JP2782752B2 - Character pattern output device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a character pattern output device which develops and displays coordinate data of a character outline in a pattern.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in DTP and the like, vector dot conversion that can generate a dot font of an arbitrary size with a small storage capacity has become widespread.

In this case, when the character pattern is output by a CRT or a laser printer, the start point and the end point when the character pattern is developed along the scan line from the intersection of the contour line of the character pattern and the scan line are calculated, and the scan line Was controlled according to the start point and the end point.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In this method, when a contour character pattern as shown in FIG. 8 is plotted along a scan line, an interrupted character pattern as shown in FIG. 9 may be output. Was. In other words, there is a case where two scan lines adjacent to each other should originally be connected.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve this problem, the present invention relates to a method for outputting a character pattern represented by coordinate data representing a bending point of a contour to an output device that outputs an image by a plurality of parallel scan lines. A character pattern scaling device that develops dots along a scan line of an output device, and connects storage means for storing coordinate data representing a bending point of a contour of a character pattern, and each coordinate point stored in the storage means. Calculating means for calculating the coordinates of the intersection of the contour line of the character pattern and the scan line as the start and end points along the direction of the scan line; and two adjacent scan lines for the intersection of the scan lines calculated by the calculation means Comparing means for comparing the coordinates of the intersection of the scan line between the start point and the end point of one scan line by the comparison means. When there is no start point or end point of the line, a correction means for bringing one start point or end point of the two scan lines closer to the end point or start point of the other scan line.

In the case where a line forming a character is interrupted between two adjacent scan lines due to this configuration, the interrupted portion is connected after being corrected by the correction unit.

Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a character pattern output device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

1 is a data input unit for obtaining a JIS code and an output position, 2 is an address calculation unit for calculating a corresponding address of a font storage unit from the code, 3 is a vector font storage unit, 4 is a dot font from a vector starting from a designated address. A vector dot conversion unit to be generated, 5 is a bitmap storage unit for writing a Todd font, 6 is an output unit for printing or displaying corresponding to the bitmap storage unit, and 7 is an execution control unit for controlling these.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the character pattern output device in the present embodiment. Here, 25 is a shared RAM. Reference numeral 29 denotes a RAMa, which internally has a program storage area PA storing a control program according to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a vector font storage area, and a side registration area. 32 stores a dot font to be displayed in RAMb. Reference numeral 33 stores information for one screen to be displayed in the page memory. Reference numeral 26 denotes a CPU that performs processing according to a control program stored in a program area of a RAM 29. A hard disk 27 stores vector font data. 28
Is a printer for printing out data stored in the page memory 33.

Hereinafter, the flow of the processing of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. In the following description, X1, X2, X3, X4, M1, and M2 indicate the start point and end point of the previous scan line, respectively, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, and X3, X4 Indicates the start and end points of the next scan line, M1 indicates the slope of the left line, and M2 indicates the slope of the right line. Here, FIG. 5 shows an example in which the inclination is positive, and FIG. 6 shows an example in which the inclination is negative.

The vector font corresponding to the designated code is loaded from the hard disk 27 to the vector font storage area 30 in accordance with the print command of the shared RAM 25. While this vector data has data of one character in steps 8 and 9, the coordinate values are stored in the registration area 31 of the side,
The sign m of the slope of the side, the minimum value of the y coordinate among all sides
ymin and the maximum value ymax are also determined. In step 10, y is initialized to ymin, and the number of intersections between the side appearing in step 11 in step 7 and the scan line is determined as much as possible.
In step 12, the coordinates are sorted in ascending order of x-coordinate to form a coordinate pair. If there is no such coordinate pair in step 13, the process skips to step 15. If there is a coordinate pair, the correction is performed by comparing the start point and the end point of the previous scan line, and the process returns to step S13.

In step 14, y is incremented by 1. If y> ymax is not satisfied in step 16, the process returns to (step 11). If y> ymax,
Finish the process.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a detailed control procedure of the processing in step S14. In step 17, the coordinate value of x3 is stored in B.oldx, and the coordinate value of x4 is stored in E.oldx. In steps 18 and 21, the signs of the inclinations m1 and m2 of the two straight lines are determined,
If both are positive, the process proceeds to step 19; if both are negative, the process proceeds to step 22, but otherwise proceeds to step 24. In step 19, x2 is compared with x3. If x2 is smaller than x3, the coordinate value of x3 is corrected to x2 + 1 in step 20. Step 22
Then, x4 is compared with x1, and if x4 is smaller than x1, the coordinate value of x4 is corrected to x1-1. And in step 24 x3 to x4
Draw a straight line up to and return to the original.

 For example, the description will be supplemented with a specific example.

In the case shown in FIG. 7, the signs of the slopes are each negative and x1
= 4.75 and x4 = 3.125. Therefore, since x4 <x1, x
By setting 4 = x1 = 4.75, the coordinates (4, 5) are plotted, and there is no interruption. Although x3 = x2 + 1 and x4 = x1-1 in steps 20 and 23 in FIG. 4 in the above description, the present invention is also effective when x3 = x2 and x4 = x1.

Advantageous Effects of the Invention The present invention, when outputting a character pattern represented by coordinate data representing a bending point of an outline to an output device that outputs an image by a plurality of parallel scan lines, develops dots along the scan lines of the output device A character pattern scaling device, comprising: storage means for storing coordinate data representing a bending point of a character pattern contour; and intersection coordinates between a contour line of the character pattern connecting each coordinate point stored in the storage means and a scan line. Is the starting point along the direction of the scan line,
Calculating means for calculating an end point; comparing means for comparing the intersection coordinates of two adjacent scan lines with respect to the intersection of the scan lines calculated by the calculating means; and comparing means between the start point and the end point of one of the scan lines by the comparing means. And when there is no start point or end point of the other scan line, a correction means for bringing one start point or end point of the two scan lines closer to the end point or start point of the other scan line. Therefore, when dots are interrupted due to the relationship between the character outline and the scan line of the output device, by correcting the coordinates of the intersection of the character outline and the scan line, a high-quality character pattern with no dot interruption can be obtained. It can output.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of a character pattern output device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a device block diagram showing the configuration of the device, and FIGS. Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing a control procedure, Fig. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example in which the slopes of two line segments are both positive, Fig. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example in which the slopes of both line segments are both negative, FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the outline character pattern and the scan line, FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the outline character pattern and the scan line, and FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the outline character pattern shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a case where dots are developed by the device of FIG. 26 …… CPU 27 …… Hard disk 29 …… RAMb 32 …… RAMa

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] When outputting a character pattern represented by coordinate data representing a bending point of a contour to an output device for outputting an image by a plurality of parallel scan lines, dots are developed along the scan lines of the output device. A character pattern scaling device, comprising: storage means for storing coordinate data representing a bending point of a contour of a character pattern; and an intersection between a contour line of the character pattern connecting each coordinate point stored in the storage means and a scan line. Calculating means for calculating coordinates as a start point and an end point along the direction of the scan line; and comparing means for comparing intersection coordinates of two adjacent scan lines with respect to an intersection of the scan lines calculated by the calculating means; By the comparing means, the start point or the end point of one scan line exists between the start point and the end point of the other scan line. A character pattern output device, comprising: a correction unit that brings one of the start points or the end points of the two scan lines closer to the end point or the start point of the other scan line.