Patent ID: 7598955

Claim:
A system for rendering a character for display in grayscale on a grayscale output device, comprising: means for defining a coarse grid of cells, each coarse cell corresponding to an output device grayscale pixel, and a high-resolution grid of fine cells, the high-resolution grid being aligned with said coarse grid so that each coarse cell includes an integer number of undivided fine cells, the grids defining edges of the cells; means for placing a character defined by a font program with reference to the coarse grid and fine grid, the character having a stem hinted with two parallel edges that are placed with reference to the grids when the character is so placed, the stem hint edges being separated by a stem width; and stem aligner means for processing the stem before rendering the character for output on the output device, the stem aligner means comprising means for performing a black-edge hinted stem placement policy, including, means for rounding the stem width to the width of an integral number of fine cells; means for determining the stem width; and means for, if the stem width is at least one coarse grid cell, moving the stem with rounded width a minimum distance so that at least one of the stem hint edges aligns with a parallel coarse cell edge.