Font management system that provides for synchronization of fonts among resources

• US 6,480,291 B1
• Filed: 05/03/1999
• Issued: 11/12/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Daniels, Andrew M., Opstad, David, Goldsmith, Deborah
• Primary Examiner(s): Evans, Arthur G.
• Application Number:
  US09/303,659
• Time in Patent Office: 1,289 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.1, 358/1.11, 358/1.16, 358/467, 358/470, 358/1.2, 400/171, 400/172, 400/109, 400/110, 400/69, 400/72, 345/467, 345/468, 345/471, 345/472
• US Class Current: 358/1.11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/109 Font handling; Temporal or kinetic typography

Abstract

A font synchronization system ensures that fonts which are specified in the creation of a document are the same as those that are employed in the subsequent handling and printing of the document. Each font that is utilized within a document, or available in a printing system, is characterized by a font reference that unambiguously identifies significant features of the font. Font references associated with a document are compared with those available on a computer resource, to see if two fonts are the same in all significant respects. If the fonts are not the same, the comparison process identifies the areas of difference between them, so that a determination can be made whether such differences are critical to the appearance of the document. A number of font references are encapsulated within a font profile, to identify the fonts that are available for use within a particular environment, such as a service bureau. The font profiles can be employed by document creators to limit their choices for fonts to those which will be ultimately available when the document is printed.

Claims

1. A method for determining the degree of correspondence between two fonts, comprising the steps of:

generating a font reference for each of two fonts, wherein each font reference contains multiple data type values that correspond to predetermined properties of a font itself, and wherein at least a plurality of said data type values are computed from quantifiable ones of the predetermined properties of only a respective font;

comparing data type values of one font reference with the corresponding data type values of the other font reference;

determining whether all of the compared data type values of one font reference match the corresponding data type values of the other font; and

providing an indication whether the compared data type values were determined to match.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said indication identifies properties of a font that correspond to data type values that were determined not to match.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said computed data type values comprise checksum values.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein some of said data type values comprise text strings of variable length.

5. The method of claim 1 further including the step of providing an identification of certain ones of said properties for a given comparison, and performing said comparing step only with respect to those data type values which are associated with the identified properties.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein each data type has an associated probability that a match will fail for that data type, and said comparing step is performed sequentially for said data types in order of their associated probabilities.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said comparing step is terminated upon determining that one of said data type values does not match.

8. The method of claim 1 further including the step of storing an indication whether a lack of data in a font reference constitutes a mismatch, and selectively continuing with said determining step or terminating said method upon detecting a lack of data, in dependence upon said indication.

9. A method for identifying two fonts that match one another, comprising the steps of:

generating a font reference for each of a plurality of fonts, wherein each font reference contains multiple data type values that respectively correspond to predetermined properties of one font itself, and at least one of the multiple data type values is computed from at least one quantifiable property of only the predetermined properties;

storing the font references for the plurality of fonts in a font profile;

retrieving the font reference for a given font that is to be matched with another font;

comparing data type values in the font reference for the given font with corresponding data type values of plural font references stored in said font profile;

determining whether all of the compared data type values for the given font match all of the corresponding data type values of a font reference stored in said font profile; and

identifying a font reference stored in said font profile whose data type values match those of the font reference for the given font.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said font profile contains a plurality of data tables which respectively correspond to the data types whose values are contained in the font references.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said comparing step comprises the step of comparing a data type value from the font reference for the given font with values stored in a corresponding one of said data tables.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein said comparing step provides an index that indicates the locations within said data tables of data type values that match corresponding data type values of the font reference for the given font, and wherein said identifying step includes the step of reconstructing a font reference from said index.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein a font reference is reconstructed by retrieving data which is stored in each of said tables in the font profile at a location indicated by said index.

14. The method of claim 10 further including the step of generating a font menu within an application program, which identifies the fonts whose font references are stored in said font profile.

15. The method of claim 14 further including the step of limiting fonts used in a document created with said application program to those fonts whose font references are stored in said font profile.

16. The method of claim 9 further including the step of storing an indication whether a lack of data in the profile constitutes a mismatch, and selectively continuing with said determining step or terminating said method upon detecting a lack of data, in dependence upon said indication.

17. The method of claim 9 wherein at least some of the data type values in a font reference are computed from quantifiable properties of a font.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said computed data type values comprise checksum values.

19. A system for identifying the correspondence of two fonts to one another, comprising:

a data processor that receives font data that defines predetermined properties of a font itself and computes data type values associated with the font from said font data, wherein each of said data type values associated with one of the fonts is computed based on at least one respective predetermined property of the one font and not on predetermined properties of another font;

a memory that stores the data type values computed from font data in font references that respectively pertain to different fonts;

a matcher that compares data type values of one font reference with corresponding data type values of another font reference; and

a reporting mechanism that provides an indication whether the compared data type values match.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein said reporting mechanism identifies properties of a font that correspond to data type values that were determined not to match.

21. A system for identifying matching fonts, comprising:

a data processor that receives font data that defines predetermined properties of a font itself, and generates a font reference containing data type values that are associated only with said font and computed from said font data;

a memory that stores a font profile comprising data type values contained in a plurality of font references that respectively pertain to different fonts;

a matcher that compares data type values of a font reference for a given font with corresponding data type values stored in said font profile; and

a reporting mechanism that provides an indication of fonts represented in said font profile that match said given font.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein said font profile contains a plurality of data tables which respectively correspond to the data types whose values are contained in the font references.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein said matcher compares a data type value from the font reference for the given font with values stored in a corresponding one of said data tables.

24. The system of claim 22 wherein said reporting mechanism provides an index that indicates the locations within said data tables of data type values that match corresponding data type values of the font reference for the given font, and further including means for reconstructing a font reference from said index.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein said reconstructing means retrieves data which is stored in each of said tables in the font profile at a location indicated by said index to reconstruct said font reference.

26. The system of claim 21 further including an application programming interface which generates a font menu within an application program that identifies the fonts whose font references are stored in said font profile.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein said application programming interface limits fonts used in a document created with said application program to those fonts whose font references are stored in said font profile.

28. A computer readable medium containing a program that executes the steps of:

generating a font reference for each of two fonts, wherein each font reference contains a plurality of data type values that are computed from quantifiable properties of a respective one of the fonts and not from the other remaining font;

comparing data type values of one font reference with the corresponding data type values of the other font reference;

determining whether all of the compared data type values of one font reference match the corresponding data type values of the other font; and

providing an indication whether the compared data type values were determined to match.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 28 wherein said indication identifies properties of a font that correspond to data type values that were determined not to match.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 28 wherein said computed data type values comprise checksum values.

31. A computer readable medium containing a program that executes the steps of:

generating a font reference for each of a plurality of fonts, wherein each font reference contains multiple data type values that respectively correspond to predetermined properties of the font itself;

wherein at least one of the data type values of each font reference is computed based on at least one of the corresponding predetermined properties of a respective font and not based a predetermined property of another of the plurality of fonts;

storing the font references for the plurality of fonts in a font profile;

retrieving the font reference for a given font that is to be matched with another font;

comparing data type values in the font reference for the given font with corresponding data type values of plural font references stored in said font profile;

determining whether all of the compared data type values for the given font match all of the corresponding data type values of a font reference stored in said font profile; and

identifying a font reference stored in said font profile whose data type values match those of the font reference for the given font.

32. The computer-readable medium claim 31, wherein said font profile contains a plurality of data tables which respectively correspond to the data types whose values are contained in the font references.