JP4772049B2 - Image data generation apparatus, image data generation method, program, and storage medium - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention allows an image data generation apparatus, an image data generation method, and a computer to execute each step in the image data generation method that can clearly display the outline of a side edge of a vertical line included in a character or graphic. And a computer-readable storage medium storing the program.

  Devices such as personal computers and mobile phones are usually provided with a display device capable of color display. In Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-248476), when characters are displayed on a display unit capable of color display, the vertical lines constituting the characters are displayed thick to improve the display quality. A display device is disclosed.

  In the display device disclosed in Patent Document 1, each of the pixels (pixels) arranged in a matrix is configured by a plurality of color elements (subpixels) adjacent in the row direction, and when displaying characters, A portion corresponding to the basic portion (core) of the skeleton of the displayed character is allocated in units of color elements, and a predetermined luminance value is set so that a predetermined display color is obtained for the color elements constituting the skeleton. The luminance values corresponding to the distance from the color elements constituting the skeleton are respectively assigned to the color elements around the color elements constituting the skeleton. With such a configuration, the vertical lines of the displayed characters can be displayed thickly while suppressing coloring.

  FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional display device capable of displaying a vertical line constituting a character thickly with high display quality when displaying the character. The display device includes a display unit 10 that displays characters, graphics, and the like on a display screen, and a control unit 50 that controls the display unit 10.

  The display unit 10 has a plurality of pixels (pixels) 11 arranged in a matrix on the display screen, and each pixel can display R (red), G (green), and B (blue). It is composed of three types of color elements (sub-pixels) 11R, 11G, and 11B. The color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B are arranged in that order along the horizontal (row) direction. Then, by controlling the luminance values of the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B constituting each pixel 11 for each pixel 11, characters, figures, and the like are displayed in color on the display screen.

  Based on the input character / graphic data 31, the control unit 50 includes a basic part forming unit 51 that forms a basic part (core) of the skeleton of the character, a basic part of the skeleton formed by the basic part forming unit 51, and Display contribution level allocating means 54 for setting a level contributing to display with respect to the background color based on the line width information 52 for each color element, and display contribution levels of the respective color elements set by the display contribution level allocating means 54 and Output value generating means 55 for setting the output value of each color element based on the character color / background color information.

  Character / graphic data 31 relating to a character or graphic is input to the basic part forming means 51. When the character / graphic data 31 is input, the basic portion (core) of the skeleton of the character or graphic is set for each color element based on the input character / graphic data. The set color element is defined as a basic color element, and data relating to the basic color element is output to the display contribution level assigning means 54.

  The display contribution level allocating means 54 is input with the line width information 32 of characters or figures. Based on the basic color element data input from the basic portion forming means 51 and the line width information 32, the basic color is displayed. A display contribution level is set for each of the elements and the color elements around the basic color element. The display contribution level is a ratio indicating how much the color element contributes to the display of the character or figure with respect to the background color when the character or figure is displayed on the display screen. It shows that the ratio contributing to color is high and the ratio contributing to display is low. The display contribution level of each color element set by the display contribution level assignment unit 54 is output to the output value generation unit 55.

  Display value / background color information 33 representing the character color and background color is input to the output value generation means 55, and the display contribution level of each color element set by the display contribution level assignment means 54 is input. A luminance value is set for each color element based on the display color and background color information. The set luminance value is given to the display unit 10. As a result, desired characters, images, and the like are displayed on the display unit 10.

  A description will be given of a method of displaying vertical lines such as characters thickly in the display device having such a configuration. When the character / image data 31 is input, the basic part forming unit 51 forms a basic part (core) of the skeleton from the character or image bitmap data related to the input character / image data 31. In the bitmap data, a character / graphic skeleton is set for each pixel as image data.

  FIG. 13A (a) shows bitmap data of vertical lines (straight lines along the column direction) constituting characters and the like. Usually, in the skeleton of characters or the like set in the bitmap data, the line width of the vertical line is defined by one pixel (that is, three color elements). Accordingly, the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B of each pixel 11 constituting the bitmap data all contribute to the display of characters, not the background. Therefore, as shown in FIG. The level is set to 100%. From such bitmap data, as shown in FIG. 13A (c), the color element 11G located at the center in the left-right direction of each pixel 11 constituting the vertical line is extracted as a basic color element that is a basic part of the skeleton. Is done.

  When basic color elements are extracted in this way and basic color element data is obtained, the “middle thick line” is formed by, for example, five color elements so that the vertical line becomes thicker than one pixel which is the line width of the bitmap data. As shown in FIG. 13B (a), the display contribution level assigning unit 54 uses the pixels to which the basic color element belongs as a skeleton pixel, and the display contribution levels of all the color elements included in the skeleton pixel. Is set to 100%, and a display contribution level corresponding to the distance from the skeleton pixel is set for each color element included in each pixel adjacent to the left and right sides of the skeleton pixel. Specifically, for each pixel adjacent to the skeleton pixel, a display contribution level of 66% is set for the color element adjacent to the skeleton pixel (the color element 11B for the left pixel and the color element 11R for the right pixel). The display contribution level of 33% is set for the center color element 11G in the left-right direction, and the color element located farthest from the skeleton pixel (the color element 11R for the left pixel and the color element 11R for the right pixel). A display contribution level of 0% is set for the color element 11B). A color element for which a display contribution level of 0% is set displays a background color that does not contribute to character display at all.

  When the display contribution level is set by the display contribution level assigning unit 54, the output value generating unit 55 sets the luminance value for each color element based on the set display contribution level, and the set luminance value is By outputting to the display unit 10, the display unit 10 displays the vertical lines as “medium thick lines” with five color elements, as shown in FIG. 13B (b).

  In this case, at each of the left and right side edges of the vertical line, the human eye perceives a change in luminance as shown by the solid line in FIGS. 13B (a) and 14, so that it is as shown in FIG. 13B (b). In addition, the contours of the left and right side edges are slightly unclear. In this case, by setting the character contribution level (character color ratio) of each color element higher as the distance between the basic color elements is shorter, even if the color of the line is black, the right side edge is light blue, The left side edge is colored orange, but the human eye hardly perceives such coloring by canceling the coloring of the side edges on both sides.

  Next, a case where a vertical line is displayed as a “thick line” by nine color elements will be described. In this case, as shown in FIG. 13C (a), the display contribution level assigning unit 54 sets the pixel to which the basic color element belongs as a skeleton pixel, and sets the display contribution level of all the color elements included in the skeleton pixel to 100. %, And the color elements included in the respective pixels adjacent to the left and right sides of the skeleton pixel are set to the display contribution level according to the distance from the skeleton pixel. Specifically, in each pixel adjacent to the skeleton pixel, 100% of the color pixel adjacent to the skeleton pixel (the color element 11B in the left pixel and the color element 11R in the right pixel) is the same as the skeleton pixel. The display contribution level of 66% is set for the center color element 11G in the left-right direction, and the color pixel located farthest from the skeleton pixel (the color element in the left pixel) is set. 11R, a display contribution level of 33% is set for the color element 11B) in the right pixel. A display contribution level of 0% is set for a pixel located further away from the skeleton pixel. Then, a luminance value is set based on the set display contribution level, and each color element is displayed according to the set luminance value, so that as shown in FIG. 13C (b), the vertical line has five color elements. Is displayed as a “thick line”.

  Also in this case, at the left and right side edges of the vertical line, since the human eye feels a gradual change in luminance as shown by the solid line in FIG. 13C (a), the contours of the left and right side edges are Somewhat obscure. In addition, by setting the character contribution level (character color ratio) of each color element higher as the distance from the basic color element is closer, even if the color of the line is black, the right side edge is blue, Although red coloring occurs on the left side edge, such coloring is hardly perceived by the human eye by canceling the coloring of the side edges on both sides.

  When displaying “thick line”, it may be possible to set the display contribution level in units of pixels. In this case, by setting the character color to “black” and the background color to “white”, a gray level is output as a halftone without outputting a color of a different hue. Therefore, the display contribution level of the pixels adjacent to the skeleton pixels including the basic color elements constituting the basic part of the skeleton in the character or figure is an intermediate level between the maximum value and the minimum value in all the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B. And all are set equal.

  15A and 15B are explanatory diagrams of a method for controlling the display contribution level for each pixel. In this case, the basic part of the skeleton is not adjusted, and the color element 11G located at the center in the left-right direction of the pixel is extracted as the basic color element constituting the basic part, as in the method shown in FIG. 13A (a). The

  FIG. 15A shows a case where the line width is displayed as “medium thick line” by nine color elements. As shown in FIG. 15A (a), the display contribution level of the skeleton pixel including the basic color element 11G is set to 100%, and the display contribution level of the color elements constituting each adjacent pixel adjacent to the skeleton pixel is All are set equal. In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 13B (a), in the case where the display contribution level is the same for all the adjacent pixels adjacent to the skeleton pixel, all of the adjacent pixels shown in FIG. 13B (a) The average value of the display contribution levels of the color elements is set as the display contribution level of each adjacent pixel.

  In the output value generation means 55, since the luminance value in each pixel is set by weighted averaging of the character color and the background color using the display contribution level as a coefficient, in each pixel adjacent to the skeleton pixel, The color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B included in the adjacent pixels have the same pixel value, which is an intermediate luminance value between the skeleton pixel and the background and is close to the luminance value on the background side. As a result, the displayed vertical lines have halftone luminance values on the left and right. As a result, a luminance change as shown by the solid line in FIG. 15A (a) is observed, and the luminance change becomes gentle compared to the dotted line in FIG. 15A (= solid line in FIG. 13B (a)). As a result, the ambiguity of the contours of the left and right side edges increases.

  FIG. 15B is an explanatory diagram in a case where the line width is displayed as “very thick line” by nine color elements. Also in this case, the display contribution level of the skeleton pixel including the basic color element 11G is set to 100%, and the same display contribution level is set to each adjacent pixel adjacent to both sides of the skeleton pixel. In this case, a display contribution level higher than the display contribution level for all the color elements of each adjacent pixel when displaying with “middle thick line” is set for all the color elements of each adjacent pixel. When the display contribution level is set to be the same as the display contribution level of the entire adjacent pixels shown in FIG. 13C (a), all the color elements constituting each adjacent pixel shown in FIG. 13C (a) are set. The average value of the display contribution level is set as the display contribution level.

  In the output value generation means 55, since the luminance value in each pixel is set by weighted averaging of the character color and the background color using the display contribution level as a coefficient, as shown in FIG. 15B (b), In each adjacent pixel adjacent to the pixel, the luminance value of the color element 11R, the luminance value of the color element 11G, and the luminance value of the color element 11B are equal, and the luminance value of the skeleton pixel is an intermediate luminance value between the skeleton pixel and the background. The luminance value is close to. In the displayed vertical line, halftone luminance values are arranged at the left and right side edges. Therefore, a luminance change as shown by a solid line in FIG. 13B (a) is observed, and a dotted line ( = A luminance change is observed more slowly than the solid line in FIG. 13C (a). As a result, the ambiguity at each side edge of the “extremely thick line” increases.

  As described above, when the vertical lines are displayed as “extremely thick lines”, when the display contribution level is set in units of pixels, as shown in FIG. Therefore, there is a problem that the left and right side edges of the diagonal line are not clearly displayed and the line width is felt wide.

  FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram in the case where the oblique lines constituting the characters are displayed as “middle thick lines” or “very thick lines”. FIG. 17 (a) is bitmap data indicating a diagonal line, and one color element is set to be continuous with each other in the diagonal direction for each pixel with respect to the diagonal line. The basic part of the skeleton is formed by the color elements. When such an oblique line is displayed as a “medium thick line”, as shown in FIG. 17B, each basic color element and each two adjacent to the left and right around each basic color element are centered. A display contribution level of 100% is set for a total of five color elements. Thereby, the diagonal line is displayed as a “middle thick line”. In this case, since each side edge in the diagonal line is clearly displayed, the corner portion of each color element is clearly observed, and the side edge portion of the diagonal line is not displayed smoothly.

  Further, when the diagonal line is displayed as “middle thick line”, the basic color elements belong to the same pixel as shown in FIG. 18A so that the smoothness at the side edge of the diagonal line is increased. In this case, the position of the basic color element included in these pixels is shifted to the color element 11B located on the rightmost side, and as shown in FIG. 18B, the shifted color element 11B and the main color element 11B In some cases, a display contribution level of 100% may be set for a total of five color elements including two color elements adjacent to each other on the left and right sides. In this case, since the number of corner portions of the color elements that are clearly displayed is reduced at each side edge of the diagonal line, the smoothness of each side edge portion is increased. However, also in this case, since the corners of the color elements are clearly displayed because each side edge is clear, each side edge is not necessarily smooth enough.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 18C, a display contribution level of 100% is set for all the color elements with the pixel to which the shifted color element 11B belongs as a skeleton pixel, and one of the shifted color elements 11B (see FIG. 18). In some cases, a display contribution level of 66% is set for all the color elements included in the pixel adjacent to the right side in 18 (c). In this case, there is a problem in that the right side edge of the diagonal line with the display contribution level of 66% is not clearly displayed, and the line width is felt wide.

  When the “middle thick line” shown in FIG. 18C is displayed as “extremely thick line”, as shown in FIG. 18D, all the pixels included in the adjacent pixels located on the left and right sides of the skeleton pixel are all included. A display contribution level of 66% is set for each color element. In this case, as shown in FIG. 16, since the area where the luminance change is felt at the left and right side edges becomes wide, the left and right side edges of the diagonal line are not clearly displayed, and the line width is also felt wide. There is a problem that is.

  Furthermore, a method for further improving the display quality in the case of displaying a thick diagonal line is disclosed in Patent Document 1, and this method will be described below. In this case, first, as shown in FIG. 19 (a), when attention is paid to the pixel in i row and j column, as shown in FIG. 19 (b), the target pixel, the vertical direction, A basic color element in the horizontal (row) direction of the target pixel is obtained based on bitmap data of eight adjacent pixels adjacent to each of the direction and the diagonal direction. Specifically, one, two, or three color elements constituting the skeleton element are set as basic color elements based on the number of pixels and the positions of the skeleton pixels in the target pixel and the nine surrounding pixels. The In the bitmap data shown in FIG. 19A, as shown in FIG. 19B, only the color element 11B in the target pixel is the basic color element. By processing the other pixels in the same manner, as shown in FIG. 19C, one or a plurality of basic color elements are set for each skeleton pixel. Then, data of the basic portion of the skeleton is generated by the set basic color element.

  When the data of the basic part of the skeleton is generated in this way, the display contribution levels of the basic color elements constituting the basic part of the skeleton and the color elements around the basic color element are determined from the basic color elements. Set based on distance. In this case, the display contribution level is assigned so that the ratio of the background color increases as the distance between the basic color element and the horizontal (row) direction that is the arrangement direction of the color elements increases.

  FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram of a display contribution level assignment method by the display contribution level assignment means 54 in this case. In this case, the display contribution level allocating unit 54 expresses 16 integer values of 0 to 15 as hexadecimals as luminance levels, and the basic color element constituting the basic part of the skeleton has the maximum value F and the basic color. The minimum value is 0 for a color element (color element positioned fourth from the basic color element) separated by N (three in this example) color elements in the horizontal (row) direction from the element, and 1 for other parts. It is set to an integer value of ˜9 and symbols A, B, C, D, E. Here, the symbols A, B, C, D, and E indicate integer values 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15, respectively, and in hexadecimal numbers, 0x0a, 0x0b, 0x0c, and 0x0d, respectively. , 0x0e, 0x0f.

  For example, when “F” which is the maximum value as the display contribution level is set for the basic color element, three colors positioned in the horizontal (row) direction as the arrangement direction of the color elements with respect to the basic color element. For each element, values of “9”, “6”, and “3” are assigned as display contribution levels. In the case shown in FIG. 20A, only the color element 11B is set as the basic color element in the pixel of interest in the i row and j column surrounded by the dotted line. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 20B, in the target pixel of i row and j column, “F” is set as the display contribution level in the basic color element 11B, and the target pixel adjacent to the basic color element 11B in the horizontal direction. “9” is assigned as the display contribution level to the color element 11G, and “6” is assigned as the display contribution level to the color element 11R in the target pixel. Further, in the pixel in the i row (j−1) column adjacent to the left side of the target pixel, “3” is assigned as the display contribution level only to the color element 11B adjacent to the target pixel, and other color elements are assigned. On the other hand, the display contribution level is not particularly set. On the contrary, “9” is assigned as the display contribution level to the color element 11R adjacent to the target pixel of the pixel in the i row (j + 1) column adjacent to the right side with respect to the target pixel. “6” is assigned as the display contribution level to the color element 11G positioned on the side, and “3” is assigned as the display contribution level to the color element 11B on the far side. Similarly, when the display contribution level is assigned, the state shown in FIG.

  Here, the same display contribution level is assigned to the basic color elements when they are separated by the same distance with respect to both the left and right directions as the arrangement direction of the color elements, but the same in each of the left and right directions. Different display contribution levels may be assigned to color elements that are separated by a distance. Further, the display contribution level is not limited to “9”, “6”, and “3”.

  The display contribution level thus set is further corrected based on the line width level input as the line width information 31 indicating the line width of the displayed character / graphic.

  In the example shown in FIG. 21, the correction value of the display contribution level for a basic color element and three color elements adjacent to the basic color element in the left-right direction is set in advance for the input line width thickness level. Being a table. Thus, by setting the correction value of the display contribution level as a table, it is possible to easily select the display contribution level correction value corresponding to the input line width thickness level.

  In the table shown in FIG. 21, the display contribution level is not particularly corrected at the normal line width thickness level “i” in which the vertical line width is displayed by one pixel (three color elements), as described above. The display contribution level set as above. On the other hand, at the thickness level “i−1” (for example, slightly narrower than the normal line width), the display contribution level of the basic color element corresponding to the basic part of the skeleton is “F”. The display contribution level of the color element adjacent to the color element is “8”, the display contribution level of the color element separated from the basic color element by the distance of one color element is “5”, and the distance of the two color elements from the basic color element is separated. The display contribution level of the color element is corrected to “2”, and the display contribution level of the color element separated from the basic color element by a distance of three color elements is corrected to “0”.

  At the thickness level “i + 1” (“medium thick line”, which is slightly thicker than the normal line width), the display contribution level of the basic color element corresponding to the basic part of the skeleton is “F”, and the basic color element is The display contribution level of the adjacent color element is “A”, the display contribution level of the color element separated from the basic color element by the distance of one color element is “7”, and the distance of the two color elements is separated from the basic color element. The display contribution level of the color element is corrected to “4”, and the display contribution level of the color element that is separated from the basic color element by a distance of three color elements is corrected to “0”. Further, at the thickness level “i + 2” (“extremely thick line” whose vertical line width is thicker than “middle thick line”), the display contribution level of the basic color element corresponding to the basic part of the skeleton is “F”, and the basic color element is The display contribution level of the adjacent color element is “B”, the display contribution level of the color element separated from the basic color element by the distance of one color element is “8”, and the distance of the two color elements is separated from the basic color element. The display contribution level of the color element is corrected to “5”, and the luminance level of the color element that is separated from the basic color element by a distance of three color elements is corrected to “0”.

  In this case, comparing the thickness level “i” with the thickness level “i + 1”, the display contribution level of the basic color element corresponding to the basic portion of the skeleton is equal to “F”, and the basic color The display contribution levels of the color elements that are separated from the elements by the distance of the three color elements are also equal to “0”. However, the brightness level of each color element positioned between them is the thickness level i + 1 of the skeleton. The numerical value is close to the display contribution level of the basic color element forming the basic portion, which means that the display contribution level is corrected to be closer to the character color than the background color.

  In this way, when the display contribution level correction value is set by the display contribution level assigning unit 54, the set display contribution level correction value is given to the output value generation unit 55. In the output value generation means 55, the luminance level set for each color element is collected in units of pixels, and the luminance level is generated for each pixel. For example, the output value generation means 55 is provided with a luminance table in which a display contribution level set for each pixel and a luminance value corresponding to the character color / background color information 33 are associated with each other. By outputting a luminance value corresponding to the color information 33, a character with a vertical line having a predetermined thickness is generated on the display unit 10.

For example, in the output value generation means 55, if the display contribution level of the three color elements constituting one pixel is “F, F, F”, the luminance values of the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B of the pixel are stored in advance. If the set (0, 0, 0) is output and the display contribution level of the color elements constituting the pixel is “0, 0, 0”, the luminance values of the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B of the pixel are obtained. (255, 255, 255) is output. For the display contribution levels “3”, “6”, and “9” of the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B, luminance values corresponding to the types of the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B are set. Even when the levels are equal, “the luminance value of the color element 11R” ≧ “the luminance value of the color element 11G” ≧ “the luminance value of the color element 11B”.

  Further, if the display contribution level of the color elements constituting each adjacent pixel adjacent to the skeleton pixel is “3, 6, 9”, a luminance value that satisfies the luminance values of the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B, for example ( 230, 202, 168) and the like are output. Here, when the luminance values of R, G, and B are (230, 202, 168), the display state is reddish. For example, the luminance values of pixels adjacent to the opposite side of the skeleton pixel are (168, 202, 230) and the luminance values of R and B are inverted and adjusted so that the output values of the R, G, and B luminance values are equal in the vicinity of the basic portion, thereby suppressing coloring. Can do.

  FIG. 22 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the output value generating means 55 for the display contribution level assigning means 54 that performs such an operation.

For example, the display contribution levels assigned to the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B in the pixels of i rows and j columns surrounded by a dotted line in FIG. 22A are “6, 9, F”. In this case, for example, by outputting a luminance value such as (202, 169, 0), each color element is displayed corresponding to the luminance value. Similarly, the display state as shown in FIG. 22C is obtained by setting the luminance value for all the pixels constituting the bitmap data. Note that the luminance value of each color element corresponding to the combination of the display contribution levels of the three color elements constituting each pixel may be set in advance to form a table as shown in FIG.
JP 2003-248476 A

  In the above-described prior art, when displaying vertical lines such as characters thickly, when the color elements constituting the basic part in the skeleton are extracted, each color element adjacent in the left-right direction centering on the extracted color elements The display contribution level is set. For this reason, the luminance value is set for each pixel, and the displayed vertical lines are displayed in a state where the luminance gradation level spreads in the left-right direction at the left and right side edges. In other words, each side edge is not always clearly displayed, and the outline of the vertical line may be blurred and observed. For this reason, there is a problem that images such as characters displayed by thick lines are not necessarily displayed with high quality.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and the object thereof is to suppress the display of each side edge portion in a blurred manner even when the vertical line is displayed thick, and the contour of each side edge. Data display apparatus, image data generation method, program for causing a computer to execute the image data generation method, and a computer-readable storage medium storing the program It is in.

  The image data generation device of the present invention is an image data generation device that generates image data, and the image data is used to display an image on a display device having a plurality of pixels, and each of the plurality of pixels Is physically or logically divided into a plurality of sub-pixels arranged in a predetermined direction, and the image data generation device is a basic portion that represents a skeleton of a character or a figure based on the character data or the figure data. Each of the plurality of subpixels included in a single pixel, and a basic part forming unit that defines subpixels constituting the basic portion as basic subpixels. All the basic sub-pixels constituting the basic part according to the position where the number of the basic sub-pixels is the smallest among the positions. Shifting a cell in sub-pixel units in the predetermined direction to form a shifted basic part, thereby adjusting a skeleton of the character or the figure, the shifted basic part, For each of the skeleton pixel to which the basic subpixel belongs and at least one adjacent pixel adjacent to the skeleton pixel based on the line width information defining the line width of the character or the figure, the pixel is the character or Display contribution level assigning means for assigning a display contribution level indicating a ratio contributing to the display of the figure, and converting the display contribution level assigned to the skeleton pixel or the adjacent pixel into a luminance value, and the skeleton pixel or the adjacent Output value generation that outputs image data in which the luminance value is set for a pixel And a stage, whereby the above-mentioned object can be achieved.

  The skeleton adjustment means constitutes the basic portion when the number of the basic sub-pixels present at the center among the positions of the plurality of sub-pixels included in a single pixel is the smallest. All of the basic sub-pixels are not shifted, and the basic sub-pixels are located at positions in the direction opposite to the predetermined direction from the center position among the positions of the plurality of sub-pixels included in the single pixel. When the number of pixels is minimum, all the basic subpixels constituting the basic portion are shifted in the predetermined direction, and the center among the positions of the plurality of subpixels included in a single pixel is shifted. If the number of the basic sub-pixels existing at the position in the predetermined direction from the position of the base is the smallest, all the basics constituting the basic part Bupikuseru may be shifted in a direction opposite to the said predetermined direction.

  The display contribution level assigning means assigns a maximum display contribution level to the skeleton pixel, and a first neighboring pixel of the at least one neighboring pixel is more than a second neighboring pixel of the at least one neighboring pixel. In the case where it is close to the basic subpixels constituting the skeleton pixel, the display contribution level of the first adjacent pixel is higher than the display contribution level of the second adjacent pixel. A display contribution level other than the maximum display contribution level may be assigned to each of two adjacent pixels.

  The display contribution level allocating unit may allocate a minimum display contribution level to the second adjacent pixel when a vertical line or a diagonal line included in the character or the graphic is displayed as a “medium thick line”. .

  The display contribution level assigning means assigns a maximum display contribution level to the first adjacent pixel when displaying a vertical line or diagonal line included in the character or the graphic as a “thick line”. An intermediate display contribution level between the maximum display contribution level and the minimum display contribution level may be assigned to two adjacent pixels.

  The image data generation device may be configured not to count the number of basic sub-pixels constituting a part of the basic part based on the shape of the basic part.

  The image data generation device may calculate the weighted number of the basic subpixels by multiplying the number of the basic subpixels by a weighting factor.

  The basic part forming means may form the basic part for each block when the character or the graphic is divided into a plurality of blocks.

  The character data or the graphic data may be bitmap data.

  The plurality of pixels may be arranged in a matrix, and the predetermined direction may be a row direction or a column direction of the matrix.

  Each of the plurality of pixels includes an R color element that displays a red (R) color, a G color element that displays a green (G) color, and a B color element that displays a blue (B) color as subpixels. The R color element, the G color element, and the B color element may be arranged in the order of the R color element, the G color element, and the B color element in the row direction or the column direction of the matrix. Good.

  The image data generation method of the present invention is an image data generation method for generating image data, wherein the image data is used for displaying an image on a display device having a plurality of pixels, and each of the plurality of pixels is displayed. Is physically or logically divided into a plurality of sub-pixels arranged in a predetermined direction, and the image data generation method is a basic part that represents a skeleton of a character or graphic based on character data or graphic data. A sub-pixel unit, defining a sub-pixel constituting the basic portion as a basic sub-pixel, and among the positions of the plurality of sub-pixels included in a single pixel, the basic pixel Depending on the position where the number of subpixels is minimum, all the basic subpixels constituting the basic portion are set to the predetermined number. Shifting the direction by sub-pixel units to form a shifted basic part, thereby adjusting the skeleton of the character or the figure, and the shifted basic part and the line width of the character or the figure For each of the skeleton pixel to which the basic sub-pixel belongs and at least one adjacent pixel adjacent to the skeleton pixel, the pixel contributes to the display of the character or the figure. Assigning a display contribution level indicating a ratio; and converting the display contribution level assigned to the skeleton pixel or the adjacent pixel into a luminance value, and setting the luminance value to the skeleton pixel or the adjacent pixel. To achieve the above purpose. That.

  The program of the present invention is a program for causing a computer to execute each step in the above-described method, thereby achieving the above object.

  The storage medium of the present invention is a computer-readable storage medium storing the above-described program, thereby achieving the above object.

  As described above, the present invention can suppress the display of each side edge portion blurring and display the outline of each side edge clearly even when the vertical line is displayed thick. Can be significantly improved.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a character graphic display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2A shows a display state of the “virtual middle thick line” in the display unit, in which the line width of the skeleton portion of the vertical straight line (vertical line) is composed of five color elements adjacent to each other in the horizontal direction. FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram showing the display contribution level of the displayed “virtual middle thick line”. 2A is a diagram showing a display contribution level in a state where the position of the basic color element of “virtual middle thick line” is shifted, and FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram showing the display state. FIG. 2C (a) is a diagram showing a state in which the display contribution level is set for each pixel by shifting the position of the basic color element of the “virtual middle thick line”, and FIG. 2C (b) shows the display state. Schematic diagram showing FIGS. 3A to 3C show the brightness of the “middle thick line” displayed when the position of the basic color element of the “virtual middle thick line” is shifted and the display contribution level is set for each pixel. Illustration of change FIG. 4A shows the display state of the “virtual thick line” in the display unit, in which the line width of the skeleton portion of the straight line (vertical line) in the vertical direction is composed of seven color elements adjacent to each other in the horizontal direction. FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram showing the display contribution level of the displayed “virtual thick line”. 4A is a diagram showing a display contribution level in a state where the position of the basic color element of the “virtual thick line” is shifted, and FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram showing the display state. FIG. 4C is a diagram showing a state in which the position of the basic color element of the “virtual thick line” is shifted to set the display contribution level for each pixel, and FIG. 4C (b) shows the display state. Schematic diagram showing FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the character graphic display device of FIG. 6 (a) to 6 (e) are diagrams for explaining the control of the control unit 20 of the character graphic display device of FIG. 1 when character data “H” is input. FIG. 7A shows a display contribution level in a state where the position of the basic color element is shifted when the character “H” is displayed by “middle thick line”, and FIG. Showing in tabular form FIG. 8A shows a display contribution level in a state where the position of the basic color element is shifted when the character “H” is displayed as “extremely thick line”, and FIG. Showing in tabular form 9A is a schematic diagram showing a basic color element constituting a basic portion with respect to a skeleton of diagonal lines, and FIG. 9B is a state in which the diagonal lines are displayed by the character graphic display device of the present invention. Schematic diagram showing FIGS. 10A to 10C are explanatory diagrams in the case where characters having a skeleton on the outside and a skeleton on the inside are displayed as “middle thick lines” by the character graphic display device of the present invention. 11 (a) to 11 (c) are explanatory diagrams in the case where a character composed of a plurality of blocks is displayed as “middle thick line” by the character graphic display device of the present invention. FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a conventional display device. FIG. 13A is a schematic diagram showing bit map data of a vertical straight line (vertical line), FIG. 13A is a diagram showing the display contribution level of the vertical line, and FIG. Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram showing basic color elements extracted from bitmap data 13A is a diagram showing a display contribution level when a vertical line is displayed as a “medium thick line” by a conventional display device, and FIG. 13B (b) is a schematic diagram showing a display state thereof. FIG. 13C is a diagram showing a display contribution level when a vertical line is displayed as a “very thick line” by a conventional display device, and FIG. 13C is a schematic diagram showing a display state thereof. FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of a luminance change of “middle thick line” displayed when a vertical line is displayed as “middle thick line” by a conventional display device. 15A is a diagram showing a display contribution level in another example in which a vertical line is displayed as a “medium thick line” by a conventional display device, and FIG. 15A is a schematic diagram showing a display state thereof. Figure FIG. 15B is a diagram showing a display contribution level in another example in which vertical lines are displayed as “extremely thick lines” by a conventional display device, and FIG. 15B is a schematic diagram showing the display state. Figure FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of a luminance change of the “thick line” displayed when the vertical line is displayed as “thick line” by the conventional display device. 17A is a schematic diagram of bitmap data indicating a diagonal line, and FIG. 17B is a schematic diagram illustrating a state in which the diagonal line is displayed as a “medium thick line” by a conventional display device. FIG. 18A is a schematic diagram showing a state in which basic color elements are extracted from bitmap data showing diagonal lines, and FIG. 18B is based on basic color elements extracted by a conventional display device. FIG. 18C is a schematic diagram showing a state in which diagonal lines are displayed as “middle thick lines”, and FIG. 18C shows diagonal lines as “middle thick lines” based on basic color elements extracted by a conventional display device. FIG. 18D is a schematic diagram showing a display state in another example, and FIG. 18D shows a display state when a diagonal line is displayed as a “thick line” based on the extracted basic color element by a conventional display device. Pattern diagram 19 (a) to 19 (c) are explanatory diagrams of other examples in the case where diagonal lines are displayed as bold lines by a conventional display device, respectively. 20 (a) to 20 (c) are explanatory diagrams of setting examples of luminance values in the display example shown in FIG. FIG. 21 is a table format showing an example of setting the luminance value in the display example shown in FIG. 22 (a) to 22 (c) are explanatory diagrams of setting examples of luminance values in the display example shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Display part 20A Control part 21 Basic part formation means 22 Basic color element counting means 23 Skeletal adjustment means 24 Display contribution level assignment means 25 Output value generation means 31 Character / graphic data 32 Line width information 33 Character color / background color information

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

  In the following description, it is assumed that characters or figures are realized in vector format. In the vector format, for example, a stroke is expressed by a coordinate point sequence of a start point and an end point. In general, vector format data is represented by a numerical value larger than the character size actually used. Therefore, it is necessary to perform scale conversion to an actual size, but an error occurs at that time. Therefore, in this embodiment, in order to reduce the error, the basic part of the skeleton (the line connecting the end points of the vector data) is generated in units of color elements.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a character graphic display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Similar to the character display device shown in FIG. 12, the character display device shown in FIG. 1 includes a display unit 10 that displays characters or figures on a display screen, and a control unit 20 that controls the display unit 10. .

  The display unit 10 is configured by, for example, a liquid crystal display device, and a plurality of pixels (pixels) 11 are arranged in a matrix on the display screen. Each pixel includes three types of color elements (sub-pixels) 11R, 11G, and 11B that can display R (red), G (green), and B (blue). The color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B are arranged in that order along the horizontal (row) direction. Then, by controlling the luminance values of the color elements 11R, 11G and 11B constituting each pixel 11, characters, figures, etc. are displayed in color on the display screen.

  The control unit 20 includes a basic part forming unit 21, a basic color element counting unit 22, a skeleton adjusting unit 23, a display contribution level assigning unit 24, and an output value generating unit 25.

  Character / graphic data 31 is input to the basic part forming means 21 provided in the control unit 20 as in the display device shown in FIG. 12, and the basic part formation of the display device shown in FIG. Similar to the means 21, the color elements 11R, 11G or 11B forming the basic part of the skeleton of the character or graphic are extracted as basic color elements based on the bitmap data corresponding to the input character / graphic data. Data relating to the basic color elements extracted by the basic part forming means 21 is given to the basic color element counting means 22 and the skeleton adjusting means 23, respectively.

  In the basic color element counting unit 22, the number of basic color elements extracted by the basic part forming unit 21 is counted for each color, and the counting result is given to the skeleton adjusting unit 23.

  The skeleton adjusting means 23 is provided with line width information 32 of vertical lines or diagonal lines constituting characters or figures, and data relating to basic color elements from the basic part forming means 21 and counting results by the basic color element counting means 22. The basic color element data is adjusted based on the line width of the displayed character or figure and the number of basic color elements for each color.

  For example, “thin line”, “medium thick line”, “extremely thick line” or the like is input as the line width information 32 of the character or figure input to the skeleton adjusting means 23. The line width of the vertical line displayed by each of the “thin line”, “medium thick line”, and “very thick line” varies depending on the number of color elements constituting the line width.

  The display contribution level assigning means 24 is supplied with the line width information 32 of the character or figure and the skeleton data whose basic part has been adjusted by the skeleton adjusting means 23, and the color element that becomes the skeleton of the character or figure and the vicinity thereof A display contribution level corresponding to the line width of a character or a figure is set for the color element.

  The display contribution level is a ratio indicating how much the color element contributes to the display of the character or figure with respect to the background color when the character or figure is displayed on the display screen. It shows that the ratio contributing to color is high and the ratio contributing to display is low. The display contribution level of each color element set by the display contribution level assignment unit 24 is output to the output value generation unit 25.

  In the output value generation means 25, the character color / background color information 33 representing the color of the character or figure and the background color thereof is input, and the display contribution level set for each color element is input to the input character color / background. The luminance value for each color element is set after being corrected according to the color information. The set luminance value is supplied to the display unit 10 as display data.

  Next, an outline of a basic portion adjustment method by the skeleton adjustment means 23 will be described.

  FIG. 2A (a) is a plan view showing a display state by a “virtual middle thick line” configured by five color elements in which the line width of the skeleton portion of the vertical straight line (vertical line) is adjacent to each other in the horizontal direction. FIG. 2A (b) is a graph showing the display contribution level of the displayed “virtual middle thick line”. The “virtual middle thick line” is composed of five color elements adjacent to each other in the left-right direction around the color element 11G located at the center of one pixel, and the display contribution level of these color elements is set to 100%. Set.

  For such a “virtual middle thick line”, the center position of the five color elements is shifted to the right by one color element with respect to the color element 11G located at the center in the horizontal direction of the pixel, The color element 11B is set as the center position of the “virtual middle thick line”. As a result, the state shown in FIG. 2B (a) is obtained. In this case as well, the display contribution levels of the five skeleton color elements shifted by one color element are each set to 100%.

  In the present invention, the display contribution level is set for each pixel as shown in FIG. 2C (a) for the “virtual middle thick line” thus shifted. That is, the display contribution level of all the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B of the pixel including the color element 11B located at the center of the five color elements is set to 100%. The display contribution level for all the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B of each adjacent pixel adjacent to the color element 11B located at the center of the five color elements is set to the opposite side (the far side with respect to the center color element 11B). ) Is set higher than the display contribution level for all the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B of the pixels adjacent to. In FIG. 2C, the display contribution level for all the color elements 11R, 11G, 11B of the adjacent pixels adjacent to the central color element 11B is set to 80%, and for all the color elements 11R, 11G, 11B of the adjacent pixels on the opposite side. The display contribution level is set to 0%.

  By setting the luminance value by the output value generation means 25 based on the display contribution level set in this way, a “middle thick line” as shown in FIG. 2C (b) is displayed. In this case, the displayed “middle thick line” indicates that the luminance change as shown by the solid line in FIG. 2C (a) is observed by the human eye, and the right side edge of the displayed “middle thick line”. In contrast, the luminance gradually changes so as to increase in the left-right direction, whereas the luminance on the left side edge changes sharply, and therefore the left side edge has a clear outline. . Note that the luminance change at the right side edge is substantially equal to the luminance change at the time of display in the prior art shown in FIG. 15A (a), and the luminance change is observed at one side edge. The ambiguity of the entire vertical line is hardly felt, and it is observed as a clear display.

  In this way, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3A, the center of the color element constituting the “middle thick line” is shifted from the color element 11G located at the center of one pixel to either one of the left and right directions. The pixel to which the shifted center color element belongs, the adjacent pixel adjacent to (close to) the shifted center color element, and the adjacent pixel on the opposite side (distant from the center color pixel). On the other hand, the display contribution level of the color element is set for each pixel. In this case, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), the display level of the pixel to which the shifted color element belongs is maximized, and the display contribution level to the color element of the adjacent pixel adjacent to (adjacent to) the shifted color element is set to the opposite side. By making it higher than the display contribution level for the color element of the adjacent pixel (on the far side with respect to the central color pixel), a change in luminance level as shown by a thick line in FIG. As a result, the change in luminance level can be suppressed from spreading in the left-right direction, and the display quality is significantly improved.

  FIG. 4A (a) is a plan view showing a display state by a “virtual thick line” composed of seven color elements whose line widths in the vertical direction are adjacent to each other, and FIG. 4A (b) It is a graph which shows the display contribution level of the "virtual very thick line" displayed. The “virtual thick line” is composed of seven color elements arranged in the left-right direction centering on the color element 11G located at the center of one pixel, and the display contribution level of each of these skeleton color elements is set to 100. % Is set.

  In such a “virtual thick line”, the center position of the seven skeleton color elements is shifted to the right by one color element with respect to the color element 11G located at the center of the pixel, so that the center position is changed to the color element. If it is set to 11B, it will be in the state shown to Fig.4B (a). Also in this case, the display contribution level of the seven color elements shifted by one color element is set to 100%.

  In the present invention, for the “virtual thick line” shifted in this way, as shown in FIG. 4C (a), the display contribution level is set for each pixel, and seven color elements are set. The display contribution level of all the color pixels 11R, 11G, and 11B of the pixels including the color element 11B located at the center of is set to 100%. The display contribution level for all the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B of the pixels adjacent to (adjacent to) the central color element 11B is also set to 100%, and adjacent to the opposite side (distant from the central color pixel). The display contribution level for all the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B of the pixel is set lower than 100%. In FIG. 4C (a), the display contribution level for all the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B of the adjacent pixels on the opposite side to the adjacent pixels adjacent to (adjacent to) the skeleton color element 11B is set to 33%.

  By setting the luminance value by the output value generation means 25 based on the display contribution level set in this way, a “very thick line” as shown in FIG. 4C (b) is displayed. In the “thick line” displayed in this way, a change in the luminance level as shown by a solid line in FIG. 4C (a) is observed by the human eye. The brightness of the side edge changes gently so that it becomes wider in the left-right direction, while the brightness of the right side edge changes sharply, and the right side edge has a clear outline. It has become. Note that the luminance change at the left side edge is substantially equal to the luminance change at the time of display in the prior art shown in FIG. 15B (a), and the luminance change is observed at one side edge. The ambiguity of the entire vertical line is hardly felt, and it is observed as a clear display.

  The basic principle of the display device of the present invention is as described above. Hereinafter, the specific operation of the control unit 20 in the character graphic display device of the present invention will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG. The case of inputting will be described in detail.

  The operation of the basic part forming means 21 is the same as that of the basic part forming means 51 of the conventional character display device shown in FIG. 12. For example, when data that becomes a character skeleton pattern is input, the basic part of the skeleton pattern is inputted. The basic color elements constituting the (core) are generated based on the bitmap data (step S1 in FIG. 5, the same applies hereinafter).

  The basic color element data generated by the basic part forming means 21 is given to the basic color element counting means 22 and the skeleton adjusting means 23. In the basic color element counting means 22, the number of basic color elements constituting the basic part of the character is counted for each type (color) of the color elements (step S 2 in FIG. 5), and the counting result is given to the skeleton adjusting means 23. It is done. In the skeleton adjusting means 23, the basic portion of the character among the types of color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B (that is, three types of R (red), G (green), and B (blue)) included in a single pixel. Which type has the smallest number of basic color elements is determined (steps S3 and S4 in FIG. 5). The type with the smallest number of basic color elements constituting the basic part of the character is R (red) (that is, the type of color elements located on the left side of the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B included in a single pixel). ), The basic color element data indicating all the basic color elements constituting the basic part of the character is shifted to the right by one basic color element (step S5 in FIG. 5). The type with the smallest number of basic color elements constituting the basic part of the character is B (blue) (that is, the type of color elements located on the right side among the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B included in a single pixel). ), The basic color element data indicating all the basic color elements constituting the basic part of the character is shifted to the left by one basic color element (step S6 in FIG. 5). The type having the smallest number of basic color elements constituting the basic part of the character is G (green) (that is, the color element located at the center among the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B included in a single pixel). The basic color element data is not shifted in either the left or right direction.

  After that, the skeleton adjustment unit 23 sets the display contribution level for each color element based on the data of the shifted basic color element or the data of the non-shifted basic color element and the input line width information 32. Allocation is performed (step S7 in FIG. 5). Thereafter, the output value generation means 25 sets a luminance value for each color element based on the assigned display contribution level and the input character color / background color information 33 (step S8 in FIG. 5). .

  Hereinafter, the control of the control unit 20 will be specifically described with reference to FIG. 6 in the case where character data “H” is input as the character / graphic data 31.

  When the character “H” is input as the character / graphic data 31, the basic part forming unit 21 acquires the skeleton data of the character “H” from the bitmap data, and as shown in FIG. The basic color elements constituting the basic part in the skeleton of the letter “H” are extracted. The basic color element data extracted by the basic part forming means 21 is output to the basic color element counting means 22 and the skeleton adjusting means 23. The basic color element counting means 22 counts the number of basic color elements constituting the basic portion of the skeleton for each color element type (11R, 11G, 11B), and gives the result of the counting to the skeleton adjusting means 23.

  The skeleton adjusting unit 23 identifies the type (color) having the smallest number of basic color elements from the number of basic color elements for each type (color) counted by the basic color element counting unit 22. As shown in FIG. 6B, the skeleton adjusting means 23 is an adjustment for shifting the data of the basic color elements constituting the basic part of the skeleton according to the types of color elements (11R, 11G, 11B). For example, when the type (color) with the smallest number of basic color elements is R (red), “+1” is set as the adjustment value, and the value of the basic color element is When the type (color) with the smallest number is G (green), “0” is set as the adjustment value, and the type (color) with the smallest number of basic color elements is B (blue). In this case, “−1” is set as the adjustment value. The adjustment value is information regarding the shift of the data of the basic color element indicating the basic part of the skeleton, the adjustment value “0” indicates that the data of the basic color element is not shifted, and the adjustment value “+1” is the basic color element. The element data position is shifted rightward by one color element, and the adjustment value “−1” indicates that the basic color element data position is shifted leftward by one color element. .

  The three types of color elements constituting one pixel are an R (red) color element 11R, a G (green) color element 11G, and a B (blue) color element 11B in that order, on the left side of the display screen. Are arranged along the right side, and therefore, among the three types of R (red), G (green), and B (blue), the color element having the smallest number of basic color elements constituting the basic portion of the skeleton However, the position of the data of the basic color element is shifted so as to be positioned at the center in the left-right direction in one pixel. As a result, a position other than the center position in one pixel (that is, the position of the color element 11R or the color element 11B) rather than the number of basic color elements in the center position (that is, the position of the color element 11G) in one pixel. The number of basic color elements increases.

  In the example shown in FIG. 6A, the vertical line on the left side of the character “H” (part of the basic portion of the character “H”) is configured only by the color element 11G, and the vertical line on the right side of the character “H”. A line (a part of the basic part of the letter “H”) is constituted only by the color elements 11B, and a horizontal line of the letter “H” (a part of the basic part of the letter “H”) is the same number of color elements 11R, 11G. , 11B. For this reason, in the data of the basic color element of the letter “H” shown in FIG. 6A, the number of color elements 11R is minimized. Therefore, from the table shown in FIG. 6B, “+1” is set as the adjustment value, and the positions of all the basic color elements constituting the basic part of the skeleton are shifted to the right by one color element. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 6C, the vertical line on the left side of the basic part “H” of the skeleton is constituted only by the color element 11B, and the vertical line on the right side of the basic part “H” of the skeleton is the color. It is configured only by the element 11R.

  When the basic color element data of the basic part of the skeleton is adjusted in this way, the adjusted basic color element data is given to the display contribution level assigning means 24. Line width information 32 is input to the display contribution level assigning unit 24, and the display contribution level assigning unit 24 has the display contribution level based on the adjusted basic color element data and the line width information 32. It is set so that the same display contribution level is obtained for each pixel, that is, for all color elements constituting each pixel.

  In this case, assuming that the pixel including the basic color element is a skeleton pixel, 100% is set as the display contribution level for all the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B included in the skeleton pixel 11. Then, the display contribution levels of the pixels adjacent to the skeleton pixel are set based on the positions of the basic color elements included in the skeleton pixel. That is, a higher display contribution level is set for an adjacent pixel adjacent (close) to the basic color element included in the skeleton pixel than an adjacent pixel adjacent to the opposite side (distant from the basic color element). The

  FIG. 7A shows a setting example by the display contribution level assigning unit 24 when “middle thick line” is input as the line width information 32. In FIG. 7A, the basic color element is a color element 11B located on the right side of one pixel. When displaying a character with “middle thick line”, one pixel including the basic color element 11B is set as a skeleton pixel, and the display contribution levels of all the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B included in the skeleton pixel are set. Set to 100%. Since the basic color element 11B in the skeleton pixel 11 is positioned on the rightmost side in the skeleton pixel 11, display is performed for all the color pixels 11R, 11G, and 11B included in the adjacent pixels adjacent to the basic color element 11B. The contribution level is set to 66%, and the display contribution level is set to 0% for all the color pixels 11R, 11G, and 11B included in the adjacent pixels adjacent to the opposite side (the far side from the basic color element). The

  For comparison, FIG. 7B shows a setting example of the display contribution level when the “medium thick line” is displayed in the conventional character display device shown in FIG. In FIG. 7B, the display contribution level is displayed in “%”, and a gradual change in luminance is observed at the left and right side edges of the vertical line displayed as “middle thick line”. In addition, the contours of the left and right side edges of the vertical line are not clear, and as a result, the entire vertical line is blurred.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of setting by the display contribution level assigning means 24 when “extremely thick line” is input as the line width information 32. In FIG. 8, the position of the basic color element is the color pixel 11B located on the left side of one pixel. When characters are displayed as “extremely thick lines”, the display contribution level of all the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B constituting the skeleton pixel including the basic color element 11B is set to 100%. In addition, the display contribution level is set to 100% for all the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B included in the pixels adjacent (close to) the basic color element 11B. For all the color pixels 11R, 11G, and 11B included in the adjacent pixels on the right side (the far side with respect to the basic color element) with respect to the skeleton pixel including the basic color element 11B, the display contribution level is 66% is set.

  In this way, when the display contribution level is set, the set display contribution level is given to the output value generation means 25. Character value / background color information 33 representing the character color and the background color is input to the output value generation means 25, and the display contribution level of each color element set by the display contribution level assignment means 24 is the character color and the background color information. The luminance value corresponding to the background color is given to the display unit 10.

  For example, when displaying a black character on a white background, if the display contribution level of the pixel is 100%, “0” is set as the luminance value of all the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B constituting the pixel. The If the display contribution level of the pixel is 0%, “255” is set as the luminance value of each of the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B constituting the pixel. If the display contribution level of the pixel is 33%, the luminance value “85 (= 255 × 33/100) corresponding to the display contribution level 33% is used as the luminance value of the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B constituting the pixel. ) ”Is set. Similarly, if the display contribution level of a pixel is 66%, the luminance value “170 (= 255 × 66/100) corresponding to the display contribution level 66% is obtained as the luminance value of the color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B constituting the pixel. ) ”Is set.

  In addition, when the background color is set to a color other than white and the displayed character color is set to a color other than black, the brightness value considering the correction value for each set color is set for each color. Set for the element.

  In this way, by setting the luminance value for each color element, “H” by “middle thick line” is displayed on the display unit as shown in FIG. 7D, and FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, “H” by “extremely thick line” is displayed.

  Next, a case where the diagonal line is displayed as “middle thick line” by the character graphic display device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9A shows basic color elements constituting a basic portion with respect to a skeleton with diagonal lines. When the display contribution level is set by the display contribution level assigning unit 24 after the basic color element data is adjusted by the basic color element counting unit 21 and the skeleton adjusting unit 22, the display contribution level is set as shown in FIG. As shown, the diagonal lines are displayed as “medium thick lines”. In this case, compared with the case shown in FIG. 18 (c), the corners of the color elements at each side edge are displayed indefinitely (blurred), so that the corners at the side edges of the diagonal lines are displayed. The impression of a part is thinned and the smooth feeling in each side edge part of a diagonal line improves.

  In the above description, the basic color element counting means 22 is configured to count the number of basic color elements constituting the basic portion of the skeleton of the character for each type of color element. However, in general, when the outside is clearly displayed, it seems that the whole is clearly displayed. Therefore, if the character has a skeleton on the outside and also has a skeleton on the inside, The number of basic color elements constituting the basic part of the skeleton may not be counted.

  For example, let us consider a case where a basic color element constituting the basic part of the skeleton is extracted as shown in FIG. In this case, as shown in FIG. 10A, the vertical line on the left side of the character “field” is assigned to the color element 11G of the second pixel in the row direction, and the central vertical line is the fifth pixel in the row direction. The right vertical line is assigned to the color element 11B of the seventh pixel in the row direction. As a result, the number of the three types of color elements 11R, 11G, and 11B constituting the basic part “field” of the skeleton becomes equal, and the type of the minimum number of color elements cannot be determined. In such a case, the number of basic color elements constituting the central vertical line located inside the vertical lines on both sides is not counted. Thereby, it is possible to determine that the type having the smallest number of basic color elements constituting the basic portion of the skeleton is R (red).

  By determining that the type having the smallest number of basic color elements constituting the basic part of the skeleton is R (red), the data of the basic color elements constituting the basic part of the skeleton is the right by one color element. Shifted in the direction. As a result, as shown in FIG. 10B, the vertical line on the left side of the character “field” is the color element 11B of the second pixel in the row direction, and the vertical line at the center of the character “field” is the fifth pixel in the row direction. The vertical line on the right side of the character “field” is assigned to the color element 11R of the eighth pixel in the row direction to the color element 11G.

  In such a state, by setting the display contribution level and the luminance value, as shown in FIG. 10 (c), the outer side edges of the vertical lines on both sides are clearly displayed, and the entire character is more clearly displayed. It seems to be displayed.

  In this example, the number of basic color elements constituting the basic part of the skeleton in the inner part is not counted, but the number of basic color elements constituting a part of the basic part of the skeleton may not be counted. Good. Alternatively, the weighted number of basic color elements may be calculated by multiplying the counted number of basic color elements by a weighting factor. For example, when a weighting factor is set for each vertical line included in a character and the number of basic color elements is counted for each type of color element, the weighting coefficient set for each vertical line is set as the number of basic color elements. You may make it multiply. Also in this case, by increasing the weighting factor for the outer skeleton, the outer side edge can be clearly displayed, and the entire character can be felt as if it is clearly displayed.

  Furthermore, when the character skeleton is composed of a plurality of blocks separated from each other, the number of basic color elements may be counted for each type of color element in each block.

  FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a method of counting the number of basic color elements when a character “product” whose skeleton has a plurality of blocks is input. FIG. 11A shows a part of the character “product”.

  The character “product” is composed of three blocks “mouth”, and each block “mouth” is regarded as one unit, and the number of basic color elements can be counted and shifted.

  As shown in FIG. 11A, in the “mouth” located on the upper side, the left vertical line is assigned to the color element 11G of the fourth pixel in the row direction, and the right vertical line is the seventh pixel in the row direction. Therefore, the color element type with the smallest number of basic color elements is R (red). Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11B, the “mouth” located on the upper side is shifted to the right by one color element, the left vertical line is set to the color element 11B of the fourth pixel in the row direction, and the right vertical line is set. Each color element 11R in the row direction can be assigned to the color element 11R.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 11A, in the block “mouth” located on the lower left side, the left vertical line is the color element 11R of the second pixel in the row direction, and the right vertical line is the color element of the fifth pixel in the row direction. Since it is assigned to 11G, the type of the color element having the smallest number of basic color elements is B (blue). Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11B, by shifting the block “mouth” located on the lower left side to the left by one color element, the left vertical line is changed to the color element 11B of the first pixel in the row direction. The vertical line on the right side can be assigned to the color element 11R of the fourth pixel in the row direction.

  As a result, the luminance value as shown in FIG. 11C is set, and for the block “mouth” located on the upper side, the boundary between the third and fourth pixels in the row direction, and the eighth and ninth pixels. The boundaries of are clearly displayed. For the block “mouth” located on the lower left side, the left boundary of the first pixel in the row direction and the fifth and sixth pixels of the row direction are clearly displayed.

  Even when characters or figures are not divided into a plurality of blocks in advance, the basic color elements constituting the basic portion are extracted in the vertical direction (column direction) or the horizontal direction (row direction). Based on a histogram of the number of basic color elements with respect to all the arranged color elements, a row or a column having the number of basic color elements of 0 can be obtained and regarded as a divided block.

  For example, in the example of the character “product” shown in FIG. 11, the number of basic color elements in the pixels in the fifth row is 0 as shown in FIG. I understand that. Thereby, the number of basic color elements can be individually counted for each pixel in the 1st to 4th rows and each pixel in the 6th to 9th rows.

  In the above-described embodiment, the control unit 20 may be configured by a computer, and each step of the flowchart shown in FIG. 5 may be executed by the computer using a program, or the program may be recorded in a computer-readable manner. You may make it record on a medium.

  In the above-described embodiment, the configuration of the character / graphic display device having the display unit 10 capable of color display has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can also be applied to a character / graphic display device having a display unit that cannot display color but can display black and white. This is because, in the above-described embodiment, the display contribution level is assigned not to the color element (sub-pixel) unit of the display unit 10 but to the pixel (pixel) unit of the display unit 10, and the color element of the display unit 10 It is clear to those skilled in the art that the luminance value is set not in units of (sub-pixels) but in units of pixels (pixels) of the display unit 10. Therefore, each of the plurality of pixels (pixels) included in the display unit 10 does not need to be physically divided into a plurality of color elements (sub-pixels). For example, when the display unit 10 can only perform monochrome display, each of the plurality of pixels included in the display unit 10 does not need to be physically divided into a plurality of sub-pixels, and the luminance value in units of pixels. Should be set as the grayscale value. However, even when each of the plurality of pixels included in the display unit 10 is not physically divided into a plurality of sub-pixels, the control unit 20 is as if each of the plurality of pixels included in the display unit 10 is a plurality of sub-pixels. Processing is performed on the assumption that the image is physically divided into pixels (i.e., virtually divided). In this sense, each of the plurality of pixels included in the display unit 10 needs to be virtually (that is, logically) divided into a plurality of subpixels.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the control unit 20 when the display unit 10 can only perform monochrome display will be described. Here, it is assumed that each of the plurality of pixels included in the display unit 10 is virtually (that is, logically) divided into a plurality of subpixels arranged in a predetermined direction. The predetermined direction may be, for example, a row direction or a column direction of a matrix in which a plurality of pixels are arranged, but is not limited thereto.

  The basic part forming unit 21 forms a basic part representing a skeleton of a character or a figure in units of subpixels based on character data or graphic data, and defines subpixels constituting the basic part as basic subpixels. The basic subpixel is supplied to the basic color element counting means 22 and the skeleton adjusting means 23.

  The basic color element counting means 22 counts the number of basic subpixels for each position of a plurality of subpixels included in a single pixel. Here, the basic color element counting means 22 is also called basic subpixel counting means because it counts the number of basic subpixels instead of the number of basic color elements. The counting result by the basic color element counting unit 22 is supplied to the skeleton adjusting unit 23.

  The skeletal adjustment means 23 determines all the basic subpixels constituting the basic portion as the predetermined number according to the position where the number of basic subpixels is the smallest among the positions of the plurality of subpixels included in the single pixel. Are shifted in sub-pixel units in the same direction (that is, the same direction as the arrangement direction of a plurality of sub-pixels included in a single pixel) to form a shifted basic portion. Thereby, the skeleton of a character or a figure is adjusted. For example, when the number of basic sub-pixels present at the center position among the positions of a plurality of sub-pixels included in a single pixel is the smallest, the skeleton adjusting unit 23 may configure all the basic parts. The basic sub-pixel of the sub-pixel is not shifted at all, and the position of the plurality of sub-pixels included in the single pixel is shifted from the center position to the position opposite to the predetermined direction (for example, the left direction). When the number of basic subpixels present is minimum, all the basic subpixels constituting the basic part are shifted in a predetermined direction (for example, rightward), and a plurality of subpixels included in a single pixel are shifted. When the number of the basic sub-pixels existing at the position in the predetermined direction (for example, the right direction) from the center position among the positions of the pixels is the smallest The, the the predetermined direction all the basic sub-pixels constituting the basic portion is shifted in the opposite direction (e.g., left). The shifted basic portion is supplied to the display contribution level assigning means 24 in this way.

  The basic color element counting means 22 is not an essential component for the character graphic display device. For example, when the position where the number of basic subpixels is the smallest among the positions of a plurality of subpixels included in a single pixel is counted in advance and the position is held, the basic color element The counting means 22 can be omitted. This is because it is not necessary to count the position where the number of basic sub-pixels is minimum every time a character or a graphic is displayed. For example, the position where the number of basic subpixels is minimum may be held for each font used. Alternatively, the position where the number of basic subpixels is minimum may be held for each character or figure, or for each part of the character or part of the figure (for example, the character or figure is divided into a plurality of blocks). May be held for each block). For example, it is possible to hold a position where the number of basic subpixels is minimum in a form in which information indicating the position where the number of basic subpixels is minimum is embedded in character data or graphic data. In this case, the skeleton adjusting unit 23 refers to the held position so as to shift all the basic subpixels constituting the basic part in units of subpixels according to the held position. do it.

  The display contribution level allocating means 24 determines the skeleton pixel to which the basic subpixel belongs and at least one adjacent pixel adjacent to the skeleton pixel based on the shifted basic portion and the line width information defining the line width of the character or figure. A display contribution level indicating the ratio of the pixel contributing to the display of characters or graphics is assigned to each. The display contribution level assigned to the skeleton pixel or the adjacent pixel is supplied to the output value generation means 25.

  The output value generation unit 25 converts the display contribution level assigned to the skeleton pixel or the adjacent pixel into a luminance value, and outputs the luminance value to the display unit 10. Note that the character color / background information 33 is not necessarily input to the output value generation unit 25. For example, when the background is white and the character is fixed to be black, the output value generation means 25 is assigned to the skeleton pixel or the adjacent pixel without referring to the character color / background information 33. The display contribution level can be converted into a luminance value.

  Furthermore, although embodiment mentioned above demonstrated the structure of the character-graphics display apparatus provided with the display part 10 and the control part 20, this invention is not limited to this. Devices that do not have a display 10 are also within the scope of the present invention. For example, the device including the basic part forming means 21, the basic color element counting means 22, the skeleton adjusting means 23, the display contribution level assigning means 24, and the output value generating means 25 included in the control unit 20 is a display device having a plurality of pixels. The present invention is within the scope of the present invention as an image data generating device for generating image data used to display an image on the screen. This is because it is clear that the function of the control unit 20 described in the above-described embodiment is equivalent to the function of the image data generation device.

  As mentioned above, although this invention has been illustrated using preferable embodiment of this invention, this invention should not be limited and limited to this embodiment. It is understood that the scope of the present invention should be construed only by the claims. It is understood that those skilled in the art can implement an equivalent range based on the description of the present invention and the common general technical knowledge from the description of specific preferred embodiments of the present invention. Patents, patent applications, and documents cited herein should be incorporated by reference in their entirety, as if the contents themselves were specifically described herein. Understood.

  The present invention clearly displays the outline of each side edge by suppressing the blurring of each side edge even when the vertical line is displayed thick in a device such as a personal computer or a cellular phone. be able to.

Claims (14)

An image data generation device for generating image data,
The image data is used to display an image on a display device having a plurality of pixels, and each of the plurality of pixels is physically or logically divided into a plurality of sub-pixels arranged in a predetermined direction. And
The image data generation device includes:
Basic part forming means for forming a basic part representing a skeleton of a character or a figure in units of subpixels based on character data or figure data, and defining a subpixel constituting the basic part as a basic subpixel Forming means;
Among the positions of the basic subpixels in the pixel to which the basic subpixels constituting the basic part belong, the direction determined in advance according to the position where the number of the positions of the basic subpixels in the pixel is minimized , by shifting the basic sub-pixels constituting the basic portion in Sa Bupikuseru units, and skeletal adjusting means to form a shifted base portion, thereby adjusting the skeleton of the character or the graphic,
For each of the skeleton pixel to which the basic subpixel belongs and at least one adjacent pixel adjacent to the skeleton pixel based on the shifted basic portion and line width information defining the line width of the character or the figure Display contribution level assigning means for assigning a display contribution level indicating a ratio of the pixel contributing to the display of the character or the figure,
Output value generating means for converting the display contribution level assigned to the skeleton pixel or the adjacent pixel into a luminance value, and outputting image data in which the luminance value is set to the skeleton pixel or the adjacent pixel. , Image data generation device. The framework adjusting means, when the number of positions of the basic sub-pixel present in the center of positions of the basic sub-pixels in the basic sub-pixel belongs pixels constituting the base section is the smallest, the basic All basic subpixels constituting the portion are not shifted, and the basic subpixel position of the pixel to which the basic subpixel constituting the basic portion belongs is changed from the center position to the direction opposite to the predetermined direction . When the number of positions of the basic sub-pixels existing at a certain position is minimum, all the basic sub-pixels constituting the basic part are shifted in the predetermined direction , and the basic sub-parts constituting the basic part are shifted. from the center position in the predetermined direction of the position of the basic sub-pixels in the pixel which pixel belongs When the number of positions of the basic sub-pixel present in the location is minimum, shifts in the opposite orientation and all the basic sub-pixels constituting the basic portion the predetermined direction, according to claim 1 Image data generation apparatus.   The display contribution level assigning means assigns a maximum display contribution level to the skeleton pixel, and a first neighboring pixel of the at least one neighboring pixel is more than a second neighboring pixel of the at least one neighboring pixel. In the case where it is close to the basic subpixels constituting the skeleton pixel, the display contribution level of the first adjacent pixel is higher than the display contribution level of the second adjacent pixel. The image data generation device according to claim 1, wherein a display contribution level other than the maximum display contribution level is assigned to each of two adjacent pixels.   The display contribution level assigning means assigns a minimum display contribution level to the second adjacent pixel when displaying a vertical line or diagonal line included in the character or the graphic as a “medium thick line”. 4. The image data generation device according to 3.   The display contribution level assigning means assigns a maximum display contribution level to the first adjacent pixel when displaying a vertical line or diagonal line included in the character or the graphic as a “thick line”. The image data generation device according to claim 3, wherein an intermediate display contribution level between the maximum display contribution level and the minimum display contribution level is assigned to two adjacent pixels. The image data generation device, based on the shape of the basic part, for basic subpixels constituting a part of the basic part, the basic subpixels in the pixel to which the basic subpixel constituting the basic part belongs. The image data generation device according to claim 1, wherein the image data generation device is configured not to count the number of positions . The image data generation device, when obtaining the position where the number of the position of the basic subpixel in the pixel is the smallest among the positions of the basic subpixel in the pixel to which the basic subpixel constituting the basic portion belongs, The weighting factor is set for each vertical line constituting the basic subpixel constituting the basic portion, and the weighting factor is multiplied when counting the number of positions of the basic subpixel in the pixel. The image data generation device described.   The image data generation device according to claim 1, wherein, when the character or the graphic is divided into a plurality of blocks, the basic part forming unit forms the basic part for each block.   The image data generation device according to claim 1, wherein the character data or the graphic data is bitmap data. Wherein the plurality of pixels are arranged in a matrix, said predetermined orientation, wherein a direction or a column direction of the row of the matrix, the image data generating apparatus according to claim 1. Each of the plurality of pixels includes an R color element that displays a red (R) color, a G color element that displays a green (G) color, and a B color element that displays a blue (B) color as subpixels. Including
Wherein R color element, the G color element, the B color element, the orientation of the orientation or column of a row of said matrix, said R color element, the G color elements are arranged in the order of the B color elements, The image data generation device according to claim 10. An image data generation method for generating image data,
The image data is used to display an image on a display device having a plurality of pixels, and each of the plurality of pixels is physically or logically divided into a plurality of sub-pixels arranged in a predetermined direction. And
The image data generation method includes:
Forming a basic portion representing a skeleton of a character or graphic based on character data or graphic data in subpixel units, and defining a subpixel constituting the basic portion as a basic subpixel;
Among the positions of the basic subpixels in the pixel to which the basic subpixels constituting the basic part belong, the direction determined in advance according to the position where the number of the positions of the basic subpixels in the pixel is minimized , by shifting the basic sub-pixels constituting the basic portion in Sa Bupikuseru units, a step of forming the shifted base portion, thereby adjusting the skeleton of the character or the graphic,
For each of the skeleton pixel to which the basic subpixel belongs and at least one adjacent pixel adjacent to the skeleton pixel based on the shifted basic portion and line width information defining the line width of the character or the figure Assigning a display contribution level indicating a ratio of the pixel contributing to the display of the character or the figure;
Converting the display contribution level assigned to the skeleton pixel or the adjacent pixel into a luminance value, and outputting the image data in which the luminance value is set to the skeleton pixel or the adjacent pixel. Generation method.   The program for making a computer perform each step in the method of Claim 12.   A computer-readable storage medium storing the program according to claim 13.