Production of document data including dynamic character representation

• US 6,519,630 B1
• Filed: 05/10/1999
• Issued: 02/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Increment P Corporation (Pioneer Corporation), Pioneer Electronic Corporation (Pioneer Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Increment P Corporation (Pioneer Corporation), Pioneer Electronic Corporation (Pioneer Corporation)
• Inventors: Hanawa, Takeshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): DINH, KHANH Q
• Application Number:
  US09/309,172
• Time in Patent Office: 1,373 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/220, 709/222, 709/246, 709/217, 709/226, 709/228, 709/205, 345/340, 713/200, 382/229, 382/7
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/109 Font handling; Temporal or kinetic typography
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

A method of transmitting and receiving an electronic mail includes the steps of: transmitting the electronic mail from a sender terminal to a receiver terminal, and receiving the electronic mail at the receiver terminal. The transmitting step includes the steps of producing the electronic mail including character codes of characters constituting a mail document, at least one conversion program for converting the characters to be displayed in a dynamic manner and an address of the receiver terminal, and transmitting the electronic mail. The receiving step includes: receiving the electronic mail; from a font storage unit storing character patterns corresponding to character codes, reading out the character patterns corresponding to the character codes included in the electronic mail; spreading the read-out character patterns on a bit map memory to produce bit map fonts; converting the bit map fonts by using the received conversion program according to the passage of time; and displaying the converted bit map fonts on a display device.

Claims

1. A method of transmitting and receiving an electronic mail comprising the steps of:

transmitting the electronic mail from a sender terminal to a receiver terminal, the transmitting step comprising the steps of producing the electronic mail including character codes of characters constituting a mail document, at least one conversion program for converting the characters to be displayed in an animated form, and an address of the receiver terminal, and transmitting the electronic mail; and

receiving the electronic mail at the receiver terminal, the receiving step comprising;

receiving the electronic mail;

from a font storage unit storing character patterns corresponding to character codes, reading out the character patterns corresponding to the character codes included in the electronic mail;

spreading the read-out character patterns on a bit map memory to produce bit map fonts;

converting the bit map fonts by using the received conversion program according to the passage of time; and

displaying the converted bit map fonts on a display device.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the conversion program comprises a coordinate c conversion program for converting coordinates of pixels constituting the bit map font according to the passage of time.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the conversion program comprises a filter program for performing filter operation processing of the bit map font.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the conversion program changes the pre-determined characters of the electronic mail into an animated form.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the conversion program go changes the attribution of the characters according to the passage of time while the characters are displayed.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the conversion program changes the attribution of the characters to be displayed so that the characters appear to be moving.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the conversion program changes the pre-determined characters into several different forms, each form being displayed at a different time period.

4. An electronic mail transmitting method comprising the steps of:

inputting character sequence constituting a mail document via an input device to produce character codes corresponding to the character sequence;

designating a range of the character sequence and a type of animated character display applied to the range via the input device to produce data indicating the designated range and data indicating the type of the animated character display;

designating an address of a receiver of the electronic mail via the input device;

producing an electronic mail including the character codes, the data indicating the designated range, the data indicating the type of the animated character display and the address of the receiver; and

transmitting the electronic mail to the address of the receiver.

5. A method of receiving an electronic mail including character codes of characters constituting an electronic mail and at least one conversion program for converting the characters to be displayed in an animated form, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving the electronic mail;

from a font storage unit storing character patterns corresponding to character codes, reading out the character patterns corresponding to the character codes included in the electronic;

mail received;

spreading the read-out character patterns on a bit map memory to produce bit map fonts;

converting the bit map fonts by using the received conversion program according to the passage of time; and

displaying the converted bit map fonts on a display device.

6. A computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program to control a computer to execute the steps of:

receiving inputs of character sequence constituting a mail document via an input device to produce character codes corresponding to the character sequence;

receiving designation of a range of the character sequence and a type of animated character display applied to the range via the input device to produce data indicating the designated range and data indicating the type of the animated character display;

receiving designation of an address of a receiver of the electronic mail via the input device;

producing an electronic mail including the character codes, the data indicating the designated range, the data indicating the type of the animated character displays and the address of the receiver; and

transmitting the electronic mail to the address of the receiver via a communication means.

7. A character display device comprising:

a unit for obtaining a document data including character codes corresponding to the characters constituting a document and at least one conversion program for displaying the characters in an animated form;

a bit map memory;

a unit for reading out the character patterns corresponding to the character codes included in the document data obtained and for spreading the character patterns on the bit map memory to produce bit map fonts;

a converter for converting the bit map fonts by the conversion program according to the passage of time; and

a display for displaying the bit map font converted by the converter.

8. A computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program to control a computer to execute the steps of:

obtaining a document data including character codes corresponding to the characters constituting a document and at least one conversion program for displaying the characters in an animated form;

reading out character patterns corresponding to the character codes included in the obtained document data from a font storage unit for storing character patterns corresponding to character codes and for spreading the character patterns on a bit map memory to produce bit map fonts;

converting the bit map fonts by the conversion program according to the passage of time; and

displaying the bit map font converted by the converting step.

9. A document data producing device comprising:

a unit for receiving character sequence constituting a document via an input device and for producing character codes corresponding to the character sequence;

a unit for receiving designation of a range of the character sequence and a type of animated character display applied to the range via the input device to produce data indicating the designated range and data indicating the type of the animated character display; and

a unit for producing document data including the character codes, the data indicating the designated range and a conversion program corresponding to the data indicating the type of the animated character display.

10. A device according to claim 9, further comprising a unit for storing the document data in a storage medium.

11. A document data supplying device comprising:

a unit for receiving character sequence constituting a document via an input device and for producing character codes corresponding to the character sequence;

a unit for receiving designation of a range of the character sequence and a type of animated character display applied to the range via the input device to produce data indicating the designated range and data indicating the type of the animated character display;

a unit for producing document data including the character codes, the data indicating the designated range and the data indicating the type of the animated character display;

a unit for producing a HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) text including the document data produced by the document producing unit; and

a unit for transmitting the HTML text to a receiver terminal via the internet.

12. A computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program to control a computer to execute the steps of:

receiving inputs of character sequence constituting a document via an input device and producing character codes corresponding to the character sequence;

receiving designation of a range of the character sequence and a type of animated character display applied to the range via the input, device to produce data indicating the designated range and data indicating the type of the animated character display; and

producing document data including the character codes, the data indicating the designated range and a conversion programs corresponding to the data indicating the type of the animated character display.

13. A computer-readable storage medium according to claim 12, wherein the program controls the computer to further execute the steps of:

reading out character patterns corresponding to the character codes of the characters included in the designated range from a font storage unit storing character patterns corresponding to character codes, and spreading the character patterns on a bit map memory to produce bit map fonts;

converting the bit map fonts by a conversion program according to the passage of time; and

displaying the bit map fonts converted.