Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Computer graphics processing – Character generating
Reexamination Certificate
1998-02-10
2003-10-14
Razavi, Michael (Department: 2672)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Computer graphics processing
Character generating
C345S468000, C345S440000, C345S441000, C235S462010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06633292
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
This invention relates to a recording device and a recording method capable of recording on print paper in a type font different from the font displayed on a display.
FIG. 12
shows a bar code printing system using a system wherein a printer
3
is connected directly or via a network, etc., to a host computer (simply, host)
1
such as a personal computer or a workstation. Installed in the host
1
are an application program
5
such as a wordprocessor that can be used to enter character codes and a printer driver
7
for converting a document entered by using the application program
5
into printable data and transmitting the data to the printer
3
. To use the application program
5
to print a bar code, first an input function
11
of the application program
5
is used to enter a character code set specifying the bar code font to be used for printing and bar code is displayed on a display. Next, a format setting function
13
of the application program
5
is used to specify the print format of spacing, size, etc., of the bar code font entered in code, then the printer driver
7
is called for printing.
The printer driver
7
uses a print data preparation function
15
to prepare print data for printing the bar code font displayed on the display in the print format based on the character code set entered with the application program
5
and the print format of print spacing, size, etc. Next, the prepared print data is transferred to the printer
3
by an output function
17
. The printer
3
, which contains bar code fonts, for example, in the form of outline font, selects a font according to the character code contained in the print data, and prints in the specified print scheme.
However, in such a system, the entry work is burdensome and an entry error easily occurs. That is, the user needs to enter the character code of the bar code font used for printing; if the user attempts to print a bar code meaning a character, a character string, or the like, he or she must enter the character code (simply, code) specifying the bar code font corresponding to the character or the character string rather than the character or the character string. Therefore, the user needs to previously know the code of the bar code font or examine it whenever it is entered. If the entered code or the bar code font corresponding to the entered code is displayed on the display of an input monitor, it is difficult to determine whether or not the displayed code or bar code font is correct. Thus, if a bar code as the user does not intend is entered, it is hard to find the bar code erroneous.
Such a situation occurs not only in printing a bar code, but also in using a font different from the usually used character font, such as historiated initials; it is necessary to look up the character code indicating the font and enter it. Further, although a print font such as deformed historiated initials is displayed on the monitor, it may be illegible for a while, in which case if the user enters a character as he or she does not intend by mistake, the user is hard to find that the character is entered erroneously.
If an application program developed so as to enable the user to enter special characters is used, some of the problems may be solved. However, a general-purpose program that can be used on a familiar wordprocessor, etc., is not available; application programs specialized for printing bar codes, etc., are only available and a general-purpose system that can also be used with other fonts is not developed.
As shown in
FIG. 13
, a dedicated application program can also be used to record characters in a font different from a display font. The application program requires the following steps: First, at step S
41
, a display font file is selected, then a character string is entered at step S
42
and is displayed at step S
43
and further a print font file is selected at step S
44
, then at step S
45
, the selected print font file is used to convert the data corresponding to the display font into print data and the print data is output. Since the display and print font files need to be specified separately, time and effort are spent. The user often mistakes the display font file for the print font file or selects a display or print font file as he or she does not intend by mistake.
The dedicated application program passes print data put into bit map image to the printer driver. Thus, the actually printed form may vary from one printer to another. Therefore, if a bar code is printed with such an application, a delicate difference appears on the printed bar code form for each printer and resultantly the bar code may be unable to be read by a bar-code reader. Thus, it is difficult to guarantee high bar code accuracy.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a recording device and a recording method for enabling the user to easily enter a special font of bar codes, etc., that cannot be entered formerly unless a dedicated application program is used or character code is directly entered and being capable of outputting on recording paper, etc. Particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide a recording device and a recording method for enabling the user to correctly enter a font hard to determine the entry contents from the font itself, such as bar codes or historiated initials, and being capable of recording data hard to determine although display and record font files are not provided separately. It is another object of the invention to provide a recording device and a recording method for enabling functions to be used versatilely by a wordprocessor program, etc., and being capable of outputting standardized format information such as bar codes with good accuracy whatever the printer type may be and a recording medium for recording a font file required when the recording device and the recording method are used.
In the invention, a font conversion function or a font conversion process for converting a display font in record data into a record font corresponding to and differing from the display font and outputting the record font is provided in a recording device or a recording method for processing record data supplied from a general-purpose application program of a wordprocessor, etc., of a peripheral machine such as a printer or a printer driver installed in an information processing system such a personal computer corresponding to the peripheral machine.
The function of converting a display font into a record font is set in the recording device or the recording method for processing the supplied record data, whereby the conversion function can be used with general-purpose software such as a wordprocessor. To realize such a conversion function in the recording device or the recording method corresponding to each peripheral machine such as a printer outputting a record font, processing matching the peripheral machine can be performed and standardized format information such as bar codes can be output with good accuracy whatever the printer type may be. Further, when entering, the user can use a legible display font with a general-purpose application program and thus can enter a special record font easily and correctly.
Such a recording device or recording method of the invention can comprise a conversion rule storage section for storing a conversion rule between a display font and a record font, and a data conversion section or a data conversion process for converting a character string entered in the display font into record data containing the record font based on the conversion rule and outputting the record data.
If the recording device outputs a bar code as the record font, a printer driver comprising a conversion rule recording section for storing a conversion rule between character and bar code font character codes complying with a predetermined bar code standard for supplied character string record data and a data conversion section for receiving an entered character string from an application program, converting the character string
Ishihara Michitoshi
Murata Sunao
Nakatsuji Masahiro
Suzuji Akira
Chung Daniel J
Razavi Michael
Seiko Epson Corporation
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