JP2922738B2 - Outline forming method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an outline forming method and apparatus for printing or displaying characters using an outline font.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an outline font is composed of outline data such as characters represented by straight lines and curves. As this curve, a cubic Bezier curve, a spline curve, an arc, or the like is generally used.

[0003] This contour data (outline data)
Represents font data of a specific thickness (hereinafter referred to as weight). That is, a thin font (a font with a light weight) is represented by outline data for a thin font, and a thick font (a font with a bold weight) is individually represented by outline data for a thick font.

[0004]

Therefore, in the above-mentioned conventional example, in order to display or print characters in a plurality of fonts, it is necessary to individually have a plurality of weight outline fonts. was there.

[0005] As a system for solving the above-mentioned problem, there is a system which can create an intermediate outline font from a thick outline font and a thin outline font. However, an outline font having an arbitrary thickness can be created. Did not.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and provides vector information for moving a contour point using a weight as a parameter to each point on the contour, so that a plurality of points can be obtained by one contour data. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for forming a contour, which can generate a character having a weight.

[0007]

A contour forming apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object has the following arrangement.
That is, coordinate data corresponding to the first contour point of the contour of the pattern of the first weight, and the first contour point
Storage means for storing vector data representing a second-order or higher-order curve corresponding to the first contour point for moving to the position of the second contour point of the contour of the weight pattern, and inputting weight information And inputting coordinate data corresponding to the first contour point stored in the storage means to a third one based on the weight information input by the input means and the vector data stored in the storage means. Conversion means for converting into coordinate data corresponding to the contour points.

Further, a character contour forming method according to the present invention for achieving the above object has the following steps. That is, the first contour of the pattern of the first weight
Coordinate data corresponding to the first contour point and a second or higher order coordinate corresponding to the first contour point for moving the first contour point to the position of the second contour point of the contour of the second weight pattern A contour forming method using memory means for storing vector data representing the curve of the above, wherein an input step of inputting weight information, and the weight information input by the input step and stored in the storage means The first data stored in the storage means based on the vector data;
Converting the coordinate data corresponding to the contour point into coordinate data corresponding to the third contour point.

[0009]

According to the above arrangement, the position of each contour point for representing the contour of the first weight pattern and the position of the corresponding contour point for representing the contour of the second weight pattern are represented. Vector data representing the trajectory of moving to the second or higher order curve is stored, and each of the first contour points is input based on the input weight information and the stored vector data. Is converted to a contour point corresponding to.

[0010]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<Embodiment 1> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic control configuration of a contour forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. In the figure, an input device 11 receives code information for specifying a pattern to be output and weight information for specifying the thickness of the pattern. In this embodiment, characters are handled as an example of a pattern to be output, and a code for specifying the pattern is referred to as a character code. Reference numeral 12 denotes a calculation device which calculates outline data of a corresponding character from the character code and weight received by the input device 11.
A storage device 13 is a ROM (read only memory).
14 and a RAM (random access memory) 15. The ROM 14 stores basic character data, etc.
M15 is used by the CPU 12 as a work area for calculation, or when basic character data in the ROM 14 is
A RAM for temporarily storing character outline data obtained by calculation in 2; Reference numeral 16 denotes an output device which outputs character outline data obtained as a result of calculation by the CPU 12.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic control configuration when the contour forming device is incorporated in a laser beam printer as an example of application of the contour forming device of the present embodiment. In the figure, a receiving unit 21 receives print data from a host computer. Reference numeral 22 denotes an image forming unit, which is configured by a circuit including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like. 23 is a contour forming device of the present embodiment,
CPU 12, ROM 14, RAM 1 in FIG.
5 shares the image forming unit 22. The control of this apparatus is performed by the CPU 12, and a control program is stored in the ROM 14. An output buffer 24 temporarily stores an image formed by the image forming apparatus 22 in a bitmap format. Reference numeral 25 denotes a printing unit, which generates a laser driving pulse based on the contents of the output buffer 24, and forms a recorded image with toner on paper.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the format of font data used in the contour forming apparatus of this embodiment. This data is Gothic "ta" characters. FIG.
Represents the outline data when the weight of the character is 1. A vector (arrow) represented by a dotted line is a vector (contour point movement vector) representing a locus of movement of each contour point when the weight is changed. In each contour point movement vector, the X coordinate and the Y coordinate are expressed as a function of the weight.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing contour data of a gothic "field" when the weight is 10. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that 1 is the thinnest and 10 is the thickest.

As shown in FIG. 3, the contour data in the present embodiment is coordinate data representing the contour of a character, and data relating to a contour point movement vector representing a trajectory of the movement of the contour coordinates with respect to a change in weight (hereinafter referred to as vector data). Name)
And As shown in FIG. 3, the vector data of each contour point of the character “T” has no vector and each of the X and Y coordinates using the weight as a parameter is represented by a linear function.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a part of the outline data structure of the character "" in FIG. In the figure, a flag 1 indicates a start / end of the contour, a flag 2 indicates an attribute of the contour, a flag 3 indicates a degree of a function of the contour point moving vector in the X direction, and a flag 4 indicates a contour point moving vector. Is a flag indicating the order of the function in the Y direction. When the flag 3 is 0, it indicates that the coordinate value of the contour point movement vector in the X direction does not change. When the flag is 1, the coordinate value in the X direction changes linearly, that is, linearly with respect to the change of the weight. Represents Similarly, when the flag 4 is 0, it indicates that the coordinate value of the contour point movement vector in the Y direction does not change. When the flag is 1, the coordinate value in the Y direction changes linearly, that is, linearly with the change of the weight. To do so.

In FIG. 6, the X coordinate and the Y coordinate represent the coordinates of each contour point in the weight 1. The vector X coordinate and the vector Y coordinate are weight 1
The position of each contour point when it becomes 0 is represented by the movement amount with respect to the coordinates of the contour point of weight 1.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the contour forming control according to the first embodiment. First, in step S701, a character code to be output is received.
At 2, weight information is received. That is, the character code and the weight information are input to the input device 11 of FIG. In step S703, basic contour data is read from the ROM 14 according to the character code received in step S701. In step S704, the number of contour points included in the read contour data is substituted for Nmax. Then, in step S705, 1 is substituted for the counter variable n.

In step S706, it is determined whether or not n exceeds Nmax.
If not, the process proceeds to step S707. In step S707, the n-th contour point data is X
Determine whether or not there is a contour point movement vector in the direction (if flag 3 is not 0, there is a contour point movement vector)
If there is a contour point movement vector, step S708 is performed.
If not, step S709 is executed. Step S70
In step 8, the X coordinate of the contour point is calculated from the weight information and the vector data of the contour point movement vector. In step 709, it is determined whether the n-th contour point has a contour point movement vector in the Y direction (if the flag 4 is not 0, there is a contour point movement vector). Step S710, otherwise step S7
Step 11 is executed. In step S710, the Y coordinate of the nth contour point is calculated from the weight and the vector data of the contour point movement vector. In step S711, the counter variable n is incremented, and the process returns to step S706 to perform processing for the next contour point. Step S71
In step 2, the converted data is sent from the output device 16 and the process ends.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a method of obtaining an equation of a linear function representing a contour point movement vector. In this example, as shown in the outline data configuration in FIG. 6, the coordinates (X coordinate, Y coordinate) of the contour point of the weight 1 and the coordinates of the end point of the contour point movement vector (vector X coordinate, vector Y coordinate) are shown. Represents a linear function. That is, since the start point and the end point of the contour point movement vector are known, the constants A and B are easily determined, and the linear function can be obtained. This makes it possible to obtain character outline data of an arbitrary weight.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example in which a contour point movement vector of each contour point is automatically calculated, and shows an example of extracting a contour point movement vector from contour data of two weights. In this example, weight 1 of “A” and weight 1
The contour point movement vector is obtained from the position coordinates of the contour point at 0. That is, each contour point of the weight 1 is set as a starting point,
A vector ending with each contour point of the weight 10 is determined. When these values are described in accordance with the data configuration of FIG. 6, the X coordinate and the Y coordinate become the coordinates of each contour point of the weight 1, and the X coordinate and Y coordinate of the end point of each contour point moving vector are the X coordinate of the weight 10, Y coordinate and X coordinate of weight 1, Y
It is represented by the difference from the coordinates (vector X coordinate, vector Y coordinate).

Of course, the contour point movement vector of each contour point may be obtained by other methods. It is also possible for the designer to modify the contour point movement vector. Of course, if the obtained outline point movement vectors are the same, the method of obtaining the vector does not affect the generation of character outline data having different weights.

As described above, the following effects can be obtained by giving each point on the character outline a contour point movement vector for making the weight variable. That is, 1. 1. Weight changes can be calculated to any thickness and in real time. 2. Compared to the case where two types of weights have different outlines and complement, two points have no vector and the amount of data is small. 3. Compared to the case where two types of weights have different contours and interpolation is performed, there is no need to calculate the corresponding contours on the spot, so that the speed is higher. Since a vector is added to the contour data, there is an effect that data management is easy.

<Embodiment 2> In Embodiment 1 described above, the case where the movement vector of each contour point is represented by a linear expression has been described. However, when the figure becomes more complicated, vector data represented by various functions appears. Functions that represent vector data are represented by linear expressions, outline expressions, quadratic expressions, polynomial expressions, trigonometric functions, or weights based on contour points. There are things. Most commonly, each contour point movement vector is represented by a polynomial, and the vector data of each contour point is stored together with information for deriving the coefficients of the polynomial.

Therefore, in a second embodiment, a description will be given of a contour forming apparatus having a contour point movement vector as a quadratic or higher-order curve.

FIG. 10 shows the outline forming apparatus of FIG.
This is an example in which each contour point has a contour point movement vector for changing the weight as a primary straight line or a quadratic or higher curve, and is a diagram illustrating an example of a contour point movement vector represented by a curve. This means that the locus of movement of each contour point with respect to the weight is represented by a straight line or a curve. In Gothic "I", each contour point becomes X as the weight becomes thicker.
However, the amount of movement is not a fixed ratio to the movement in the Y direction. In this case, a trajectory closer to the original trajectory can be represented by representing the trajectory using a quadratic or higher-order curve.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a configuration of contour data in the second embodiment. In the figure, a flag 1 is a flag representing the start / end of the contour, and a flag 2 is a flag representing the attribute of the contour. Flag 3 is a flag indicating the order of the function in the X direction on the trajectory of the contour point movement, and flag 4 is a flag indicating the order of the function in the Y direction. When the flag 3 is 0, it indicates that the coordinate value in the X direction does not change with the change in the weight. When the flag 3 is 1, it indicates that the coordinate value in the X direction changes linearly, that is, linearly with the change in weight. When the flag 3 is 2, the coordinate value in the X direction changes quadratically, that is, changes in a curve with respect to the change in weight. Similarly, when the flag 3 is 3 or more, a more complicated curve movement can be represented. The flag 4 has the same meaning as the flag 3 in the Y direction. The coordinates of points corresponding to the degree of each contour point are arranged in the order of the corresponding weights. In other words, the coordinates of one point other than the contour points are stored as the points for drawing the locus which can be represented in the primary, and the coordinates of two points other than the contour points are stored in the case of the secondary points. The vector X coordinates 1, 2,... Are stored according to the order of the movement vector of each contour point, and are used to obtain a calculation formula of the vector at each contour point.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a procedure for calculating and outputting character outline data of a desired weight from the outline data in the format of FIG. Here, step S12
The draft mode in 07 represents an output mode in which speed is prioritized over character quality. In this draft mode, the points on the thinnest (weight 1) contour and the points on the thickest (weight 10) contour are connected to approximate the moving trajectories of all contour points by a linear expression. The calculation is performed assuming that there is a contour point for a desired weight in a straight line. If the mode is not the draft mode, the calculation is performed based on the order based on the outline data, and the coordinates of the outline point are obtained.

First, step S1201 and step S120
At 1202, the input device 11 receives a character code to be output and weight information for determining its thickness. In step S1203, basic contour data is read from the ROM 14 according to the character code received in step S1201. In step S1204, the number of contour points included in the read contour data is substituted for Nmax. In step S1205, 1 is substituted for the counter variable n.

In step S1206, it is determined whether or not n exceeds Nmax.
If not, the process proceeds to step S1207. In step S1207, it is checked whether or not the output mode of the image forming apparatus is in the draft mode. If the output mode is not the draft mode, the process from step S1208 is executed. If the output mode is the draft mode, the process from step S1213 is executed.

If the mode is not the draft mode, step S1
At 208, it is determined whether or not there is a contour point movement vector in the X direction for the nth contour point (if the flag 3 is not 0, there is a movement vector). If there is a contour point movement vector in the X direction, in step S1209, the X coordinate of the contour point is calculated from the weight information and the vector data of the contour point movement vector. The calculation formula representing the locus of the movement of the contour point at this time is determined using the order of the curve formula stored in the flag 3 and the vector X coordinates 1, 2,. For example, if the degree of the curve is 2, the vector X coordinates 1 and 2
Is used. Similarly, in steps S1210 and S1212, the Y coordinate of the contour point is obtained.
Then, n is incremented by one and step S120
Returning to step 6, the above processing is repeated for the next contour point.
When the processing is completed for all the contour points, step S
The process advances from step 1206 to step S1218 to send data from the data output device 16 and end this processing.

On the other hand, if the output mode is the draft mode, the flow advances from step S1207 to step S1213. In step S1213, it is checked whether the n-th contour point has a contour point movement vector in the X direction, and if so, the process proceeds to step S1214. In step S1214, a formula for calculating the contour point movement vector is determined as a linear expression from the X coordinates of the contour points of the weights 1 and 10, and the X coordinate of the contour point with respect to the desired weight is determined using this. Step S1215 for the Y coordinate
And step S1216, the above-described step S12
13 and 1214. Then, n is counted up by one in step S1217, and the process returns to step S1206.

FIG. 13 is an example in which the vector of each contour point is automatically obtained by calculation, and is a diagram showing how a non-linear vector is extracted from the contour data of three or more weights. In this example, a contour point movement vector (represented by a quadratic expression) is obtained from the “one” weight 1, the weight 5, and the weight 10. That is, a contour point movement vector of a quadratic expression is obtained, in which each contour point of the weight 1 is set as a start point, passes through the point of the weight 5 and each end point of the weight 10 is set as an end point. In this case, in the data configuration of FIG. 11 described above, the X and Y coordinates indicate the coordinates of the contour point of the weight 1, and the vector X and Y coordinates 1 indicate the coordinates of the contour point of the weight 10 (actually, with respect to the weight 1). relative position). The vector X, Y coordinates 2 indicate the coordinates of the contour point of the weight 5. Further, the vector X, Y coordinate 3 indicates the coordinates of the contour point of the weight 3.

Depending on the memory capacity and the power of the CPU, it is also possible to select whether to have data of a primary type or data of a quadratic type or more. At this time, it is easy to convert the data of the quadratic expression or higher into the data of the primary expression.
However, when approximation is made using a contour point movement vector of a linear expression, there is a possibility that the character quality may be slightly reduced as compared with the case where a contour point movement vector of a quadratic expression or higher is used.

As described above, the following effects can be obtained by giving each point on the character outline a vector for changing the weight by a curve. That is, 1. 1. Higher quality weight change can be performed. By expressing a portion that can be represented by a straight line as a straight line, data can be stored without increasing the data amount too much. 3. You can choose whether to develop high quality with a curve or high speed with a straight line. This has the effect that data management is easier than having multiple pieces of contour information.

Third Embodiment Next, in a third embodiment, a contour forming apparatus will be described in which a contour point movement vector is determined from one contour point, and the coordinates of the contour point for each weight are determined using the contour point movement vector. I do. The configuration of the contour forming apparatus according to the third embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 14, FIG. 15, and FIG. 16 are flowcharts showing a procedure for obtaining a contour point movement vector for each contour point in the contour forming apparatus of FIG. Compared to the case where a vector is obtained from two or more types of weights as shown in FIG. 9, a contour point movement vector can be obtained from only characters of one type of weight. In this case, there is an advantage that the capacity of the outline data is reduced and management becomes easy.

In the procedure of the flowchart of FIG. 14, from the position of the contour point of the weight 1, three movements of horizontal movement disabled, horizontal movement restricted, and no horizontal movement restricted with respect to horizontal movement.
Classify the types. This movement classification can be derived from the positional relationship between a paired contour and another contour or character frame (body frame). That is, the difference between the standard horizontal line width when the weight is set to 10 and the standard horizontal line width when the weight is 1, when the contour points are moved horizontally and in the opposite direction to the pair of contours, the contour points are touched or contacted. The possibility of movement is set in the flag based on whether or not they intersect and whether or not they extend beyond the body frame of the character. Similarly, the same determination is made in the vertical direction.

First, in step S1401, a standard horizontal line width is input. In this example, the standard horizontal line width and the standard vertical line width for weights 1 and 10 are input. It is assumed that the standard horizontal line width and the standard vertical line width are stored in the ROM 14 in advance for each font. Next, in step S1402, the total number of contour points is substituted for N, and the contour point counter c is set to one. In step S1403, it is checked whether c is larger than N, and if it is larger, the process proceeds to step S1501 (FIG. 15). If c is equal to or smaller than N, the process advances to step S1404 to extract the c-th contour point.

In step S1405, it is checked whether the extracted c-th contour point can be moved in the horizontal direction. If it is impossible, the process proceeds to step S1408, and if it is possible, the process proceeds to step S1406. In step S1406, it is checked whether there is a restriction on horizontal movement. If there is a restriction, the process proceeds to step S1409.
Go to each. In step S1407, since there is no restriction on the horizontal movement of the contour point, a flag indicating a large horizontal movement amount of the contour point is set. If it is determined in step S1405 that horizontal movement is not possible, a flag indicating that horizontal movement is impossible is set in step S1408. Further, if there is a restriction on the horizontal movement in step S1406, a flag indicating a small horizontal movement amount is set in step S1409.

Next, in step S1410 and thereafter, the amount of movement in the vertical direction is checked. Step S141
In the case of 0, it is checked whether or not the extracted c-th contour point can be moved in the vertical direction. If not, the process proceeds to step S1413, and if it is possible, the process proceeds to step S1411. In step S1411, it is checked whether there is a restriction on vertical movement. If there is a restriction, the process proceeds to step S1414, and if not, the process proceeds to step S1412. Step S1
At 412, since there is no restriction on the vertical movement of the contour point, a flag indicating a large vertical movement amount of the contour point is set. If it is determined in step S1410 that vertical movement is not possible, a flag indicating that vertical movement is impossible is set in step S1413. Further, step S141
If the vertical movement is limited by 1, the flag indicating the small vertical movement amount is set in step S1414.

Then, in step S1415, the contour point counter c is incremented by one, and in step S14
Return to 03. In this way, when the flag indicating the movement amount is set for all the contour points, the control proceeds from step S1403 to step S1501.

The moving amount of each contour point is obtained from the flag indicating the moving amount of all the contour points thus obtained. FIG. 15 shows a procedure for obtaining the movement amount. In the calculation of the movement amount, usually, a vector is calculated so as to have a required thickness together with a contour point which is a pair of the contour points. For this reason,
A subroutine for calculating the moving amount is called by combining the flag of the point for calculating the moving amount and the flag of the pair of contour points.

The flowchart of FIG. 15 will be described. First, in step S1501, the total number of contour points is substituted for N, and the contour point counter c is set to one. In step S1502, it is checked whether or not c is larger than N. If c is larger, the process ends, and if c is smaller than N, the process proceeds to step S1503.

In step S1503, the c-th contour point is extracted, and in step S1504, a contour point paired with the c-th contour point is extracted. The contour points forming the pair are contour points that determine the width in the vertical and horizontal directions with respect to the c-th contour point. The contour points that form a pair in the horizontal direction with respect to one contour point, and the pair in the vertical direction. Are extracted, and a flag indicating the movement amount of each is extracted. Then, in step S1505, the movement amount is calculated. In step S1505, the horizontal and vertical movement amounts of the contour points when the weight 1 changes to the weight 10 are obtained. In step S1506, these are set as the vector X coordinate and vector Y coordinate of each contour point. The position of the contour point with respect to each weight using the vector X coordinate and the vector Y coordinate is the same as that in the first embodiment, and thus the description is omitted here.

Various methods are available for extracting a contour point paired with a certain contour point in step S1504. One example will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. For example, scanning is performed in the horizontal and vertical directions based on a certain contour point, and a contour point that is paired with the contour point in the horizontal and vertical directions is extracted.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a subroutine for calculating the amount of movement, which shows the details of the processing in step S1505 in FIG. The movement amount is large horizontal movement amount /
The movement amount is determined in advance according to the type of the small flag or the vertical movement amount large / small flag, and the movement amount is calculated from the pair of contour point flags and the standard line width.

First, in step S1601, the horizontal movement amount of the contour point is set by the flag set in the flowchart of FIG. Further, the horizontal movement amount of the contour points forming a pair in the horizontal direction extracted in step S1503 is set by a flag indicating the movement amount. Step S16
In 02, the vertical movement amount of the contour point is set by the flag set in the flowchart of FIG. Furthermore,
The vertical movement amount of the contour points forming a pair in the vertical direction extracted in step S1503 is set based on the flag indicating the movement amount.

In step S1603, the horizontal movement amount of the contour point of interest, the horizontal movement amount of the contour point paired with the contour point in the horizontal direction, and the standard horizontal line width in weight 1 are added. Is substituted for W. Similarly, in step S1604, the vertical movement amount of the contour point of interest, the vertical movement amount of the contour point paired vertically with the contour point, and the standard vertical line width in weight 1 are added, and This is substituted into H.

In step S1605, the value of W substituted in step S1603 is compared with the standard horizontal line width of the weight 10. Here, if W is larger, it means that the horizontal line width is too thick,
In step S1606, the horizontal movement amount is corrected. That is, in step S1606, the horizontal movement amount of the contour point set in step S1601 is expressed as (standard horizontal weight of weight 10).
Line width-standard horizontal line width of weight 1) / (W-weight 1
, The horizontal line width of the weight 10 is corrected so as not to exceed the standard horizontal line width.
On the other hand, if W is equal to or smaller than the standard horizontal line width of the weight 10 in step S1605, the horizontal movement amount set in step S1601 is used as it is.

Steps S1607 and S160
In step 8, the same processing as steps S1605 and S1606 is performed in the vertical direction. In this way, since the movement amount of each contour point in the weight 10 is calculated, a contour point movement vector can be obtained by using this, in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

Various methods can be considered as a method of extracting a pair of contour points in step S1504 in FIG. 15, one example of which will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing a procedure for extracting a contour point forming a pair with a certain target contour point, and FIG. 23 is a diagram for explaining a procedure for extracting a contour point forming a pair with a certain target contour point. It is.

First, in step S2201, a contour vector starting from a contour point of interest is extracted. Similarly, in step S2202, a contour vector ending with the contour point of interest is extracted. Here, the contour vector is configured such that the inside of the contour is always on the left side with respect to the direction of the vector, as shown in FIG. In the above steps S2201 and 2202, for example, FIG.
3 is a contour vector 2300 starting from the contour point 2300
b and contour vector 230 ending at contour point 2300
0a is extracted.

Next, in step S2203, horizontal scanning is performed to the left in the direction of the extracted contour vector.
Search for a pair of contour vectors. Referring to FIG. 23, when a contour vector is searched from the contour vector 2300b in a horizontal direction, for example, along a scanning line 2300c, a contour vector 2305b is extracted as a pair vector. When a contour vector is searched along the scanning line 2300d, a contour vector 2302b is extracted.

Then, in step S2204, it is checked whether or not there are a plurality of extracted pair vectors. If not, the process proceeds to step S2205, and if there are a plurality, the process proceeds to step S2204. In step S2205, a pair vector that is closest to the contour vector including the contour point of interest in the horizontal direction is extracted. This will be described with reference to FIG. 23. Since the contour vector 2302b is closer than the contour vector 2305b, this is set as a pair vector.

In step S2206, of the end points of the contour vector extracted as described above, the end point closer to the contour point of interest is set as a pair of contour points. That is, in FIG. 23, the end point closer to the outline point 2300 among the end points of the outline vector 2302b is the outline point 2301.
Therefore, this is defined as a pair of contour points in the horizontal direction.

Steps S2207 to S221
At 0, scanning is performed in the vertical direction to obtain a pair of contour points in the vertical direction. The contents are the same as in the case of the horizontal direction described above, and the description thereof is omitted here. In FIG. 23, a contour point 2301 is obtained as a pair of contour points in the vertical direction of the contour point 2300. Also, for example, when the above-described processing is performed on the contour point 2302,
03 is a pair of contour points in the horizontal direction,
4 is extracted as a pair of contour points in the vertical direction.

As described above, the following effects can be obtained by automatically calculating a vector for varying the weight at each point on the character outline from one type of weight. That is, 1. A vector for creating another weight from one weight can be calculated, thereby shortening the character design process. There is an effect that data management is easier than calculating a vector from a plurality of contour information.

<Fourth Embodiment> In the fourth embodiment, a contour point movement vector is obtained from one kind of weight contour point in the same manner as in the third embodiment described above. The contour forming apparatus in which the movement amount determined by the combination of the movement amount flags of the contour points forming the following is stored in advance as a table will be described. The configuration of the contour forming apparatus according to the third embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

FIGS. 17 to 19 are flow charts showing a method for automatically obtaining data used in the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 from the positions of the contour points. Compared to the method described in the third embodiment, by providing a table with the amount of movement, it is possible to save the calculation, and it is easy to improve the quality by finely classifying the table.

In FIG. 17, from the position of the point of the character outline, three types of classification are performed for horizontal movement: horizontal movement disabled, horizontal movement restricted, and no horizontal movement restricted. Of course, this classification can be easily refined by changing the conditions. This movement classification can be derived from the positional relationship between a paired contour, another contour, and a character frame (body frame). That is, the difference between the standard horizontal line width when the weight is set to 10 and the standard horizontal line width when the weight is 1, and when the contour points are moved horizontally and in the opposite direction to the pair of contours, the contour points are touched or contacted. The possibility of movement is set in the flag based on whether or not they intersect and whether or not they extend beyond the body frame of the character. Similarly, the same determination is made in the vertical direction.

Steps S1701 to S1715 in the flowchart of FIG. 17 correspond to steps S1401 to S1415 in the flowchart of FIG.
And the description is omitted here. The actual movement amount is obtained from the flags of the movement amounts of all the contour points obtained from the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 18 shows a procedure for obtaining the movement amount. In the calculation of the movement amount, usually, the movement amount is taken out from the table together with the outline point and the flag of the paired point of the outline.

Steps S1801 to 1807 except for step S1805 in FIG. 18 correspond to step S15 except for step S1505 in FIG.
This is the same as each step from 01 to 1507. Step S1805 is a process for obtaining the absolute value of the movement amount using the horizontal movement table and the vertical movement table,
The details are shown in FIG.

FIG. 19 shows a subroutine for calculating the amount of movement. It should be noted that the horizontal moving table and the vertical moving table used here can be changed depending on the font and characters.
Finer vector adjustment is possible.

Referring to FIG. First, in step S1901, a flag representing the movement amount of the contour point of interest and a flag representing the movement amount of the contour point forming a pair in the horizontal direction with the contour point are extracted. Then, step S1902
, A horizontal movement table as shown in FIG. 20 is searched using a flag indicating the movement amount of each contour point, and the absolute value of the movement amount in the horizontal direction is obtained. Then, the moving direction is set in a direction away from the pair of contour points. In step S1903, a flag indicating the moving amount of the contour point of interest and a flag indicating the moving amount of the contour point paired in the vertical direction with the contour point are extracted. Then, step S190
In step 4, using a flag indicating the movement amount of each contour point,
The vertical movement table as shown in FIG. 21 is searched to obtain the absolute value of the vertical movement amount. Then, the moving direction is set in a direction away from the pair of contour points.

As described above, since the movement amount of the contour point in the weight 10 is obtained, the movement amount of the contour point corresponding to each weight can be calculated by using the movement amount of the contour point. .

FIGS. 20 and 21 are tables used for searching for the movement amount in FIG. FIG. 20 is a table for a horizontal movement amount, and FIG. 21 is a table for a vertical movement amount. The table is searched from the combination of the flag of the movement amount of the contour point and the flag of the movement amount of the pair of points, and the corresponding movement amount is obtained and used for generating a vector.

As described above, the following effects can be obtained by setting the outline point movement vector for changing the weight at each point on the character outline from one type of weight using a table. That is, 1. A vector for creating another weight from one weight can be calculated, thereby shortening the character design process. 2. Data management is easier than calculating a vector from a plurality of contour information. By having a plurality of tables, it is possible to create contour point movement vectors for developing characters of various fonts with higher quality. By making the judgment conditions finer, there is an effect that a vector that can develop characters with higher quality can be created.

In the third and fourth embodiments, if the memory capacity is sufficient, the movement amount of the contour point is calculated in advance for all the characters, and the calculated movement amount is stored in advance. Can also be improved.

<Embodiment 5> In each of the above embodiments, the position of the contour point with respect to each weight is determined by expressing the contour point movement vector by one function. In the present embodiment, a case will be described in which the function of the movement vector of the contour point changes at a certain weight.

FIG. 5 shows an example in which the function representing the contour point movement vector changes on the way. In this example, X
The function of coordinates changes. That is, if the weight is 4 or more, X
The coordinates no longer change. In addition, the Y coordinate is changed by a quadratic or higher function.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing the configuration of the contour data in the fifth embodiment. In this figure, the flags 1 to 4, the X and Y coordinates, and the respective vector X and Y coordinates are the same as in FIG. 11 of the second embodiment, and the description is omitted here. The flag 5 represents a weight value at which the function of the movement vector of the contour point in the X direction changes. The flag 6 indicates a weight value at which the function of the movement vector of the contour point in the Y direction changes. For example, FIG.
At the point of interest, 4 is stored in the flag 5. Also,
If there is no change in the movement vector, 0 is stored. If either flag 5 or 6 is non-zero,
The content represented by each coordinate data in the next column changes. For example, when 4 is stored in the flag 5, the value when the weight is 4 is stored as the X coordinate, and data used when the weight value is 4 or more is stored in the flag 3 and the vector X coordinate.

That is, when the function of the movement vector of the contour point changes at a certain weight value, the contour data is stored in a plurality of columns. For example, the first column stores vector data for weights 1 to 4, and the second column stores vector data for weights 4 to 10. Further, when there are a plurality of weight values at which the function changes, data may be stored in the third column and the fourth column in accordance with the weight values. Referring to the example of FIG. 24, the contour point a changes with the function weight 4 of the movement vector in the X direction. After the weight 4, the flag 3 in the second column is set to 0.
Therefore, the X coordinate does not change. On the other hand, the movement vector of the contour point a in the Y direction does not change (the flag 6 is not 0).

In the contour point b, the weight 5 changes the function of the motion vector in the X direction, and the weights 3 and 7 change the function of the motion vector in the Y direction. As for the function of the movement vector in the Y direction, the weights 1 to 3 are quadratic curves, the weights 4 to 7 are linear straight lines, and the weights 8 to 10 do not change.

FIG. 25 shows X and Y of contour points in the fifth embodiment.
It is a flowchart showing a coordinate conversion procedure. Note that the output procedure of the character outline data in the fifth embodiment is almost the same as the flowchart of FIG. 12 of the second embodiment, except for the coordinate conversion procedure. Therefore, the flowchart shown in FIG. 24 shows only a part corresponding to steps S1208 to S1211 in FIG. The weight values used for the respective vector X coordinates and vector Y coordinates are individually stored when the function changes.

In step S2401, it is checked whether or not the flag 5 is 0. If the flag 5 is 0, there is no change in the function, and the flow advances to step S2402 to retrieve the data stored in the first column of the contour point. If the flag 5 is not 0, in step S2403, a column to be used is determined based on the value of the flag 5 in the first column and the following columns, and data stored in the corresponding column is extracted. As described above, the X coordinate conversion processing is executed using the data extracted in step S2402 or 2403.
That is, in step S2404, the flag 3 is checked to determine whether an X vector exists. If an X vector exists, the process advances to step S2405 to calculate the X coordinate of the contour point from the weight information and the vector data of the contour point movement vector. The calculation formula representing the locus of the movement of the contour point at this time is determined using the order of the curve formula stored in the flag 3 and the vector X coordinates 1, 2,.

Steps S2406 to S241
0 is a process relating to the Y coordinate, the contents of which are the same as those in steps S2401 to 2405 described above, and a description thereof will be omitted here.

As described above, according to the character contour forming apparatus of the fifth embodiment, it is possible to cope with a case where the function changes with a weight value having a function of the movement vector of the contour point as a boundary.

As described above, according to the contour forming apparatus of each of the above embodiments, each point on the character contour can be provided with vector information for varying the weight, and the following effects can be obtained. There is. That is, 1. 1. The thickness of a character can be calculated in real time based on a desired weight value. 2. It is possible to have information for changing weights with a small memory capacity. 3. It is possible to calculate the outline of characters with different weights at high speed. 4. Data management for adding vectors to contour data is easy. 5. Vector data to be added to the contour data can be easily created and extracted with high quality. 6. A special design for adding a vector to the contour data is not required, so that it can be easily shared with conventional data, and a module for generating a bitmap font from an outline font can be easily shared. 7. Since the complexity of calculation can be changed according to the quality, it can be easily applied to various devices. 8. The complexity of data can be changed according to the memory capacity, and memory can be saved. 9. The complexity of the data can be changed according to the CPU, and can be customized according to the system. The contour data can be generated by the same expansion method regardless of the method of creating the vector for changing the weight.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of one device. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0081]

As described above, according to the contour forming method and apparatus of the present invention, each contour point is provided with vector information for moving the contour point using the weight as a parameter. A plurality of weight characters can be generated from the contour data. In particular, since the movement locus of the contour point indicated by the vector information is represented by a quadratic or higher-order curve, a more natural character pattern can be generated for each weight.

[0082]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic control configuration of a contour forming apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic control configuration when the contour forming apparatus according to the present embodiment is incorporated in a laser beam printer.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a format of font data.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the font data of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a function representing a contour point movement vector changes on the way.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a part of a configuration of outline data of a character “ta” in FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of contour formation control according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a method of obtaining an equation of a linear function representing a contour point movement vector.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of extracting a contour point movement vector from contour data of two weights.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a contour point movement vector represented by a curve.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of contour data according to a second embodiment.

12 is a flowchart showing a procedure for calculating and outputting character outline data of a desired weight from outline data in the format of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a non-linear vector is extracted from contour data of three or more weights.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for obtaining a contour point movement vector for each contour point in the contour forming apparatus according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for obtaining a contour point movement vector for each contour point in the contour forming apparatus according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for obtaining a contour point movement vector for each contour point in the contour forming apparatus according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for obtaining a contour point movement vector for each contour point in the contour forming apparatus according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for obtaining a contour point movement vector for each contour point in the contour forming apparatus according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for obtaining a contour point movement vector for each contour point in the contour forming apparatus according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of a horizontal movement table.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of a vertical movement table.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for extracting a contour point paired with a contour point of interest.

FIG. 23 is a diagram for explaining a procedure for extracting a contour point paired with a contour point of interest.

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of contour data according to a fifth embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for converting the X and Y coordinates of a contour point according to the fifth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 11 input device 12 computing device (CPU) 13 storage device 14 ROM 15 RAM 16 output device

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ identification code FI G06T 11/20 G06F 15/72 355U (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G09G 5/24 B41J 2 / 485 G06F 3/12 G06T 5/30 G06T 11/20

Claims (14)

(57) [Claims] 1. The first contour of a pattern of a first weight.
Coordinate data corresponding to the first contour point and a second or higher order coordinate corresponding to the first contour point for moving the first contour point to the position of the second contour point of the contour of the second weight pattern Storage means for storing vector data representing the curve of the following; input means for inputting weight information; and the storage means based on the weight information input by the input means and the vector data stored in the storage means. Conversion means for converting the coordinate data corresponding to the first contour point stored in the memory device into coordinate data corresponding to the third contour point. 2. The contour forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising sending means for sending coordinate data corresponding to the third contour point converted by said converting means. 3. The contour forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pattern is a character pattern. 4. The contour forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first weight is 1, and the second weight is 10. 5. The contour forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said vector data includes vector data representing a first-order straight line. 6. The contour forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising output means for outputting a pattern based on coordinate data corresponding to the third contour point converted by said conversion means. 7. The contour forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said output means includes a printer. 8. The first contour of the pattern of the first weight.
Coordinate data corresponding to the first contour point and a second or higher order coordinate corresponding to the first contour point for moving the first contour point to the position of the second contour point of the contour of the second weight pattern A method of forming a contour using memory means for storing vector data representing a curve of a weight, wherein an input step of inputting weight information, and the weight information input in the input step and stored in the storage means Based on vector data,
Converting the coordinate data corresponding to the first contour point stored in the storage means into coordinate data corresponding to the third contour point. 9. The contour forming method according to claim 8, further comprising a sending step of sending coordinate data corresponding to the third contour point converted by said converting step. 10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the pattern is a character pattern. 11. The method according to claim 8, wherein the first weight is 1 and the second weight is 10.
The contour forming method described in the above. 12. The contour forming method according to claim 8, wherein said vector data includes vector data representing a first-order straight line. 13. The contour forming method according to claim 8, further comprising a step of outputting a pattern based on the coordinate data corresponding to the third contour point converted by the converting step to an output unit. 14. The contour forming method according to claim 13, wherein said output means includes a printer.