Font management system that provides for synchronization of fonts among resources

• US 6,975,412 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2002
• Issued: 12/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• 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:
  US10/173,852
• Publication Number:
  US 20020159084A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,273 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.1, 358/1.2, 358/1.11, 358/1.13, 358/1.14, 358/470
• 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 identifying synchronized fonts, comprising:

in response to opening a document file including at least one font reference, wherein each font reference corresponds to a respective font encoded in the document file and includes a plurality of data values computed from intrinsic data of the font itself, identifying for at least one font reference whether at least one font from a collection of available fonts synchronizes with the font corresponding to the font reference, wherein identifying is based on a degree of correspondence between the computed data values of the font reference and the corresponding data values of at least one font reference of one of the available fonts, and wherein each font reference of one of the available fonts includes a plurality of data values computed from intrinsic data of one of the available fonts.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a synchronized font is identified when all the data values of a font reference of the document file are within the degree of correspondence of corresponding data values of at least one font reference of the available fonts.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the computed data values of each font reference of the document file and the font references of the available fonts include checksum values.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the document file was created by way of an application that is different from an application which opened the document.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the document file was created on a system other than a computer system opening the document.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the computer system opening the document is part of a host system that is different from the system by which the document was created.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the document file includes a font profile which includes each font reference of the document file and identifies the fonts contained in the document file.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising generating a font profile which includes a collection of the data values of the font references corresponding to the available fonts, wherein identifying whether a font synchronizes with the font corresponding to the font reference includes comparing the data values of the font reference with the corresponding data values of each font references the in the font profile.

68. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the degree of correspondence on which identifying a synchronized font is based.

9. A method for generating a font reference associated with a font, comprising:

for each font specified in a document file, computing a plurality of data type values from intrinsic font data associated with respective properties of the font; and

storing the computed data type values in a font reference corresponding to the specified font.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising associating the font reference with the document file, wherein when the document file is opened, the font reference is accessed by a program for comparison with font references respectively corresponding to fonts available to the program.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the font reference is stored in the document file.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein at least one of the data type values is associated with a physical layout of the font.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the at least one data type value associated with a physical layout is computed from metric data or kerning data of the font.

14. The method according to claim 9, wherein the computed data values comprise checksum values.

36. The method according to claim 9, wherein a font reference is created and stored for each font of a plurality of font files stored in a system memory.

37. The method according to claim 36, further comprising arranging the data type values in a plurality of tables, wherein each table corresponds to a font property and each table entry is indexed such that each index corresponds to a particular font reference among the plurality of tables, and the plurality of font references collectively define a font profile of the system.

15. A computer system including a program for creating or editing a document file and for specifying at least one font associated with content of the document file, comprising:

memory that stores a plurality of font files comprising font data;

a processor for receiving font data of one of the plurality of font files that correspond to a font specified in the document file, and for computing a plurality of data type values that respectively correspond to quantifiable properties of the font itself; and

memory that stores, for each specified font, the computed data values pertaining to the font in a font reference, wherein each font reference is associated with only one specified font.

16. A computer system according to claim 15 further comprising memory that stores a font profile comprising each of the font references.

17. The computer system according to claim 16 wherein the font profile contains a plurality of data tables which respectively correspond to the data types whose values are contained in the font references.

18. The computer system according to claim 15, further comprising:

an application programming interface for receiving a font profile including font references of fonts available on another computer system and generating a font menu within the application program that identifies the fonts available on the computer system whose font references are stored in the font profile.

19. The computer system according to claim 18 wherein the application programming interface limits fonts used in the document created with the application program to those fonts whose font references are stored in the font profile.

20. The computer system according to claim 15 wherein the computed data type values comprise checksum values.

38. The computer system according to claim 15, wherein each font reference is stored together with the document file.

21. A method for identifying fonts stored in a memory of a computer system, comprising:

for each stored font of the computer system, inputting data of the stored font pertaining to quantifiable properties of the font itself into a program including an algorithm for computing a data type value for each of the quantifiable properties; and

storing each of the computed data type values into one of a plurality of tables which collectively define a font profile for the computer system, wherein each of the quantifiable properties of the fonts is associated with one of the tables of the font profile.

22. A method according to claim 21, wherein the data type values computed by the algorithm comprise checksum values.

23. A method according to claim 21, wherein the tables are indexed in accordance with a number of font references, each font reference corresponding to one of the stored fonts.

35. The method according to claim 21, further comprising providing the font profile to computers communicating with the computer system for identifying the fonts available on the computer system.

24. A computer system comprising:

a processor for performing control functions and processing data;

an application program for opening a document file including content associated with at least one specified font;

memory for storing a plurality of fonts available for printing or displaying content of a document file opened by at least one application program running on the computer system;

a data conversion engine for producing a data type output in response to receiving input font data from the processor corresponding to an intrinsic property of a font itself;

memory for storing a plurality of the data type outputs associated with each font as a font reference for that font in a font profile, wherein the font profile includes font references for each of the stored fonts;

a matcher that coordinates with the processor to compare data type outputs of a font reference in the font profile with corresponding ones of a font reference associated with a document file opened by the application program; and

a report generator for providing an indication of the fonts of the font profile that synchronize with font references of the document file based on the comparison of the data value outputs.

25. The computer system according to claim 24, wherein the font profile comprises a data structure that includes:

a directory including parameters associated with size of data entries contained in the font profile and field entries corresponding to each intrinsic property of the stored fonts associated with data type output; and

a plurality of tables, each of the tables associated with one of the field entries, and each entry in a table corresponding to a data type output of one of the font references of the stored fonts.

26. The computer system according to claim 24, wherein the data type outputs of the data conversion engine comprise checksum values.

27. The computer system according to claim 24,

wherein the data type outputs correspond to kerning data of the stored font.

28. The computer system of claim 25, wherein the matcher compares a data type output from the font reference of the document file with a data type output stored in a corresponding one of the data tables.

29. The computer system of claim 24, wherein the report generator provides a warning when no font reference is associated with a document opened by the application program synchronizes with a font reference in the font profile.

30. The computer system of claim 24, wherein a plurality of the data type outputs are categorized and settable as to their respective importance for determining whether a particular data type output is relevant in a comparison of font references.

31. The computer system of claim 24, wherein the report generator provides an indication of which data type outputs of a font reference associated with a document opened by the application program fail to correspond within a particular degree with corresponding ones of data type output of a font reference in the font profile.

32. The computer system of claim 25, wherein the report generator provides an index that indicates the locations within the tables of data type outputs that correspond within a particular degree with corresponding data type outputs of a font reference of the document file, and further including means for reconstructing a font reference from the index.

33. The computer system of claim 32, wherein the reconstructing means retrieves data which is stored in each of the tables in the font profile at a location indicated by the index to reconstruct the font reference.

34. The computer system of claim 24, 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 the font profile.

69. The computer system of claim 24, wherein font synchronization is determined based on a degree of correspondence between the data types outputs associated with stored fonts and the data types outputs associated with fonts in the documents.

70. The computer system of claim 69, wherein the degree of correspondence is adjustable.

39. A computer readable medium containing a program for creating a font reference for each respective font designated in a document file, the program executing the steps of:

a) computing a plurality of data type values from intrinsic font data associated with a designated font;

b) storing the computed data type values in a font reference corresponding to the designated font; and

c) repeating steps a) and b) for each font designated in the document file.

40. The computer readable medium of claim 39, wherein the program further executes the steps of:

associating each font reference with the document file;

retrieving the associated font references when the document file is opened by an application;

comparing the data type values each associated font reference with respective ones of font references corresponding to fonts available to the application; and

determining whether at least one of the available fonts synchronizes with a font designated in the document file based on the comparison.

41. The computer readable medium of claim 39, wherein each font reference is stored in the document file.

42. The computer readable medium of claim 39, wherein at least one of the data type values is associated with a physical layout of the font.

43. The computer readable medium of claim 42, wherein the at least one data type value associated with a physical layout is computed from metric data or kerning data of the font.

44. The computer readable medium of claim 39, wherein the computed data type values comprise checksum values.

45. The computer readable medium of claim 39, wherein steps a) to c) are executed when the document is saved to a file.

46. A computer readable medium containing a program for creating a font profile that identifies fonts stored in a memory of a computer system, said program executing the steps of:

a) inputting data of a stored font pertaining to at least one quantifiable property of the font itself into an algorithm that computes at least one data type value based on the at least one quantifiable property;

b) storing each computed data type value associated with a respective font in a font reference for that font; and

c) repeating steps a) and b) for a plurality of the stored fonts of the computer system, wherein the stored font references collectively comprise a font profile for the computer system.

47. The computer readable medium of claim 46, wherein the data type values computed by the algorithm comprise checksum values.

48. In a first system including at least one application for designating fonts in a document file, a method of limiting access to the fonts available to the first system to only to fonts that synchronize with members of a group of fonts available to a second system, comprising:

receiving a font profile from the second system, wherein the font profile includes a set of font references, each font reference corresponding to a different font of the group of fonts available to the second system and comprising at least one data type value computed from an intrinsic property of the font itself;

comparing computed data type values of font references respectively corresponding to fonts available to the first system with corresponding data type values of the set of font references of the second system;

determining which fonts available to the first system synchronize with fonts in the group of fonts available to the second system based on a degree of correspondence between the compared data type values; and

limiting designation of fonts in the first system to only those fonts determined to be synchronized.

49. The method according to claim 48, further comprising providing an indication of which of the fonts on the first system do not synchronize with the fonts of the second system.

50. The method according to claim 48, wherein the second system is remote from the first system.

51. The method according to claim 48, wherein the font profile is downloaded from the second system though a network connection to the first system.

52. The method according to claim 48, wherein the computed data type values comprise checksum values.

53. A method of verifying whether fonts designated in a document file by an application running on a first system synchronize with fonts available to a second system, comprising:

generating a font reference for each font designated in the document file, wherein each font reference comprises a plurality of data type values, each value computed from an intrinsic property of the font itself;

comparing the data type values of each font reference associated with a font designated in the document file with corresponding computed data type values of font references respectively associated with fonts available to a second system;

determining whether all the fonts designated in the document file synchronize with fonts available to the second system based on the compared data type values; and

providing an indication of whether the designated fonts synchronize with fonts available to the second system.

54. The method according to claim 53, wherein all the font references associated with fonts available to the second system are stored in a font profile in memory accessible by the first system.

55. The method according to claim 53, wherein the step of generating a font reference for each font designated in the document file comprises collecting the font references in an indexed font profile data structure associated with the document file.

56. The method according to claim 53, wherein the font references respectively associated with fonts available to the second system collectively comprise an indexed font profile data structure of the fonts available to the second system.

57. The method according to claim 53, wherein the computed data type values comprise checksum values.

58. A computer readable medium containing a program for limiting access to fonts available to a first system only to fonts that synchronize with members of a group of fonts available to a second system, said program executing the steps of:

receiving a font profile from the second system, wherein the font profile includes a set of font references, each font reference corresponding to a different font of the group of fonts available to the second system and comprising at least one data type value computed from an intrinsic property of the font itself;

comparing computed data type values of font references respectively corresponding to fonts available to the first system with corresponding data type values of the set of font references of the second system;

determining which fonts available to the first system synchronize with fonts in the group of fonts available to the second system based on the compared data type values; and

limiting designation of fonts in the first system to only those fonts determined to be synchronized with fonts in the second system.

59. The computer readable medium of claim 58, further comprising providing an indication of which fonts are determined to be synchronized.

60. The computer readable medium of claim 58, wherein the second system is remote from the first system.

61. The computer readable medium of claim 58, wherein the font profile downloaded from the second system though a network connection to the first system.

62. The computer readable medium of claim 58, wherein the computed data type values comprise checksum values.

63. A computer readable medium containing a program for verifying whether fonts designated in a document file by an application running on a first system synchronize with fonts available to a second system, said program executing the steps of:

generating a font reference for each font designated in the document file, wherein each font reference comprises a plurality of data type values, each value computed from an intrinsic property of the font itself;

comparing the data type values of each font reference associated with a font designated in the document file with corresponding computed data type values of font references respectively associated with fonts available to a second system;

determining whether all the fonts designated in the document file synchronize with fonts available to the second system based on the compared data type values; and

providing an indication of whether the designated fonts synchronize with fonts available to the second system.

64. The computer readable medium of claim 63, wherein all the font references associated with fonts available to the second system are stored in a font profile in memory accessible by the first system.

65. The computer readable medium of claim 63, wherein the step of generating a font reference for each font designated in the document file comprises collecting the font references in an indexed font profile data structure associated with the document file.

66. The computer readable medium of claim 63, wherein the font references respectively associated with fonts available to the second system collectively comprise an indexed font profile data structure of the fonts available to the second system.

67. The computer readable medium of claim 63, wherein the computed data type values comprise checksum values.