Patent ID: 6130667
Filing Date: 2000-10-10
Classification: G06K,G09G

Abstract:
A character pattern generating apparatus comprising:a memory for pre-storing character shape skeleton data of character shapes, element shape skeleton data of skeleton shapes representing constituent elements of the characters for each character style, and element outline shape data of outline shapes representing constituent elements of the characters for each character style;thickness determining means for determining whether a thickness of a character is to be altered from a designated thickness;thickness alteration process determining means for determining whether the process of altering the thickness of each constituent element in the element outline shape data is performed by calculation, or by replacing the element with an alternative element when the character thickness is altered, so that the shape of each element may be altered by the most suitable method;element outline thickness altering means for altering the thickness in the element outline shape data based on the determination by the thickness alteration process determining means;element skeleton shape/element outline shape altering means for altering the element skeleton shape data based on the character shape skeleton data, and for subsequently altering the element outline shape data based on the altered element skeleton shape data; andgenerating means for generating a character pattern from the altered element outline shape data to provide a quality thick or thin character pattern using a relatively small capacity of memory.