Font emulation

• US 7,307,632 B1
• Filed: 01/03/2001
• Issued: 12/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Silicon Motion Incorporated California (Silicon Motion)
• Original Assignee: Silicon Motion Incorporated California (Silicon Motion)
• Inventors: Garritsen, Frido
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kimbinh T.
• Application Number:
  US09/755,902
• Time in Patent Office: 2,533 Days
• Field of Search: 345/467, 345/471, 345/469.1, 345/472.1, 345/670, 345/551, 345/501, 345/443, 345/698, 345/699, 382/298, 382/299, 382/300, 382/301
• US Class Current: 345/471
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/109 Font handling; Temporal or kinetic typography
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/26 for modifying the character dimensions, e.g. double width, double height

Abstract

A method and apparatus for Font Emulation are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises stripping a first portion from a first font to emulate a second font upon request for such a second font. In an alternative embodiment, the apparatus comprises a processor and a memory, the processor stripping a first portion from a first font to emulate a second font. The method and apparatus may further include stripping a second portion from a first font, and such may be performed by the processor. Alternatively, the method may include copying a first font into memory.

Claims

1. A method of simulating a second font utilizing a first font, the method comprising:

simulating the second font using the first font, to display on an output of a display device, by automatically stripping a top line and a bottom line from the first font;

wherein the first font comprises an n×

(m+2) font and the second font comprises an n×

m font.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the first font comprises a 9×

16 font; and

the second font comprises a 9×

14 font.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first font comprises a 8×

16 font; and

the second font comprises a 8×

14 font.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

copying the n×

(m+2) font from BIOS into memory to simulate the second font.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein the top line and the bottom line are stripped unconditionally from the first font to simulate the second font.

37. The method of claim 1, further comprising

using all lines of the first font except the top line and the bottom line to display the second font.

5. A computer-readable medium containing a plurality of executable instructions, which when executed on a processor cause said processor to perform a method of emulating a second font utilizing a first font, the method comprising:

automatically stripping a top line and a bottom line from the first font to emulate the second font using the first font, to display the second font on an output of a display device;

wherein the first font comprises an n×

(m+2) font and the second font comprises an n×

m font.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 5 wherein m=14.

34. The method of claim 5, wherein the top line and the bottom line are stripped unconditionally from the first font to simulate the second font.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, further containing the plurality of executable instructions, which when executed on the processor cause said processor to perform the method further comprising

using all lines of the first font except the top line and the bottom line to display the second font.

7. An apparatus for emulating a second font utilizing a first font, comprising:

means for automatically stripping a top line and a bottom line from the first font to emulate the second font using the first font, to display the second font on an output of a display device;

wherein the first font comprises an n×

(m+2) font and the second font comprises an n×

m font.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein m=14.

35. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the top line and the bottom line are stripped unconditionally from the first font to simulate the second font.

39. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising

means for using all lines of the first font except the top line and the bottom line to display the second font.

9. A system, comprising:

a BIOS memory, the BIOS memory storing a first font and instructions; and

a processor coupled to the BIOS memory, the processor is configured to emulate a second font using the first font, to display the second font on an output of a display device, by automatically stripping a top line and a bottom line from the first font in response to the instructions, wherein the second font is different from the first font.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein:

the processor emulating the second font by stripping a portion from the first font in response to receiving an access request for the second font.

11. The system of claim 9 further comprising:

a first memory coupled to the processor, the processor copying the first font from the BIOS memory into the first memory to emulate the second font.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein:

the portion comprises a top line and a bottom line of an n×

(m+2) font.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein:

the second font comprises an n×

m font.

40. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to use all lines of the first font except the top line and the bottom line to display the second font.

14. A method of simulating a second font comprising a set of characters utilizing a first font comprising a set of characters, the method comprising:

automatically stripping a top line of each character of the first font; and

automatically stripping a bottom line of each character of the first font, wherein the automatically stripping the top line and the bottom line simulates the second font using the first font, to display the second font on an output of a display device;

wherein the first font comprises an n×

(m+2) font and the second font comprises an n×

m font.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein m=14.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein n is one of:

8 and 9.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

copying the first font from BIOS into memory to simulate the second font.

36. The method of claim 14, wherein the top line and the bottom line are stripped unconditionally from each character of the first font to simulate the second font.

41. The method of claim 14, further comprising

using all lines of the first font except the top line and the bottom line to display the second font.

18. A method to start a data processing system, the method comprising:

emulating a second font using a first font stored in a BIOS memory of the data processing system, to display the second font on an output of a display device, by automatically stripping a top line and a bottom line from the first font in response to instructions stored in the BIOS memory.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

copying the first font from the BIOS memory to a first memory of the data processing system to emulate the second font.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein said emulating comprises:

stripping a portion from the first font.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the portion comprises a top line of the each character of the first font and a bottom line of each character of the first font.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the second font is of two lines of pixels shorter than the first font.

42. The method of claim 18, further comprising

using all lines of the first font except the top line and the bottom line to display the second font.

23. A computer-readable medium containing a plurality of executable instructions, which when executed on a processor cause said processor to perform a method to start a data processing system, the method comprising:

emulating a second font using a first font, to display the second font on an output of a display device, by automatically stripping a top line and a bottom line from the first font stored in a BIOS memory of the data processing system in response to instructions stored in the BIOS memory, wherein the second font is different from the first font.

24. The medium of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises:

copying the first font from the BIOS memory to a first memory of the data processing system to emulate the second font.

25. The medium of claim 23, wherein said emulating comprises:

stripping a portion from the first font.

26. The medium of claim 25, wherein the portion comprises a top line of the each character of the first font and a bottom line of each character of the first font.

27. The medium of claim 26, wherein the second font is of two lines of pixels shorter than the first font.

43. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, further containing the plurality of executable instructions, which when executed on the processor cause said processor to perform the method further comprising

using all lines of the first font except the top line and the bottom line to display the second font.

28. A data processing system, comprising:

means for emulating a second font using a first font, to display the second font on an output of a display device, by automatically stripping a top line and a bottom line from the first font stored in a BIOS memory of the data processing system in response to instructions stored in the BIOS memory, wherein the second font is different from the first font.

29. The data processing system of claim 28, further comprising:

means for copying the first font from the BIOS memory to a first memory of the data processing system to emulate the second font.

30. The data processing system of claim 28, wherein said means for emulating comprises:

means for stripping a portion from the first font.

31. The data processing system of claim 30, wherein the portion comprises a top line of the each character of the first font and a bottom line of each character of the first font.

32. The data processing system of claim 31, wherein the second font is of two lines of pixels shorter than the first font.

44. The data processing system of claim 28, further comprising

means for using all lines of the first font except the top line and the bottom line to display the second font.