Reduced Glyph Font Files

• US 20110090230A1
• Filed: 10/16/2009
• Published: 04/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Celartem Incorporated (Celartem Technology Inc.), Extensis (Celartem Technology Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Extensis (Celartem Technology Inc.)
• Inventors: Bacus, Mike, Hammond, Bruce Quincy
• Granted Patent: US 8,769,405 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/467
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/109 Font handling; Temporal or kinetic typography

Abstract

Documents that are created using a particular font often do not include all glyphs defined for the font. Accordingly, to reduce the amount of bandwidth needed to obtain the font used to create the document over a network, a font file may be created that includes a reduced set of glyphs. In one or more examples, the font file might only include the glyphs used in the document being viewed. Reduced glyph font files may be generated on-the-fly and/or cached for quick retrieval at a later time.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request for a font;

determining whether the request specifies a set of glyphs that includes less than all glyphs defined for the font; and

in response to determining that the specified set of glyphs includes less than all of the glyphs defined for the font, generating a reduced glyph font file that includes only the specified set of glyphs.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of glyphs is specified using Unicode.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the request further includes a serial number and wherein the method further comprises:

verifying the validity of the request based on the serial number.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to determining that the request does not specify a set of glyphs that includes less than all of the glyphs defined for the font, retrieving a font file including all glyphs defined for the font.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a font file format compatible with a requesting user agent; and

generating the reduced glyph font file in accordance with the determined font file format.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising caching the reduced glyph font file in association with an identifier of a network document corresponding to the request.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving a subsequent request for the font, wherein the subsequent request specifies the set of glyphs including less than all of the glyphs defined for the font and wherein the subsequent request includes the identifier of the network document; and

in response to the request, retrieving the cached reduced glyph font file.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

memory operatively coupled to the processor and storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause the apparatus to;

receive a request for a font;

determine whether the request specifies a set of glyphs that includes less than all glyphs defined for the font; and

in response to determining that the specified set of glyphs includes less than all of the glyphs defined for the font, generate a reduced glyph font file that includes only the specified set of glyphs.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the request further includes a serial number and wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to:

verify the validity of the request based on the serial number.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to:

in response to determining that the request does not specify a set of glyphs that includes less than all of the glyphs defined for the font, retrieve a font file including all glyphs defined for the font.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to:

determine a font file format compatible with a requesting user agent; and

generate the reduced glyph font file in accordance with the determined font file format.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to cache the reduced glyph font file in association with an identifier of a network document corresponding to the request.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to:

receive a subsequent request for the font, wherein the subsequent request specifies the set of glyphs including less than all of the glyphs defined for the font and wherein the subsequent request includes the identifier of the network document; and

in response to the request, retrieve the cached reduced glyph font file.

14. One or more computer readable media storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause an apparatus to:

receive a request for a font;

determine whether the request specifies a set of glyphs that includes less than all glyphs defined for the font; and

in response to determining that the specified set of glyphs includes less than all of the glyphs defined for the font, generate a reduced glyph font file that includes only the specified set of glyphs.

15. The one or more computer readable media of claim 14, wherein the request further includes a serial number and wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to:

verify the validity of the request based on the serial number.

16. The one or more computer readable media of claim 14, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to:

in response to determining that the request does not specify a set of glyphs that includes less than all of the glyphs defined for the font, retrieve a font file including all glyphs defined for the font.

17. The one or more computer readable media of claim 14, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to:

determine a font file format compatible with a requesting user agent; and

generate the reduced glyph font file in accordance with the determined font file format.

18. The one or more computer readable media of claim 14, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to cache the reduced glyph font file in association with an identifier of a network document corresponding to the request.

19. The one or more computer readable media of claim 18, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to:

receive a subsequent request for the font, wherein the subsequent request specifies the set of glyphs including less than all of the glyphs defined for the font and wherein the subsequent request includes the identifier of the network document; and

in response to the request, retrieve the cached reduced glyph font file.