GB2196769A - Method and apparatus for high resolution character generation - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for generating characters (e.g. in a personal computer) comprises forming a table of basic strokes (101), a table of radicals (102), a table of character patterns (103), and possibly a table of specific symbols; and inputting the character information including the character code and other related modification parameters (104) to define the character type, character dimension, etc. for generating a desired character using the tables. Each stroke and radical are defined by a set of coordinates representing the height, width and curvature positions of the strokes. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Method and apparatus for high resolution character generation The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for generating characters, particularly relates to a method and apparatus for treating and/or processing a normal character as a high resoluted graph.

Conventional character generator used in a personal computer usually adopt a dot matrix character pattern. It is extremely true when a personal computer is used to generate a Chinese character.

It is understood by those skilled in the computer field that the conventional dot matrix character generator still has several disadvantages. The memory used for storing the character dot matrix is determined by the order of the matrix with equation Number of byte=n2/8 wherein n is the order of the dot matrix. When n=16, each character will use memory of 32 bytes and when n=24, each character will occupy 72 bytes memory. It is known that in consideration of the memory capacity, characters adopting 16 x 16 or 24 x 24 dot matrix pattern are almost the extremity that can be practiced.

In a conventional dot matrix pattern character generator, it is not economic to enlarge the gererated character by increasing the order of the matrix in consideration of the memory capacity. In another aspect, if a 16x 16 or 24 x 24 dot matrix character is going to be enlarged, the resulted one will not have a smooth outer appearance and become like a stair steps. This is another disadvantage of the conventional dot matrix character generator.

It is usually not possible to change the character into a not symatric pattern such as a 16 x 24 dot matrix character pattern. If this is to be achieved by a special technology, the time for generating a single character will be very long and also each character memory capacity will be very large.

In the situation to process characters and graphical patterns simultaneously, especially in processing high resolution graphical patterns as well as relatively low resolution characters adopting dot matrix as stated hereinabove, extra hardware or software devices should be introduced into the system for enabling the match between the characters and graphs. This is not only to increase the complexity and inconvenience but also to slow down the speed of the process in generating the resulted characters as well as graphs either directly on a display monitor or typed out through a printer.

Since information science has been developed so much, there is a necessity to store various kinds of informations in Chinese characters. And it is appreciated that Chinese calligraphy has been a traditional culture and utilized by Chinese people over centuries. In preparing and processing data regarding information represented by Chinese characters, it is very often to use different kind of Chinese calligraphy such as text-hand, running-hand, cursive-hand, seal-character (a kind of Chinese calligraphy especially used for the carving such as a chop) or Sung-character (a kind of printing type in imitation of the style of Chinese characters prevalent during the Sung Dynasty). This necessity is extremely true in the printing industry which utilizes Chinese personal computer for editing the information materials.

It is therefore the principle object of the present invention to provide a method for generating characters without the limitions and disadvantages of the conventional dot matrix character generator.

The main feature of the method according to the present invention is to treat and process the characters as a graph with high resolution. Therefore it can be widely used in a character generator of a personal computer to creat a resulted character very quickly and the characters can be modified in its height and width for meeting different requirements without distortion from its original pattern.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for generating characters which can produce Chi nese characters in different calligraphy such as text-hand, running-hand, etc.

and also in different models such as slim strokes or thick and bulky strokes.

Specific and different symbols, characters such as those used in the language of Arabs, Japanese, and other representations considered as a symbol can also be produced by the method of the present invention.

Still another feature and object of the present invention is to provide a method for generating characters wherein each resulted character will occupy a limited memory no matter how the shape, dimension or model of the character is changed.

A further object and feature of the present invention is the method used can produce characters having nature of dot matrix that can be stored or displayed with a high resolution output device, and also characters having nature of vector that can be printed out directly through a high resolution plotting device.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for generating the characters that are formed with the method of the present invention, and also for executing the method according to the present invention.

A further feature of the present invention is to provide an identification parameter for representing the changes of the strokes, radicals, height and width, and models of generated character.

A still further feature of the present invention is to provide a stroke generation device and a contour generation device in the apparatus of the present invention for changing the dimention of the resulted character and output the vector value of the contour formig the stroke of a character.

Accordingly, the high resolution character generation method of the present invention comprises steps of forming and storing a plurality sets of basic strokes each represented by a set of keys defining coordinates of the height, width and curvature positions of the stroke; forming and storing a plurality sets of specific symbols each represented also by a set of coordinates; forming and storing a plurality sets of basic radicals each represented by a character type code, a set of radicals and a set of strokes forming and storing a plurality sets of characters each containing an address, a set of radicals and strokes inputting the character information, identification parameters, and character type code; and generating the reulted character according to the prestored basic strokes, basic radicals or specific symbols.

Those and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: Figure 1 is block diagram showing the method of high resolution character generation according to the present invention; Figure 2 is an illustrative block diagram showing the high resolution character generation apparatus for executing the method of the present invention; Figures 3-1 to 3-20 are representations shwing one set of the basic strokes in the type of Sung-character with a character type code of "0"; Figures 4-1 to 4-10 are representations showing one set of the basic radicals also in the type of Sung-character with a character type code of "0"; ; Figure 5 is an illustrative drawing showing the Chinese character and the character address containing radicals and strokes; Figure 6 is a drawing showing representations of Chinese character "#" in different dimensions; and Figures 7-1 and 7-2 are drawings showing representations of Chinese characters #" and Q in the type of cursive-hand, and English character "G" and Japanese character Referring now to Fig. 1 which shows a block diagram of the high resolution character generation method of the present invention, the method comprises a step of forming and storing a plurality of basic strokes as represented by the block 101, a step of forming and storing a plurality of radicals 102, and a step of forming and storing character patterns 103.

There are many kinds of Chinese calligraphy such as text-hand, running-hand, seal-character, Sung-character, slim strokes, thick and bulky strokes, etc.

No matter how Chinese characters change in their type, each Chinese character is basically formed by several strokes which can be referred as basic strokes. One set of basic strokes is shown in Figs. 3-1 to 3-20. The strokes are belonged to character type of Sung-character which is designated with a character type identification code "O" as shown on the upper left corner in Fig. 3-1. There are totally seventynine basic strokes shown in the figures with number from "0" to "78". Each stroke is shown and defined by a series of coordinates which can be best classified as width coordinates AA', height coordinates BB' and other curvature coordinates. The coordinates of each stroke are stored in a stroke memory 17 shown in Fig. 2.Once a specific stroke is called for forming a certain character, a command software program can be adopted to retrieve those coordinate values from the memory 17 for forming a character.

Figs. 3-1 to 3-20 only show the basic strokes of the Sung-character. It is to be understood that there can be another set of strokes for text-hand character, set of strokes for seal-character and etc. and the coordinates of the strokes for different type of Chinese characters are all stored in the stroke memory 17. In Figs. 3-1 to 3-5, the nature of each stroke from number "0" to "18 is explained in the "description" column and an example Chinese character adopting that specific stroke is shown in the "Example" column. For example, the stroke number "0" is a upright stroke with both emphasized top and bottom which is used to form the central vertical stroke of Chinese character " t .The stroke number 6, for another example, is a hook stroke with emphasized top for forming the central portion of the Chinese character ,J While forming and storing the radicals as represented by the the block 102 in Fig. 1, it is best referred to Figs. 4-1 to 4-10. In the ordianary Chinese characters, many of them have a common radical. It is therefore preferrable to form a plurality of basic radicals which can be easily called for forming a certain character to speedy the generation of the Chinese characters. Again we use the Sung-character having a character type identification code "0" for an example and refer to Figs. 4-1 to 4-10, there are four kinds of radicals depending on the occurance of the radicals such as left hand radicals (Fig.

4-1; from 0 to No. 71), right hand radicals (Figs. 4-2 to 4-9; from No. 72 to No. 724), top radicals and bottom radicals (Fig. 4-10, from 725 to 744 and 745 to 758 respectively). In Fig. 4-10, there are five optional radicals which can be used in different position depending on the necessary occurance of the radicals. Each radical has a designatd radical code which is used for representing the radical and stored in the radical memory 21 as shown in Fig.

2. Since the strokes used in each radical are predetermined, it is best to store the sequential strokes with their related coordinates into the radical memory 21.

Reffering to Fig. 5, the Chinese character " " is formed with a radical which has a code number "18" as that is shown in Fig. 4-1. The radi cal " tz ~ is actually composed of four strokes a, b, c, d that are defined by the basic strokes numbers 45, 56, 54, 77 as that shown in Fig. 3-12, 3-15, 3-16, and 3-20. It is therefore to be understood when a radical is stored, it is actually those coordinates associated with each stroke forming the radical are stored. Since the storkes of the radical have been pre-stored in the memory, it is faster when a radical is called for forming a certain Chinese character.

Except to form and store strokes and radicals of a Chinese character, it is still possible to store specific symbols and other types of characters such as cursive-hand of Chinese character, Japanese characters, Arabian characters, etc. by defining each of them with a designated code and also having the corresponding coordinates of each specific symbol stored within a specific symbol memory 31 as shown in Fig. 2.

To form a set of specific symbol coordinates is exactly the same as to form the coordinates of a stroke.

While forming and storing a charcter pattern as that is represented by the block 103 in Fig. 1, it is best shown in Fig. 5 with the Chinese character" < as an example. Each Chinese character is designated with a code which further cosists of an address for indncating the position of the character in the memory, a radical set representing those portions of the character that can be issolated into radicals, and a stroke set representing the strokes of these portions that can not be divided into radicals. In Fig. 5, the Chinese character "#' has an address 6639, a radical n t / and a stroke set consists of strokes 7 \ I - - ' corresponding to those strokes numbers 53, 47, 2, 10, 17, 17, 4 shown in Fig. 3.The code representing each character pattern is stored in the character pattern memory 12 shown in Fig. 2.

Referring again to Fig. 1, the high resolution character generation method further comprisess a step to set and input various identification parameters as that shown as block 104. The stroke identification number can be from 0 to 240. The radical identification number can be 255 and more without upper limits. The modification parameters identification number can be from 241 to 254 wherein 241 represents character height identification number, 242 represents the character type identification number, 243 represents the stroke width identification number, 244 represents ratio of height to width identification number, 245 represents special symbols identification number, and etc.

The value of height of a character can be set as from 16 to 1024 that means for generating a character of dimension from 16 x 16 to 1024 x 1024. The character types can have a maximum value of 256 wherein "0" represents Sungcharacter, "1" represents slim stroke character, "2" represents slim black stroke character, 3" represents slim round stroke character, "4" represents thick bulky stroke character, "5" represents thick bulky black stroke character, "6" represents thick bulky round stroke character, "7" represents text-hand character, "8" represents seal-character, and etc.. The value of stroke width is defined as "n" where n; > 0 and represents n times of the width of the stroke defined by the width coordinates.The value of ratio of height to width is again defined by "n" where n > 0 and is an a ratio of the height to width of the character. The value represents specific symbols can be from 0 to n where for example 0 represents "A", 1 represents "B", and etc.

The character generator represented by block 10 in Fig. 1 may have a preferred embodiment as that shown in Fig. 2. The character information shown as block 105 is input into the character generation apparatus 10 and in turn to output the resulted character as shown like block 106.

The process of forming the selected character is best shown in Fig. 2 with reference to Fig. 1. The character information is input into the character generation apparatus 10. The correponding character pattern code is retrieved out from a character pattern code memory 11, and fed into the character pattern memory 12. The radicals set code 13 and strokes set code 14 are generated from the character pattern memory 12 and fed into a stroke generator 16. In the meantime, various modification parameters from block 15 are also fed into the stroke generator 16. The stroke code 14 together with the character type identification code 150 shall enter the stroke memory 17 and process the later to generate the corresponding coordinates of height, width and curvature 18, 19 and 20 of the stroke. In another path, the radical code 13 together with the character type identification code 150 enters the radical memory 21 and process the same to generate the corresponding radicals. The radicals, as explained hereinabove, are composed of a series of strokes having specific stroke code. Therefore, the series of strokes code representing each radical enter the stroke memory 17 again to generate the corresponding height, width and curvature coordinates 18, 19 and 20.

The stroke generator 16 receives the corresponding coordinates value and processes the same in conjunction with other modification parameters to generate a stroke outer contour variation value 22 which is converted into a series of contour coordinates 24 through a contour generator 23. The contour coordinates 24 can be input to a high resolution plotter 25 to print out the resulted character 26. The contour coordinates 24 can also be fed into a dot matrix arithmatic unit 27, such as a polygonal filling hardware, to generate a dot matrix character pattern which can be stored or displayed directly through a high resolution display 28 and forming the resulted character 29. Said high resolution plotter 25 can also be a graph generator, a graphic processor in a video word processor, etc. and the display 28 can be a monitor, a disc, a magnetic tape, hard disc drive, etc.

By referring to Fig. 5, it is easily to see that the Chinese character nfl ll is obtained by inputting the character information of character pattern code from the code memory 11 and get radi cal n < and stroke set 7 7 s I c - I ~ from the character pattern memory 12. Other parameters such as 24140 (241 is the height identification number and 40 is the height value of the character), 2420 (242 is the character type identification code and 0 represents Sung-character) are also input into the stroke generator 16.

The corresponding coordinate of height, width and curvature of each stroke with code number 53, 47, 2, 10, 17, 17, 4 (see Figs. 3-1 to 3-20) will be generated from the stroke memory 17. In the same manner, each stroke forming the radical can also be formed through the stroke memory 17 by generating the corresponding coordinates of each stroke having stroke code numbers 45, 56, 54 and 77 as stated hereinabove.

The Chinese character " is output or stored through a high resolution display apparatus 28 which is best shown in Fig. 6. If the parameter 24140 is entered, the character will be like that represented by (1) with a dimension of 40x40. By properly input different parameters of character height and height to width ratio, various patterns of a Chinese character can be obtained like those characters (2) to (9) shown in Fig. 6.

It is still to be noted when a specific symbol is going to be generated by the method and apparatus of the present invention, the process is exactly the same as a character is to be formed except the parameters entered into the stroke generator 16 are specific symbol identification code 29, variation parameter 30 and specific symbol code 33 being entered to the specific symbol memory 31 and processed to generate the corresponding coordinates of each specific symbol. The resulted specific symbols 32 and 34 can be stored or displayed as the examples shown in Fig. 7 wherein Chinese characters and n and nX n in cursive -hand, En- glish character ''G'' and Japanese char acter " '' in various dimensions are being presented.

It is to be noted that the character information is input to the apparatus of the present invention by utilizing a conventional character input scheme such as that shown and disclosed in the pending patent application filed by the same applicant with a serial number of 659,410 filed on October 10, 1984.

Besides, the stroke generator actually consists of a software which can be used to process the information input by the person who wants to generate a certain character and those informations stored in the respective memories to retrive the necessary strokes, radicals, etc. to form the desired character.

It can be appreciated that the character generation method and apparatus of the present invention indeed provide a valuable solution for the Chinese character generation. No matter how the character changed in its shape, pattern or calligraphy, the memory occupied by each character is averagely 40 bytes. In addition, since the method used in the present invention treats the character as a graph, it is therefore very fast in handling both the character and the graphic informations simultaneously.

Although the method and apparatus for high resolution character generation of the present invention have been described by way of preferred embodiment, it is to be noted that changes and modifications made by those skilled in the art are still possible without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

Claims (19)

1. A method for generating characters in a computer system comprising: steps of forming and storing tables of basic strokes of a character, each stroke being defined by coordiates of the height, width and curvature positions; tables of radicals frequently occured and forming part of a character, each defined by a series of strokes that form the radical; and tables of character patterns of all the characters to be used in the system, each character pattern including an address for identification the location of the character within the computer memory, a set of radicals forming part of the character and a set of strokes forming the residual part of the character, each radical being assigned a radical code; forming and storing a plurality of character modification parameters which define the type of the character to be used and dimensions of the resulted character; inputting the character information including addressing the character in the system; and generating a desired character according to the character types radicals and strokes pre-stored.

2. A method as claimed in Claim 1 further comprising a step to output the resulted and generated character.

3. A method as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said step of forming and storing tables of basic strokes further comprising step of defining each table with an character type identification code.

4. A method as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said step of forming and storing the tables of radicals further comprising step of defining each table with an character type identification code.

5. A method as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said step of forming and storing character modification parameters further comprising step of defining ratio of character height to width for modifying the dimension and outer appearance of the character.

6. A method as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said step of forming character modification parameters further comprising step to define the dimension of the character from 16x 16 to 1024x 1024 matrix.

7. A method as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said step of forming and storing character modification parameters further comprising a step of defining the width of the character being a multiple of a basic width.

8. A method as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said step of forming and storing character modification parameters further comprising a step of defining the height of the character being a multiple of a basic height.

9. A method as claimed in Claim 1 further comprising a step of forming and storing specific symbols, each symbol being defined by a set of coordinate corresponding to the height, width and curvature positions of each stroke that forms the specific symbols.

10. A method as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said step of generating the desired character being characterized in generating the character in dot matrix form.

11. A method as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said step of generating the desired character being characterized in generating the character in a contour coordinates form.

12. An apparatus for generating characters in a computer system comprising: memory means for storing tables of basic strokes, radicals, and character patterns; means for inputting the character informations, connected to said memory means for storing tables of character patterns; means for processing the input character informations and the strokes, radicals, character patterns prestored to generate a character; and means for storing the generated character.

13. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 12 further comprising means for displaying the generated character.

14. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 13 wherein said displaying means being a contour generator.

15. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 13 wherein said displaying means including a dot matrix arithmatic unit.

16. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 12 further comprising a memory means for storing the specific symbols which can not be treated as a simple stroke or radicals.

17. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 12 further comprising means for inputting character modification parameters, connected to said processing means for inputting the parameters into the same to generate the character in a desired type and dimension.

18. A method for generating characters in a computer system substantially as hereinbefore described in the Examples.

19. An apparatus for generating characters in a computer system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.