Patent ID: 7289123

Claim:
A method of automatically executing hinting instructions for a character in order to improve a character bitmap produced from an outline of the character at a certain size and output resolution when the character outline is scan converted, the method comprising acts of: retrieving a character to be output, the character comprising a plurality of strokes; identifying a semantic character classification that the character belongs to, from a plurality of available semantic character classifications, wherein the available semantic character classifications each classify corresponding characters that have common features, including one of more strokes, that when modified, do not significantly alter the meaning or legibility of the characters classified by the corresponding semantic character classifications, such that the semantic character classifications are based on semantics of characters rather than mere visual similarity of character strokes; accessing one or more hinting instructions that are associated with one or more semantic character classifications corresponding to the retrieved character, the one or more hinting instructions preserving semantic meaning for the character while altering at least one of a stroke location or stroke presence for at least one stroke of at least one feature of the character based on a reference character size and output resolution; comparing an actual character size and output resolution for the character to the reference character size and output resolution for the one or more hinting instructions; and executing the one or more hinting instructions to alter at least one of a stroke location or stroke presence for the at least one stroke of the at least one feature of the character to produce a hinted character outline.