stems forming the grouped stem acquired in 1 is 3. If the determination result is 3, the process proceeds to step S803, and if not 3, the process ends. In step S803, the coordinate values of the converted control points of the stems forming the group are obtained. Here, similarly to the description of FIG. 7, steps Sst2, st of the character pattern of FIG.
It is assumed that the coordinates shown in Table 3 are obtained for 3, st4 and strk0, strk1, and strk2 are set for the explanation of the flowchart.

[0037]

[Table 3] Stroke Control point 0 Control point 1 Control point 2 Control point 3 strk0 (st2) (28,38) (28,50) (67,50) (67,38) strk1 (st3) (38,60) (38,72) (57,72) (57,60) strk2 (st4) (19,81) (19,95) (76,95) (76,81) In step S804, strk of the three stems.
Find the size between 0 and strk1, and let S1 be the size obtained. In the above data, S1 = (60-50) = 10. In step S805, strk1 and strk of the three stems
Find the size between 2 and call it S2. In the above data, S2 = (81−72) = 9. Then, in step S806, S1 and S2 are compared. If S1 <S2, the process ends, otherwise, the process proceeds to step S807. In step S807, strk1 so that S1 <S2.
To move. In the above data, the stem st3 in the middle is moved. In the above data, all the y-coordinates of st3 are set to 1
Reduce. The results are shown in Table 4.

[0038]

[Table 4] Stroke Control point 0 Control point 1 Control point 2 Control point 3 strk0 (st2) (28,38) (28,50) (67,50) (67,38) strk1 (st3) (38,59) (38,71) (57,71) (57,59) strk2 (st4) (19,81) (19,95) (76,95) (76,81) Here, by moving strk1 between the stems. Although the size of the space was corrected, the space can be corrected by changing the thickness of the stem.

As described above, the group information of the stem is added to the outline font data of the stroke format, the control point is moved by using the stem group information, and the size of the space between the strokes is corrected to output. The quality of certain bitmap characters can be improved.

<Second Embodiment> In comparison between this embodiment and the second embodiment, the method of correcting the character pattern control points is different.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing a second example of the flow of step S704 of control point correction using the stem information of FIG. An example of the character "eye" will be described.

In step S901, information about the grouped stems is acquired. In step S902, it is determined whether the number of stems forming the grouped stem acquired in step S901 is four. As a result of the determination, if it is not 4, the process is ended, and if it is 4, the process proceeds to step S903. In step S903, the coordinate points of the converted control points of the stems forming the group are obtained. For the purpose of explanation, four horizontal stems are strk0 and strk.
Let them be 1, strk2, strk3.

In step S904, the size between strk0 and strk1 is obtained, and the obtained size is set to S0. In step S905, the size between strk1 and strk2 is calculated,
The obtained size is S1. In step S906, st
Find the size between rk2 and strk3, and use the resulting size as S2
And Then, in step S907, it is determined whether or not S2 is S1 or more and S1 is S0 or more. If an affirmative determination is made, the process ends, and if a negative determination is made, step S9
Proceed to 08. In step S908, strk1 and strk2 are moved so that S2 is S1 or more and S1 is S0 or more.

By doing so, as shown in FIG. 10, the balance of the size of the space between the strokes of the character pattern is improved, and the character quality can be improved.

As described above, the stroke group outline font data is added with the stem group information, the control points are moved using the stem group information, and the size of the space between the strokes is corrected to output. It is possible to improve the character quality of a certain bitmap format.

<Third Embodiment> In comparison between this embodiment and the second embodiment, the method of correcting the character pattern control points is different.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing a third example of the flow of step S704 of control point correction using the stem information of FIG. This is an example in which the generated contour or bitmap is changed according to the reproduced dot diameter. An example of the character "whole" will be described.

In step S1101, information about the grouped stems is acquired. Step S1102
At, it is determined whether the number of stems forming the grouped stems acquired in step S1101 is three. As a result of the determination, if it is not 3, the process is ended, and if it is 3, the process proceeds to step S1103. Step S11
At 03, the coordinate values of the converted control points of the stems forming the group are obtained. Strk 3 horizontal stems for illustration
Set 0, strk1, strk2.

In step S1104, strk0 and strk1
The size between the two is obtained, and the obtained size is S0. In step S1105, the size between strk1 and strk2 is obtained, and the obtained size is set to S1. In step S1106, it is determined whether or not both S0 and S1 are 0. If a negative determination is made, the process ends, and if an affirmative determination is made, the process proceeds to step S107. In step S1107, the dot diameter to be reproduced is determined. That is, it is determined whether the output device is, for example, a liquid crystal display or a dot matrix. If it is a liquid crystal display, the process is terminated, and if it is a dot matrix printer, the process proceeds to step S1109. One of the characteristics of liquid crystal displays is that each pixel has a small amount of protrusion to adjacent pixels. On the other hand, in a dot matrix printer, the amount of protrusion to adjacent pixels increases. Therefore, in the dot matrix printer, it can be said that the bitmap character pattern in which the stems are arranged without a gap is very difficult to see and the character quality is low.
In step S1108, the stem in the middle, strk1
Remove.

As described above, in this embodiment, the group information of the stem is added to the outline font data of the stroke format, the dot diameter to be reproduced is discriminated, and the specific stem is deleted accordingly. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4, when the "king" portion of the character pattern "all" is output so small that the stems line up without gaps, it is possible to prevent crushing and improve readability.

In this embodiment, an example in which a liquid crystal display and a dot matrix printer are adopted as an output device has been described. However, as an output device, a CRT (cathode ray t type) is used.
Needless to say, a ube), an LBP (laser beam printer), an inkjet printer, or the like can be adopted.

The present invention is not limited to the first to third embodiments, but can be applied to a character processing device using outline data. Therefore, the stem to be corrected can be applied not only to the horizontal stem, but also to the vertical and oblique stems, and also to the stroke constituted by the curved line. Also, the addition of stem group information is
In addition to reading from the storage device at the time of execution and performing it in a timely manner,
It may be added to the font data in advance and stored in the storage device.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention,
With the above configuration, the output quality and readability of characters can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart showing an example of a control program stored in a ROM 102 shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a data storage format.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example in which data of a character pattern “all” is drawn on an x, y plane.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a storage format of stem information.

6 is a flowchart showing a flow of steps S203 of extracting a horizontal stem from the character data of FIG. 2 and step S204 of obtaining a horizontal length of the horizontal stem.

7 is a flowchart showing an example of a control program stored in a ROM 102 shown in FIG. 1 for converting font data into bitmap data.

8 is a flowchart showing a first example of a flow of step S704 of control point correction using the stem information of FIG.

9 is a flowchart showing a second example of the flow of step S704 of control point correction using the stem information of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example in which the balance of the space size between strokes of a character pattern is improved.

11 is a flowchart showing a third example of the flow of step S704 of control point correction using the stem information of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 CPU 102 ROM 103 RAM 104 Keyboard Control Unit 105 Keyboard 106 Display Control Unit 107 Display 108 Disk Control Unit 109 FD 110 Printer Control Unit 111 Printer 112 System Bus 120 HD

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location G09G 5/28 9365-5H G06F 15/72 355U

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A grouping means for grouping strokes which are included and included among strokes forming one character for each character, and each stroke pattern of a stroke group grouped by the grouping means is corrected. And a conversion unit for converting the stroke pattern obtained by the correction by the first correction unit into bitmap data, and a character pattern based on the bitmap data obtained by the conversion by the conversion unit. A character processing device, comprising: 2. The character processing device according to claim 1, wherein the output unit is a printer. 3. The character processing device according to claim 1, wherein the output means is a display. 4. Grouping means for grouping strokes that are in the inclusion / exclusion relation among strokes that form one character for each character, and stroke patterns of the stroke group grouped by the grouping means, Second correction means for correcting the dot diameter reproduced by the output device, conversion means for converting the stroke pattern obtained by the correction by the second correction means into bitmap data, and conversion by the conversion means. A character processing device comprising: an output unit that outputs a character pattern based on the obtained bitmap data. 5. The character processing device according to claim 4, wherein the output device is a printer. 6. The character processing device according to claim 4, wherein the output device is a display. 7. A step of grouping strokes which are included and included among strokes forming one character for each character, a step of correcting each stroke pattern of the grouped stroke group, and A character processing method comprising: a step of converting the obtained stroke pattern into bitmap data; and a step of outputting a character pattern based on the bitmap data obtained by the conversion. 8. A step of grouping strokes which are included and included among strokes constituting one character for each character, and each stroke pattern of the grouped stroke group is reproduced by an output device. It has a step of correcting according to the diameter, a step of converting the stroke pattern obtained by the correction into bitmap data, and a step of outputting a character pattern based on the bitmap data obtained by the conversion. Character processing method.