Method and apparatus to vary control points of an outline font to provide a set of variations for the outline font

• US 5,715,473 A
• Filed: 07/15/1996
• Issued: 02/03/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Reed, Michael R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phu K.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vo, Cliff N.
• Application Number:
  US08/679,943
• Time in Patent Office: 568 Days
• Field of Search: 395/150, 395/151, 395/155, 345/141, 345/143, 345/149, 345/124, 345/127, 345/128-131, 345/23, 345/26, 345/116, 382/47, 382/55
• US Class Current: 715/210
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/109 Font handling; Temporal or kinetic typography

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing a set of variations of control points of a symbol image, such as a glyph, for display of at least one variation of the symbol image on a display device of a computer controlled display system. The method includes providing a first plurality of control points specifying the outlines of the symbol image; providing variation data for specifying a set of variations for at least one of the control points, the variation data identifying the at least one control point and indicating a spatial manipulation of the at least one control point; modifying the first plurality of control points which specify the outline of the symbol image to spatially manipulate the at least one control point so as to provide a second plurality of control points; scan converting the second plurality of control points to provide a displayable representing of the symbol image; and displaying the displayable representation on the display device. The apparatus includes a storage device to store the first plurality of control points, a storage device to store the variation data and a processor for modifying the first plurality of control points according to the variation data; the apparatus further includes a scan conversion device to convert the second plurality of control points to a displayable representation of the symbol image.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a symbol image in a computer controlled display system, said method comprising:

providing a first plurality of control points specifying outlines of the symbol image, said first plurality of control points having a first style;

providing variation data for specifying a set of variations for at least one of said control points, said variation data including an identification of said at least one of said control points and specification of a spatial manipulation of said at least one of said control points;

modifying said first plurality of control points which specify the outlines of said symbol image, wherein said modifying step occurs by using said variation data to manipulate spatially said at least one of said control points to provide a second plurality of control points, said second plurality of control points having a second style, said second style different than said first style;

modifying said second plurality of control points according to hints and font instructions to form a modified second plurality of control points, said modified second plurality of control points having said second style;

converting said modified second plurality of control points to provide a displayable representation of said symbol image; and

displaying said displayable representation.

2. A method as in claim 1 further comprising selecting a value in a variant range wherein said value in said variant range modifies said spatial manipulation according to said value.

3. A method as in claim 2 wherein said specification of a spatial manipulation comprises a representation of a direction and a magnitude.

4. A method as in claim 2 wherein said first plurality of control points is stored in a memory means and wherein said second plurality of control points is stored in said memory means.

5. A method as in claim 2 wherein said converting step scan converts an outline of said symbol image represented by said second plurality of control points to provide said displayable representation of said symbol image.

6. A method as in claim 2 further comprising scaling said second plurality of control points to provide a scaled set of said second plurality of control points and wherein said converting comprises scan converting said scaled set of said second plurality of control points to provide said displayable representation of said symbol image.

7. A method as in claim 5 wherein said displayable representation comprises a bit map of said symbol image.

8. A method as in claim 6 wherein said displayable representation comprises a bit map of said symbol image.

9. A method as in claim 2 wherein said variation data comprises first variation data and second variation data and wherein said first variation data represents a first value in said variant range and said second variation data represents a second value in said variant range.

10. A method as in claim 9 wherein said first value in said variant range represents a minimum of said variant range and said second value in said variant range represents a maximum of said variant range.

11. A method as in claim 2 wherein said variation data comprises a first variation data and wherein said step of selecting a value in a variant range comprises selecting a first value in a first variant range and wherein said method further comprises providing a second variation data for specifying a second set of variations for at least one of said control points, said second variation data including an a second identification of said at least one of said control points and a second specification of a second spatial manipulation of said at least one of said control points, and wherein said method further comprises selecting a second value in a second variant range and further comprises modifying said first plurality of control points which specify the outlines of said symbol image, wherein said modifying step occurs by using said first variation data to manipulate spatially said at least one of said control points and by using said second variation data to manipulate spatially said at least one of said control points to provide a second plurality of control points.

12. A method for displaying a glyph of a font on a display device of a computer controlled display system, said method comprising:

storing a first plurality of control points specifying outlines of said glyph, said first plurality of control points representing a default image of said glyph, said first plurality of control points having a first style;

selecting a value in a variant range;

storing first variation data for specifying a set of variations of at least one of said control points, said first variation data including an identification of said at least one of said control points and specification of a spatial manipulation of said at least one of said control points;

determining modified first variation data, such that said first variation data is modified according to said value in said variant range;

modifying said first plurality of control points which specify the outlines of said glyph, wherein said modifying occurs by using said modified first variation data to manipulate spatially said at least one of said control points to provide a second plurality of control points, said second plurality of control points having a second style, said second style different than said first style;

scaling said second plurality of control points according to a selected size for said glyph to provide a third plurality of control points;

modifying said third plurality of control points according to hints and font instructions to form a modified third plurality of control points, said modified third plurality of control points having said second style;

scan converting said modified third plurality of control points to provide a displayable bit map representation of said glyph;

storing said displayable bit map representation of said glyph; and

displaying said displayable bit map representation of said glyph.

13. A method as in claim 12 wherein said first plurality of control points and said first variation data and said second plurality of control points are specified in a master coordinate space.

14. A method as in claim 12 wherein said step of selecting a value in a variant range comprises selecting a first value in a first variant range and wherein said method further comprises storing second variation data for specifying a second set of variations of at least one of said control points, said second variation data including an identification of said at least one of said control points and specification of a spatial manipulation of said at least one of said control points, and wherein said method further comprises modifying said first plurality of control points which specify the outlines of said glyph, wherein said modifying step occurs by using said first variation data to manipulate spatially said at least one of said control points and by using said second variation data to manipulate spatially said at least one of said control points to provide said second plurality of control points.

15. A computer controlled display system for display of a glyph, said system comprising:

means for storing a first plurality of control points specifying outlines of said glyph, said first plurality of control point having a first style;

means for storing variation data for specifying a set of variations of at least one of said control points, said variation data including a means for identifying said at least one of said control points and including a means for specifying a spatial manipulation of said at least one of said control points;

means for modifying said first plurality of control points, said means for modifying being coupled to said means for storing first plurality of control points and being coupled to said means for storing said variation data, said means for modifying using said variation data to manipulate spatially said at least one of said control points to provide a second plurality of control points, said second plurality of control points having a second style, said second style different than said first style;

means for modifying said second plurality of control points according to hints and font instructions to form a modified second plurality of control points, said means for modifying said second plurality of control points coupled to receive said second plurality of control points, said modified second plurality of control points having said second style;

means for scan converting said modified second plurality of control points to provide a displayable representation of said glyph, said means for scan converting being coupled to receive said modified second plurality of control points;

means for storing said displayable representation of said glyph being coupled to said means for scan converting; and

means for displaying said displayable representation of said glyph, said means for displaying being coupled to said means for storing said displayable representation of said glyph.

16. A computer controlled display system as in claim 15 further comprising means for selecting a value in a variant range wherein said value in said variant range modifies said spatial manipulation according to said value.

17. A computer controlled display system as in claim 16 wherein said means for modifying and said means for scan converting comprises a processor and wherein said means for storing said displayable representation comprises a frame buffer.

18. A computer controlled display system as in claim 16 wherein said means for modifying said first plurality of control points includes means for multiplying said value in said range times said variation data and further includes means for adding the resulting product to the coordinates of said at least one of said control points to provide said second plurality of control points.

19. A computer controlled display system as in claim 16 wherein said variation data comprises first variation data and second variation data and wherein said first variation data corresponds to a first value in said variant range and said second variation data corresponds to a second value in said variant range.

20. A computer controlled display system as in claim 19 wherein said first value in said variant range represents a minimum of said variant range and said second value in said variant range represents a maximum of said variant range.

21. A method for displaying a symbol image in a computer controlled display system, the method comprising:

providing a first plurality of control points specifying outlines of the symbol image, the first plurality of control points having a first style;

selecting a variation for the symbol image, wherein the variation corresponds to a second style different than the first style;

providing a variation weight table including a default weight corresponding to the first style of the symbol image, and a range of changes from the default weight corresponding to at least one other style;

providing a variation data set having an identification of at least one of the control points and specification of a spatial manipulation of the at least one of the control points;

determining a weight value within the range of changes from the default weight;

scaling the variation data set according to the weight value;

modifying the first plurality of control points in response to the scaled variation data set to produce a second plurality of control points having the second style;

modifying the second plurality of control points according to hints and font instructions to form a modified second plurality of control points, the modified second plurality of control points having the second style;

converting the modified second plurality of control points to provide a displayable representation of the symbol image; and

displaying the displayable representation.