METHOD OF RENDERING TEXT ON AN OUTPUT DEVICE

• US 20100245364A1
• Filed: 06/15/2010
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ecke Ranch B.V., Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Klassen, Gerhard D.
• Application Number:
  US12/815,475
• Publication Number:
  US 20100245364A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/467
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/203 Drawing of straight lines or curves

Abstract

A method and computer device for rendering a text string on a display screen of a computer device are provided. The text string is comprised of a plurality of characters. The computer device includes a memory storing an image file. The image file defines an image containing a plurality of glyphs. The memory has stored thereon associated character information. The method comprises: for each character in the text string: defining a portion of the image containing a glyph corresponding to the character, including determining the location of the glyph corresponding to the character based upon the associated character information; and rendering the portion on the display screen.

Claims

1. A method of rendering a text string on a display screen of a computer device, the text string being comprised of a plurality of characters, the computer device including a memory storing an image file, the image file defining an image containing a plurality of glyphs, the memory having stored thereon associated character information, the method comprising:

for each character in the text string;

defining a portion of the image containing a glyph corresponding to the character, including determining the location of the glyph corresponding to the character based upon the associated character information; and

rendering the portion on the display screen.

2. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein defining a portion of the image includes clipping the portion of the image to obtain a subimage and passing the subimage to a graphics subsystem for performing the rendering.

3. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of glyphs comprise a reduced character set consisting of a subset of the font, the subset including all glyphs necessary for a specific predetermined purpose.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the subset excludes at least one predetermined alphanumeric character.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the subset includes only glyphs necessary for rendering a time.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the subset includes only glyphs necessary for implementing a clock.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an updated image file through a network; and

storing the updated image file on the memory.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the network is a wireless network.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the associated character information includes relative advance information specifying a distance that an output module should move before placing a next character.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the image file does not contain a glyph for a space character.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the text character is the space character, retrieving data defining the width of the space character and rendering a space character in accordance with the data defining the width.

12. A computer device, comprising:

a display screen;

a graphics subsystem for rendering a text string upon the display screen, the text string comprising a plurality of characters;

a memory, the memory having stored thereon an image file, the image file defining an image containing a plurality of glyphs, the memory having stored thereon associated character information;

a processor configured to;

for each character in the text string;

define a portion of the image containing a glyph corresponding to the character, including determining the location of the glyph corresponding to the character based upon the associated character information; and

render the portion on the display screen.

13. The computer device of claim 12, wherein defining a portion of the image includes clipping the portion of the image to obtain a subimage and passing the subimage to a graphics subsystem for performing the rendering.

14. The computer device of claim 12, wherein the plurality of glyphs comprise a reduced character set consisting of a subset of the font, the subset including all glyphs necessary for a specific predetermined purpose.

15. The computer device of claim 14, wherein the subset excludes at least one predetermined alphanumeric character.

16. The computer device of claim 14, wherein the subset includes only glyphs necessary for rendering a time.

17. The computer device of claim 14, wherein the subset includes only glyphs necessary for implementing a clock.

18. The computer device of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive an updated image file through a network; and

store the updated image file on the memory.

19. The computer device of claim 18, wherein the network is a wireless network.

20. The computer device of claim 12, wherein the associated character information includes relative advance information specifying a distance that an output module should move before placing a next character.

21. The computer device of claim 12, wherein the image file does not contain a glyph for a space character.

22. The computer device of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to:

if the text character is the space character, retrieve data defining the width of the space character and rendering a space character in accordance with the data defining the width.