JP2782753B2 - Character pattern scaling device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a character pattern scaling device for printing high-quality characters using an outline character pattern in a printing system such as Japanese desktop publishing. is there.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in order to realize high-quality character printing at low cost in a printing system, a character pattern scaling device capable of generating an arbitrary character with one character pattern has been used.

However, simply multiplying and enlarging the coordinates of the outline character pattern by a scaling factor does not generate high-quality characters because of rounding such as rounding.

Conventionally, in order to prevent this, a line width control method for enlargement and reduction has been proposed (JP-A-62-63384).

Hereinafter, a conventional character scaling device will be described. FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of a conventional character pattern scaling device. 71 is a base character pattern, 72 is a bending point extraction unit that extracts a bending point from the base character pattern 71, 73 is a coordinate conversion unit that expands and reduces the coordinate value of the bending point of the bending point extraction unit 72. is there. 74 is a line attribute assigning unit that detects horizontal strokes and vertical strokes from the inflection points extracted by the inflection point extracting unit 72 and assigns vertical and horizontal line attributes, and 75 is a decoration other than the line attributes determined by the line attribute assigning unit 74 It is a decoration attribute assigning unit that assigns information on curves and curves. 76 indicates the control amount of the upper line and the control amount of the lower line in the case of a horizontal line, and the control amount of the right line and the control amount of the left line in the case of a horizontal line, based on the line attribute information obtained by the line attribute assigning unit. This is a control information creation unit that creates a control amount. 77 is a line width control information creation unit
This is a bending point control unit that performs line width control based on the control information created in 76. Reference numeral 78 denotes a filling unit that fills the bent point generated and bent by the bending point control unit. Reference numeral 79 denotes an enlarged or reduced character pattern obtained by enlarging or reducing the base character pattern and controlling the line width.

However, in this case, when the original outline character pattern data is reduced, "chichi" remains, and for example, "chichi" is displayed for the entire character size as shown in FIG. Was too large and low-quality characters were being generated.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve this problem, the present invention provides a storage unit for storing coordinate data of a bending point of a bending line of a contour line of a character, and a method for converting a character from coordinate data stored in the storage unit. A line extracting unit that extracts a constituent line, a line width calculating unit that calculates a line width of the line calculated by the line extracting unit, and a “chichi” portion belonging to the line whose line width is calculated by the line width calculating unit. Identification means for identifying the inflection point, coordinate conversion means for performing coordinate conversion on the coordinate data of the inflection point stored in the storage means, and the character size after conversion with respect to the character size before conversion by the coordinate conversion means When the reduction ratio is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the coordinate data of the inflection point of the “chichi” part identified by the identification unit is converted into a line having the same line width as the coordinate data of the inflection point that is not a “chichi” part existing on the same line. Width position And a correction means for correcting the error.

According to the present invention, the feature points constituting the "chichi" portion are corrected on the contour of the line width of the line to which the "chichi" portion belongs, and the "chichi" portion is removed from the character pattern.

Example Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail. First, FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a character pattern scaling device according to one embodiment of the present invention. Here, 1 has various registers used for processing in a random access memory (hereinafter referred to as RAM). Reference numeral 2 denotes a processing circuit that performs processing according to a control program. Reference numeral 3 denotes a storage device including a hard disk. FIG. 3 (a), (b),
It has a program storage area PA for storing a control program according to the flowchart shown in (c), and a font area FNT for storing outline character patterns. Reference numeral 4 denotes a printer which prints and outputs a character pattern under the control of the processing circuit 2. Reference numeral 5 denotes a page memory storing a character code.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a character pattern scaling device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 11
Is an inflection point storage unit that stores data representing the outline character pattern in XY orthogonal coordinates. Reference numeral 12 denotes a line segment extraction unit that calculates the inclination of a line segment from the character pattern data fetched from the inflection point storage unit 11 and extracts a vertical line or a horizontal line segment. Reference numeral 13 denotes a “chikara” combining unit that detects “chichi” of a character from the line segment extracted by the line segment extracting unit 12 and combines the character with a vertical line or a horizontal line. Reference numeral 14 denotes a line information determination unit that determines information on the start, middle, and end of the line from the constituent points of the line detected by the line segment extraction unit 12 and the “chikara” synthesis unit 13. 15 is a line information determining unit 14
Is a decoration detection unit that detects a decoration point attached to the constituent point detected in step (1). Reference numeral 16 denotes a line width detection unit that calculates a line width from the line information obtained by the line information determination unit 14. Reference numeral 17 denotes a “chikara” determining unit that determines whether or not “chichi” is to be reflected in a character to be generated based on a predetermined enlargement / reduction ratio. Reference numeral 20 denotes a bending point coordinate conversion unit that performs coordinate conversion by multiplying a predetermined enlargement / reduction ratio by a bending point of the bending point storage unit 11. 18 is a line information determination unit 14 and a line width determination unit 16
Is a line width conversion unit that performs data conversion by multiplying the start point, the end point, and the line width of the line obtained in step 2 by the same enlargement / reduction ratio as the enlargement / reduction ratio. Reference numeral 19 denotes a “chichi” conversion unit that determines correction data when “chichi” is reflected. Reference numeral 21 denotes a bending point correction unit that has four points of correction data for one line using the data detected as described above and corrects a bending point. twenty two
Is a painted part of the coordinate value corrected by the inflection point correction unit 21. Reference numeral 23 denotes a character pattern obtained by the painting unit 22 for painting.

FIG. 3 (a) shows a bending point correction method for enlarging and reducing the outline character pattern configured as described above.
The operation will be described with reference to the flowcharts (b) and (c).

First, the character size as shown in FIG.
The data of the inflection points P0 to P36 having the XY coordinates of 1024 are fetched from the storage device 3, and the number of the inflection points is set in po1_max of the RAM 1 (steps s1, 2).

The line segment Li in FIG. 4B is obtained by connecting the inflection points Pi and Pi + 1, and calculates the inclination of each line segment (step s).
Five).

Based on the calculated inclination, a line segment forming a vertical line or a horizontal line is extracted.

(1) When the inclination of Li is | <Δ1, the horizontal line or “chichi” of the horizontal line is used. (2) When the inclination of | Li |> Δ2, the vertical line or “chichi” of the vertical line is determined in advance. It is a threshold.
In this example, Δ1 = 0.04 Δ2 = 2.90.

Here, when the calculated absolute value of the slope is continuously equal to or smaller than Δ1, one horizontal line is displayed, and the absolute value of the slope is continuously Δ1.
If two or more, it is regarded as one vertical line (step s6-
9).

After the synthesis of "Chikara" in this manner, a paired line (a line having the opposite direction and the shortest distance) is detected. At this time, a plurality of lines that are paired with one line may exist.
From the paired lines obtained in this way, the vertical lines and horizontal lines constituting the character are detected, and the inflection points forming each vertical line and horizontal line are detected. For vertical lines, start point of right outline,
The middle point of the right outline, the end point of the right outline, the start point of the left outline, the middle point of the left outline, and the end point of the left outline. The start point, the middle point of the upper contour, the end point of the upper contour, the start point of the lower contour, the middle point of the lower contour, and the end point of the lower contour are determined (step s11, 12, 13).

Further, as shown in FIG. 4 (b), each contour is numbered, and the number of lines constituting the character is set to sen_max (step s14).

Next, information on a bending point other than the determined vertical and horizontal lines is detected. First, a point at which the direction of a line segment changes at a bending point other than a vertical or horizontal line composing point is detected. If the distance from the preceding and following composing points is within Δ3, it is a decoration. Otherwise, it is regarded as a curved point. . In this example, Δ3 = 300 (steps s14 to s22).

Next, when the line constituting the determined line is a vertical line, the center line and the line width are calculated from the start point and the end point of the right outline and the start point and the end point of the left outline. In the case of a horizontal line, the center line and the line width are calculated from the start and end points of the upper contour line and the start and end points of the lower contour line, and the ce of RAM1 is calculated.
Set to nter and width (step s23).

Center line = (Right (top) start point + right (top) end point + left (bottom) start point + left (bottom) end point) / 4 Line width = (right (top) start point + Right (upper) end point-left (lower) start point-left (lower) end point) / 2 Next, the predetermined enlargement / reduction ratio is determined by the inflection point P0.
Take P36. The four points of the center line, the line width, and the line composing point are also multiplied by the enlargement / reduction ratio multiplied by the inflection point (step s24).

Then, in step s25, it is determined whether or not the enlargement / reduction ratio is equal to or greater than 1/10. If the enlargement / reduction rate is equal to or greater than 1/10, data reflecting "Chichi" is created. In this case, this can be realized by averaging the start point and end point of each of the left and right or upper and lower lines of the contour lines forming the vertical and horizontal lines (step s2).
5, s26).

From the determined line width and the coordinates of the center line, the width is calculated from the center line in the case of a vertical line, and the width in the vertical direction from the center line in the case of a horizontal line.

The difference between the target line width obtained in this way and the line width obtained by coordinate conversion of the inflection point is obtained, and the value is used as a correction amount (step s27).

Correction amount of right (upper) start point = right (upper) line width + center line-right (upper) start point Correction amount of right (upper) end point = right (upper) line width + center line -Right (upper) end point Left (lower) start point correction amount = center line-left (lower) line width-left (lower) start point Left (lower) end point correction amount = center line = Left (bottom) line width-left (bottom) end point right (top) start point, right (top) end point, left (bottom) start point, left (bottom) end point, and Each correction amount is added to the decoration belonging to those points. In step s28, the counter i is set to 0, and in step s29, it is determined whether or not the bending point Pi is the center point of the vertical or horizontal line and the reduction ratio is less than 1/10. In that case, in step s31, Match the coordinates in the line width direction to the coordinate data of the starting point of the line to which the point belongs, that is, the right (upper) middle point = right (up) line width + center line left (lower) middle point = Center line-left (lower) line width, and then goes to step s32. If not, the process goes to step s30 to set the bending point Pi at step s27.
The correction amount obtained in step is added to the coordinate data, and the flow shifts to step s32. In step s32, i is incremented. In step s33, it is determined whether or not i is equal to po1 max. If not, the process returns to step s29. If they are equal, it is determined that all the bending points have been processed. Perform processing and end.

Right (upper) middle point = right (upper) line width + center line Left (lower) middle point = center line-left (lower) line width Finally, the pattern data is developed in the page memory 5 in the shaded portion. Is output to the printer 4 (step s34).
FIG. 5 shows an example of the output character pattern.

Although the correction data is calculated by the processing circuit 2 in the present embodiment, the correction data can be created in advance and stored in the storage device 3 in order to shorten the printing time.

The present invention provides a storage unit for storing coordinate data of a bending point of a contour line of a character, a line extraction unit for extracting a line constituting a character from the coordinate data stored in the storage unit, and a line extraction unit Line width calculating means for calculating the line width calculated by:
Identification means for identifying a bending point of a "chichi" portion belonging to the line whose line width has been calculated by the line width calculation means; coordinate conversion means for performing coordinate conversion on coordinate data of the bending point stored in the storage means; When the reduction ratio of the size of the character after conversion with respect to the size of the character before conversion by the conversion unit is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the coordinate data of the inflection point of the “chichi” portion identified by the identification unit is placed on the same line. Correction means for correcting to a position having the same line width as the line width formed by the coordinate data of the inflection point that is not the existing "chichi" portion, the coordinate point data of the inflection point of the "chichi" portion is However, since the position is corrected to a position having the same line width as the line width formed by the coordinate data of the inflection point that is not the “chichi” part existing on the same line, if the “chichi” part is deleted from the character pattern and the line becomes smoother , It is possible to obtain a character pattern "power" portion fully equipped without too large compared to the size of the entire character.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a character pattern scaling device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram according to the embodiment, and FIGS. 3 (a), 3 (b), and 3 (b). 3
FIG. 4C is a flowchart showing a control procedure in the present embodiment. FIGS. 4A and 4B are explanatory diagrams for extracting correction information from an example character "day" of the bending point correction. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a character pattern subjected to the correction process of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a character pattern of the conventional correction process, and FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional character pattern scaling device. It is. 1 ... RAM, 2 ... CPU, 3 ... Storage device, 4 ... Printer, 5 ... Page memory, po1_max ... Number of bending points, sen_max ... Number of lines forming characters, center ... Center Line coordinate value, width ... line width, i ... counter, P0-P36 ... bending point,

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B41J 5/44 B41J 2/485 G06F 3/12 G09G 5/24

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A storage unit for storing coordinate data of a bending point of a contour line of a character, a line extraction unit for extracting a line constituting a character from the coordinate data stored in the storage unit, and the line extraction unit A line width calculation unit that calculates a line width of the line calculated by: a line width calculation unit; an identification unit that identifies a bending point of a “chikara” portion belonging to the line whose line width is calculated by the line width calculation unit; Coordinate conversion means for performing coordinate conversion of the stored coordinate data of the inflection point, and when the reduction ratio of the converted character size to the character size before conversion by the coordinate conversion means is equal to or less than a predetermined value, The coordinate data of the inflection point of the "chichi" portion identified by the identification means is stored on the same line as the "chichi"
A character pattern scaling device, comprising: correction means for correcting a position having a line width equal to a line width formed by coordinate data of a bending point which is not a part.