Patent Publication Number: US-2002010725-A1

Title: Internet-based font server

Description:
[0001] This patent application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/537,042 filed Mar. 28, 2000. 
    
    
     
       [0002] The present invention relates to an Internet-based font server for browsing web pages in global languages, particularly but not exclusively languages of ideographic nature, such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters (collectively known as CJK characters).  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003] In general, in order to be able to display texts in a particular language such as CJK characters, the operating system of a computer usually incorporates a font rendering system, such as TrueType in Microsoft Windows, which utilises font files resident in the local hard disk. The font files must be compatible with the particular font rendering system, which generates a bitmap of a character from the font files for use by the operating system and application software. One such application is using an Internet browser to access web information. The browser makes use of the font rendering system in the operating system to generate a bitmap of the text information for display on screen. Although the font rendering system supports different sizes and styles of the characters as specified by the web pages, different font files are required for the font rendering system to work in different languages.  
       [0004] The advent of the Internet and related technologies has prompted the growth of a new generation of devices generally known as web or information appliances using the Internet for the communication of multimedia information, which are typically equipped with only limited computing power and small memory just sufficient to run a micro version of a standard Internet browser. Examples of such devices are Wireless Application Protocol or WAP based mobile phones, set-top boxes and screen phones. Due to their limited capacity, only a rather basic font rendering system can be implemented to support one style of fonts of one or two sizes at most, particularly for the viewing and input of CJK characters.  
       [0005] The invention seeks to mitigate or at least alleviate such problems by providing an Internet-based font server.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006] According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an Internet-based font server for access by an Internet browser to provide a said browser with representations of text elements in one of a plurality of languages for browsing a web page in that language over the Internet, which server comprises an associated website for access by said browser, a database of text element fonts of different sizes and styles, first means for downloading a said web page to the server, a parser program for identifying text codes of the text elements in said web page and replacing the identified text codes with respective URL (Uniform Resource Locator) addresses, thereby converting the text of a said web page into said URL addresses, and second means for returning the converted web page to a said browser.  
       [0007] Preferably, the parser program is arranged to generate respective font files for the identified text codes and create said URL addresses for the respective font files to replace the identified text codes with the URL addresses.  
       [0008] More Preferably, said second means is arranged to return the converted web page to a said browser by downloading successively the font files via the respective URL addresses.  
       [0009] It is preferred that the server is arranged to pack the font files into a single data packet for said second means to return the converted web page to a said browser.  
       [0010] It is preferred that the server is arranged to match the font characteristics as specified in a said web page to produce a closest match of the intended font appearance for said second means to return the converted web page to a said browser.  
       [0011] In a preferred embodiment, the text elements are ideographic characters.  
       [0012] More preferably, the server includes a database associated with a standard ideographic character input method and is arranged to match a received keystroke pattern of a character according to the input method with the corresponding pattern in the input method database to identify the character and then create a unique URL address for that character, by means of the parser program, for subsequent download to a said browser.  
       [0013] It is preferred that the URL addresses are determined according to an encoding scheme, in which each URL address comprises the address of the website, the text code for the respective text element and a national code for the relevant font.  
       [0014] According to a second aspect of invention. There is provided an Internet-based front server for access by an Internet browser to provide said browser with representations of text elements in one of a plurality of languages for browsing a web page in that language over the Internet, which server comprises an associated website for access by said browser, a database of text element fronts of different sizes and styles, first means arranged to download said web page to the server, a parser program arranged to identify text codes of the text elements in said web page, generate respective font files for the identified text codes, and replace the identified text codes with URL (Uniform Resource Locator) addresses for the respective font files, thereby converting the text of said web page into said URL addresses, second means arranged to return the converted web page to said browser, and third means arranged to download the font files via the respective URL addresses to said browser upon request by said browser.  
       [0015] According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided an Internet-based font server for access by an Internet browser to provide said browser with representations of text elements in one of a plurality of languages for browsing a web page in that language over the Internet, which server comprises an associated website for access by said browser, a database of text element fonts of different sizes and styles, a parser program at said browser for identifying text codes of the text elements in said web page and replacing the identified text codes with respective URL (Uniform Resource Locator) addresses, thereby converting the text of said web page into said URL addresses, first means for generating corresponding font files at the respective URL addresses for the identified text codes, and second means for downloading the font files via the respective URL addresses to said browser upon request by said browser.  
       [0016] Preferably, the server is arranged to pack the font files into a single data packet for download by the second means.  
       [0017] It is preferred that the text elements are ideographic characters.  
       [0018] It is preferred that the URL addresses are determined according to an encoding scheme, in which each URL address comprises the address of the website, the text code for the respective text element and a national code for the relevant font. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
     [0019] The invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:  
     [0020]FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of a first embodiment of an Internet-based font server in accordance with the invention, incorporating a parser program, in response to an Internet browser in a system that does not incorporate a local cache manager;  
     [0021]FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of the font server of FIG. 1, in response to an Internet browser in a system that incorporates a local cache manager; and  
     [0022]FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of a second embodiment of an Internet-based font server in accordance with the invention, in response to an Internet browser that incorporate a local parser program. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
     [0023] Referring initially to FIG. 1 of the drawings, there is shown a first Internet-based font server  10  embodying the invention, which server  10  incorporates a database of character fonts of different languages, such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean or CJK character fonts, and different sizes and styles, and a font rendering system  11 . The server  10  has an associated website, which may be called www.gfont.com, for access as an interface upon request by any standard Internet browser  20  in a TCP/IP based network to provide the browser  20  with graphical representations of CJK characters for browsing a specific web page  30  coded in HTML, WML and/or XML formats. The web page  30  may be called www.CJK.com and may include a big5 Chinese text beginning with character or text codes “ba7e”, “a672” . . . , of typeface Ming, size 16 pt and style bold.  
     [0024] The font server  10  responds to a request issued by the browser  20  for viewing and input of CJK characters in bitmap or vector graphic format (step  21 ) over the web page  30 . In operation, the web page  30  is first downloaded to the font server  10  (step  31 ). A parser program  40  of the font rendering system  11  will then be invoked to identify the text codes “ba7e”, “a672” . . . of all the CJK characters in the web page  30  (step  41 ) generating respective character font graphic files for the identified text codes (step  42 ) in the server  10  ready for download (step  43 ), and replace the text codes with respective URL (Uniform Resource Locator) addresses corresponding to the graphical representations of the CJK characters in GIF format or other browser compatible images or vector graphic formats, by creating the URL addresses for the respective graphic files (step  44 ). The web page  30  is thus converted with its text into the aforesaid URL addresses (step  45 ), and the converted web page will subsequently be returned to the browser  20  (step  46 ).  
     [0025] The text code of each CJK character is uniquely preserved in the corresponding URL address which identifies the national coding scheme or Unicode font. The font rendering system  11  serves to produce a bitmap or vector graphic representation of the required size and style of each character font and convert the bitmap into GIF, BMP or any other browser-supported raster graphic format or convert the vector graphic representation into a browser compatible vector graphic format for generating a corresponding graphic file with a unique URL address.  
     [0026] The browser  20  responds by requesting to download successively the graphic files of the corresponding CJK characters from the server  10  via the respective URL addresses (step  22 ) for page composition with character bitmap images either generated from vector graphic files locally or downloaded (step  23 ) and subsequent display and viewing on the screen. The font server  10  will try to match the font characteristics, such as size and style, as specified in the web page  30  and produce a closest match of the intended character appearance in graphic format for downloading.  
     [0027] Reference is now made to FIG. 2 of the drawings, which illustrates the use of the font server  10  by the browser  20  in a system which incorporates a local proxy server or cache manager  50 . The operation of the server  10  and the browser  20  follows closely as that described above in relation to FIG. 1, with equivalent components and steps designated by the same reference numerals. In order to shorten the download time on the Internet, the server  10  packs the requested character graphic files into a single data file or packet (step  51 ) for subsequent downloading to the browser  20  (step  43 ). Based on proxy server technology as specified in Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the browser  20  requests to download, as a single packet or in a single transmission, all the graphic characters from the server  10  for each web page viewing session. This will minimise the handshaking steps as required by the use of the URL addresses for successively downloading each character.  
     [0028] The data packet will be processed by the local cache manager  50  for the following two purposes: first to extract each individual graphic character and generate a unique local URL address for an individual character graphic file (step  52 ), and second to store the characters in the local cache (step  53 ) such that no future downloading of the same character will be required. More specifically, if a particular character is not found in the local cache, a request is issued to download the missing character from the font server  10  (step  54 ). On the other hand, if that character is found in the local cache, it will be retrieved from the local cache for use (step  55 ), without being downloaded again from the server  10 . Accordingly, a local character font cache system may be built.  
     [0029] The font server  10  supports most standard CJK character input methods by including databases associated with such input methods. In operation, the browser  20  sends a series of keystrokes of a character according to the input method to the server  10 , which in turn matches the keystroke pattern with the corresponding pattern in the input method database to identify the corresponding character. The server  10  will then create a unique URL address for that character, by means of the parser program ( 40 ) as described above, for subsequent download to the browser  20  and display on the screen.  
     [0030] It is envisaged that the subject font server may be set up to work on both character-based texts and/or letter-based texts, which are formed by characters and/or letters (making up words) as text elements. Examples of letter-based texts are English, French, Hebrew and Hindi, for which the letters are to be downloaded via the corresponding URL addresses.  
     [0031] In the drawings, there are shown two examples of an URL address, which are “http://www.gfont.com/ba7e_big5.VC or .GIF” and “http://www.gfont.com/a 672_big 5.VC or .GIF” for big5 Chinese characters having respective text codes “ba7e” and “a672”. The URL addresses are determined according to an encoding scheme, in which each URL address is made up by three major components, namely (1) the server website address “www.gfont.com”, (2) the text code “ba7e” or “a672” for the relevant character and (3) the national code for the relevant character font. For letter-based texts, taking English as an example, the ASCII code of each letter is used as its text code. The encoded URL addresses are readily readable by any existing computing devices.  
     [0032] Referring now to FIG. 3 of the drawings, there is shown a second Internet-based font server  10 A embodying the invention, in which the overall system as shown comprises essentially the same components (functional steps) as in the overall system of FIG. 1, with equivalent components designated by the same corresponding reference numerals suffixed by a letter “A”. Some of the components are modified, or their order in performance changed, where appropriate, as will be apparent from the following description. The major difference lies in the location of the parser program  40 A, in that its principal functions have now been integrated into or with the Internet browser  20 A for co-operation with the font server  10 A as remote components thereof.  
     [0033] The principal functions of the parser program  40 A, which have been transferred to the Internet browser  20 A are:  
     [0034] Step  41 A—Identifying the text codes “ba7e”, “a672” . . . of all the CJK characters in the web page  30 A  
     [0035] Step  44 A—Replacing the text codes with, or converting them into respective URL (Uniform Resource Locator) addresses corresponding to the graphical representations of the CJK characters in GIF format or other browser compatible images or vector graphic formats, by creating the URL addresses for the respective graphic files  
     [0036] In operation, the Internet browser  20 A browses and downloads the web page  30 A in CJK characters (step  31 A) and then invokes the parser program  40 A to perform steps  41 A and  44 A. The web page  30 A may specify a particular font server for use, otherwise the default font server  10 A will be used, to which the browser  20 A will issue a request (step  21 A) for downloading the necessary character font graphic files in bitmap or vector graphic format via the corresponding URL addresses (step  22 A).  
     [0037] The font server  10 A responds to the request by generating the required graphic files according to the identified text codes (step  42 A) and then downloading such graphic files to the browser  20 A (step  43 A).  
     [0038] It is important to note that there is no need for the font server  10 A to convert the web page  30 A with its text into the aforesaid URL addresses (step  45  of FIG. 1), for subsequent return to the browser  20 A (step  46  of FIG. 1). Such a converted web page will be much larger in size than the original web page  30 A, and therefore inconvenient and/or slow to transmit over the Internet. As described above, the conversion of text codes into URL addresses is performed by the browser  20 A into which the parser program  40 A is integrated.  
     [0039] Upon receipt of the graphic files in bitmap or vector graphic format via the corresponding URL addresses (step  22 A), the browser  20 A will compose the web page  30 A with character bitmap images either generated from vector graphic files locally or downloaded, for display and viewing on the screen (step  23 A).  
     [0040] The subject invention provides an Internet-based font server, based on known Internet technologies, for downloading characters and/or letters or collectively text elements to browsers on demand, thereby avoiding the need for the browser systems to have the text element fonts resident in local devices. The use of the font server effectively creates a global font platform for the Internet and offers an unlimited font and language support to browsers of diverse Internet connected devices, such as personal computers, mobile phones, set-top boxes and screen phones, etc.  
     [0041] The invention has been given by way of example only, and various other modifications of and/or alterations to the described embodiments may be made by persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as specified in the appended claims.