Abstract: A method for converting image data coded with run lengths to the format of a page description language, such as PostScript or PDF, the run lengths identifying how many image points of one color follow one another in an image row, includes utilizing the run lengths of the same color that overlap in successive image rows to form an object, and describing the object with operators from the page description language. Objects of the same color can be combined to form one object. An object is described in the page description language by the image mask operator and an associated bitmap, or by a polygon train that connects reference points on the edge of the object.

Abstract: There is provided an information processing apparatus which is easy for a user to operate. In the information processing apparatus, it is judged based on a function obtained from a peripheral whether or not a job script can be issued to the peripheral, and a job issuance processing is controlled in accordance with a judgment result.

Abstract: A computer system and method for outputting printer commands to a printer in response to a print request from an application program are presented. The printer includes a device font whose characters are addressed for printing via a single, double, or n-byte code. The text data, however, utilizes the Unicode Standard to identify its characters. The system, therefore, includes a graphics device interface, which is compatible to read the Unicode data, to invoke the printer driver functions for controlling the outputting of the text data to the printer. A printer OEM supplied minidriver contains a characterization of the printer, including information identifying the device font resident in the printer and the code used to identify the individual characters of the font. A printer driver uses this information to translate the text data to be printed from the Unicode Standard to a code capable of selecting a device font provided character.

Abstract: There are provided an image-forming method and device. There are defined a plurality of conversion modes to be selectively employed for converting character codes to character image data items each representative of a character image based on an outline font. The conversion modes including at least one partial conversion mode for carrying out conversion of each of the character codes such that only a required portion of each of the character image data items corresponding to the each of the character codes is obtained when at least one of at least one fully-converting condition peculiar to each of the conversion modes is not fulfilled in converting the each of the character codes. A selected one of the conversion modes is set to an actual conversion mode. An image-forming range is set in a whole image represented by whole image data to be created by converting at least one character code to character image data and arranging the character image data.

Abstract: A user of a data processing system may specify variability in the generation of data for data-presentation, either by displaying or printing, on an output device. The variability specification may be applied on a glyph-by-glyph basis to the presentation of glyphs. The data processing system provides processing of glyph-based quality variability requests in the following manner. The system receives a request for data-presentation of a series of glyphs and determines, for each glyph in the series of glyphs, whether quality variability is applicable to each glyph. If quality variability is applicable to each glyph, then the system determines a quality variance to be applied to each glyph according to predetermined data-presentation variability data and performs data-presentation of each glyph on an output device in accordance with the quality variance.

Abstract: A method and a system are used to manage fonts in print jobs with more than one context where at least some of the contexts include text strings. Print jobs may be divided into portions, called contexts, so that they are easier for a print manager to manage. These larger contexts are called graphic sets. Each of these graphic sets is sent to the printer driver consecutively. Each text string has a font associated with it. The font data for each text string is read from the operating system and cached into memory at the time each string is received by the printer driver. After all individual text strings elements of a given graphic set have been received by the printer driver, the context is stored and the cached fonts are stored with the context. After all of the contexts of the print job have been received by the printer and stored, each context is restored and rendered. The graphics sets may be restored in any order. The fonts stored with a context are also restored when the context is restored.

Abstract: A printing system includes an information processing apparatus and a printing apparatus in which character image data transferred from the information processing apparatus is registered in the printing apparatus and the printing apparatus prints the same character by using the registered character image data. The information processing apparatus includes a compression unit for compressing the character image data to be transferred to the printing apparatus. The printing apparatus includes a registration unit for registering the compressed character image data and a decompression unit for decompressing the compressed character image data.

Abstract: A laser printer develops print data into first image data having a resolution of 1200×1200 dpi in the fine mode. Then, the laser printer breaks the first image data into blocks of two consecutive lines, retrieves image data A0, B0, A1, and B1 from the two consecutive lines of image data, and rearranges the retrieved image data alternately. As a result, two lines of image data are rearranged into one line of image data having a resolution of 2400×600 dpi. Based on the rearranged image data, the laser printer having an intrinsic resolution of 600×600 dpi executes printing while performing pulse width modulation of a laser beam. On the other hand, in the normal mode, the laser printer develops print data into second image data having a resolution of 600×600 dpi, and executes printing based on the second image data. Accordingly, the print mode can be changed appropriately between the fine mode and the normal mode.

Abstract: A print system has an image processor which processes data and a printer which prints data received from the image processor. In the print system, a first converter converts the input data to output data by processing the input data according to data type, while a detector detects a specified pattern in the converted data. All the converted data passes the detector, so that the specified pattern is detected surely or the detection of the image is not missed. Further, a second converter converts the converted data according to data type to data of output colors of an image output device, and the detector detects the specified pattern in the further converted data. Thus, an image having a color close to the original one can be detected surely.

Abstract: A method, a computer readable medium, a system and an apparatus for reducing clipping in a print job. In the method, a length of a line of text within a print job is determined. Additionally, a width of a print medium is determined. Furthermore, a clipping condition is determined to be present in response to the length of the line of text exceeding the width of the print medium. Moreover, the line of text is scaled in response to determining the clipping condition is present. The above mentioned method is further executed by computer instructions embedded within the computer readable medium. The system is configured to perform the above mentioned method utilizing a preformat detector configured to detect a clipping condition within a print job and a scaler configured to scale a line of text within the print job in response to the clipping condition being detected. The apparatus includes a printing device operable to perform the above mentioned method.

Abstract: A spool file modifying device employed in a print server is connected with a printer. Further, the print server and at least one external terminal are interconnected. A spool file representing a print job that is instructed at the external terminal is converted into print data adaptable to the printer. The spool file modifying device includes a font data extracting system that extracts font data included in the spool file, a registering system that registers the extracted font data with the print server, and a modifying system that modifies the spool file to create a modified spool file in accordance with modifying information included in the spool file. The modified spool file is converted into the print data using the extracted font data, and then transmitted to the printer.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus implementing a technique for calculating line leading. In general, in one aspect, the technique includes receiving a first input specifying either a forward line leading model or a backward line leading mode and calculating line leading based on the input.

Abstract: This invention is a photosite which allows access from a cell phone to provide user-friendlier services. The photosite creates an ID (S6501) and creates a character string Str from the ID by combining numerals and alphabetical characters by using a storage unit which stores buttons 0 to 9 of the cell phone and the number of alphabetical characters assigned to the respective buttons in correspondence with each other (S6502-S6507). In this case, a character string is created such that any two consecutive characters are assigned to different keys.

Abstract: Characteristics of text or text components or features are considered when selecting halftoning screens. For example, an italic slant angle of text is recognized and used to select or generate a compatible halftone screen oriented at the same angle. A screen frequency may be selected based on a thickness of a text component. Descriptive tags associated with text or text components facilitate screen selection. Tags are assigned based on font descriptions included in a document during authoring. Alternatively, tags are assigned based on the results of document segmentation and character recognition techniques. An image processing system operative to consider characteristics of text or text components when selecting halftone screens includes a text component characteristic recognizer, a halftone screen selector and a halftoner. Optionally a print engine is also included. In a xerographic environment the print engine includes a xerographic printer.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus provided with an auxiliary memory device for storing type skeletal shape information indicating skeletal shapes of characters, including symbols and pictorial symbols, and element shape information indicating an outline shape and a skeletal shape of each of constituent elements constituting the characters in advance, and a pattern generator for generating a pattern by changing the element shape information according to the type skeletal shape information, drawing the constituent elements according to a predetermined design corresponding to the changed element shape information, and combining the constituent elements thus drawn. This information processing apparatus is capable of easily generating high-quality patterns, which are colored in various ways according to typeface, by reducing the number of data producing steps and data volume necessary for generating patterns by putting a plurality of colors into each stroke of characters including symbols and pictorial symbols.

Abstract: A data processing apparatus which communicates with a printer forms trial compressions of image data to discriminate whether sufficient compression has been obtained. A print image is produced by analysis of a drawing command, and a print control command is formed based on the print image. Image data is compressed in a predetermined segment by applying a specific compression method so as to obtain size information. Based on the size information, a discrimination is made as to whether the specific compression method is to be applied to the image data. This discrimination is made repeatedly for each predetermined segment. A print control command is formed if the size information indicates that the size of the compressed data is smaller than a threshold, whereas the print control command is not formed if the size of the compressed data is not.

Abstract: A device control method for an information processing system connecting a host and devices via a communications means, said device control method comprising a step of accessing a device from a host, a step of downloading to a host from a device accessed by the host the control software for controlling the device having a plurality of operating modes and capable of being operated from the host side, a step of executing the control software downloaded by the host, and a step of setting the operating mode of the control software in accordance with the operating mode of the device via the execution of the control software.

Abstract: A printer control system for and a printer control method of controlling a print option, such as a line or text thickness value include generating an information registration window that enables a user to configure the print option, designating the line/text thickness in the information registration window, reconfiguring the line/text thickness of the print option after combining an original line/text thickness value designated by an application program unit with the designated line/text thickness value designated in the information registration window in response to a print command, and printing printer data based on the reconfigured print option.

Abstract: A method and system for expanding a pixel bitmap mask. The pixel bitmap mask (102) is expanded by the use of a lookup table (104) to create an m*n bit expanded mask, where m is the depth of a screen and n is the number of pixels described by the original pixel bitmap mask (102). The expanded mask is logically ANDed with a foreground screen (106). The inverse of the expanded mask is logically ANDed with existing data in a screen buffer (108). The results of the two AND operations are logically OR'd to create a new screen buffer that is eventually sent to a printer.

Abstract: In a digital printing system, such as including one or more printers connected to a host computer via a network, it is occasionally desired to download software for new fonts to the printers. In many cases, different printers support different “font types” or “font formats,” meaning different encoding methods for the font software. The various printers on the network are queried by remotely querying the MIB associated with each printer, to determine what font type is supported by each printer. When the font software is downloaded, where necessary for a particular printer, the original font software is converted to be supportable by the printer.

Abstract: A data processing apparatus which can communicate with a printer through a predetermined communication medium is constructed by: a printer command forming unit for constructing a print image by analyzing a drawing command which is formed by an operating system and for forming a printer control command which is based on the print image and should be transferred to the printer; a first obtaining unit for obtaining feature information to presume print processing times by the printer command forming unit in the case where a specific compression method is used and the case where it is not used; a discriminating unit for discriminating whether the printer command forming unit should use the specific compression method or not on the basis of the feature information obtained by the first obtaining unit; and a controller for switching and controlling the formation of the printer control command which is formed by the printer command forming unit and to which the specific compression method is applied and the formation

Abstract: A processing module and print material process and apparatus are provided. The processing module comprises at least one processing tool having at least one print material processing functionality, and at least one read and write data storage having data with at least one parameter that allows identification of the processing module.

Abstract: A method and apparatus in a data processing system for generating a metadata stream. Calls are received calls from an application, wherein the calls are received calls. The current application attributes in the received calls are tracked. The received calls are monitored for a new page call. When a new page call is identified in the received calls, the new page call is placed within the metadata stream to identify a new page in the metadata stream. Current application attributes are placed in the metadata stream within the new page identified by the new page call, wherein the new page within the metadata stream may be outputted/printed or reprocessed using the current application attributes located within new page.

Abstract: In order to perform optimal character registration and a printing process depending on a language, in an information processing device connected to a printer having a first registration area and a second registration area as font registration areas, registration amounts in the first registration area and the second registration area are determined based on the language which the information processing device uses, and depending on the determined amounts, a first font is registered in the first registration area in the printer and a second font is registered in the second registration area.

Abstract: A digital copying machine comprising an image scanner part for reading an original image to reproduce image data of the original image, a laser printer part for printing an image according to given image data, a removable memory card, and a reader/writer of the memory card is provided. For offline print, the image data of a document prepared in an external computer and output control data are stored into the memory card. By installing this memory card in the digital copying machine, the digital copying machine prints the image data read out from the memory card offline in a desired output form. For offline image input, read control data obtained by using an image scanner such as a read gradation level, a read size, density, and the degree of edge enhancement is stored in the removable memory card using software executed in an external computer.

Abstract: The flexible printing system is comprised of a printer that has printing characteristics that can be updated. A printer cartridge comprises printer data memory that either stores new printing characteristics or stores a location from the Internet from which these characteristics can be downloaded. The printer accesses the cartridge's printer data memory and checks the stored printing characteristics. If the printer can use these characteristics and they differ from the characteristics that are presently being used by the printer, the printer updates its printing characteristics using the printer data memory's printing characteristics. In one embodiment, the printer characteristics are color tables and dithering algorithms.

Abstract: Command protocol for enhancing the appearance of two-color thermal printing. The methods provide sales receipts with watermarks, strike-throughs, and graphic surrounding an item. These added functions can be accomplished in real time. Some of them can be printed in distinguishing colors.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus and method are provided for controlling a printer. The apparatus comprises a first determination device for determining whether character pattern data representing a pattern of a character can be downloaded to the printer, and a download device for downloading the character pattern data to the printer in a case where the first determination device determines that a download is possible. The apparatus also comprises a first transmission device for transmitting a character code to the printer in a case where character pattern data is downloaded to the printer by the download device, an acquisition device for acquiring image information corresponding to the character in a case where character pattern data for a character is not downloaded by the download device, and a second transmission device for transmitting the acquired image information to the printer.

Abstract: Disclosed is a printing control apparatus in which a printing instruction is once converted into an intermediate code format and then converted into a printer control command, and which can correctly print an embedded font. In this invention, a spooler for converting a printing instruction into an intermediate code format and storing this intermediate code format detects the presence/absence of an embedded font on the basis of font attributes contained in the printing instruction. If an embedded font is detected, the spooler acquires the embedded font (S3.3) and spools the font by the intermediate code format (S3.4). The despooler registers the spooled embedded font in a graphic engine (D3), and a printer driver generates a control command by using the registered embedded font (Drv3.1).

Abstract: There are provided a character printing method and device. There are defined print size alternatives to be selectively set to a print size of a printing area of a printing object on which is to be printed part or all of a character group including at least one character. One of the print size alternatives is set to the print size. Print image data is formed by extracting part or all of the character group such that the part or all of the character group is adapted to the print size. A print image is printed on the printing object based on the print image data.

Abstract: A software system with self-describing attribute vocabularies that enhance the capability of service providers to advertise their resources and that facilitate the addition of new types of attributes and resources to the system. Each self-describing attribute vocabulary is characterized by a corresponding set of attribute properties and a corresponding set of:matching rules that are adapted to the corresponding attribute properties. The software system includes a matching engine that enables a service provider of a resource to describe the resource to the software system in terms of any one or more of the self-describing attribute vocabularies.

Abstract: A method and a system are used to manage fonts in print jobs with more than one context where at least some of the contexts include text strings. Print jobs may be divided into portions, called contexts, so that they are easier for a print manager to manage. These larger contexts are called graphic sets. Each of these graphic sets is sent to the printer driver consecutively. Each text string has a font associated with it. The font data for each text string is read from the operating system and cached into memory at the time each string is received by the printer driver. After all individual text strings elements of a given graphic set have been received by the printer driver, the context is stored and the cached fonts are stored with the context. After all of the contexts of the print job have been received by the printer and stored, each context is restored and rendered. The graphics sets may be restored in any order. The fonts stored with a context are also restored when the context is restored.

Abstract: A computer system and method for outputting printer commands to a printer in response to a print request from an application program are presented. The printer includes a device font whose characters are addressed for printing via a single, double, or n-byte code. The text data to be printed, however, utilizes the Unicode Standard to identify its characters. The system, therefore, includes a graphics device interface, which is compatible to read the Unicode data, to invoke the printer driver functions for controlling the outputting of the text data to the printer. A printer OEM supplied minidriver contains a characterization of the printer, including information identifying the device font resident in the printer and the code used to identify the individual characters of the font. A printer driver uses this information to translate the text data to be printed from the Unicode Standard to a code capable of selecting a device font provided character.

Abstract: A font synchronization system ensures that fonts which are specified in the creation of a document are the same as those that are employed in the subsequent handling and printing of the document. Each font that is utilized within a document, or available in a printing system, is characterized by a font reference that unambiguously identifies significant features of the font. Font references associated with a document are compared with those available on a computer resource, to see if two fonts are the same in all significant respects. If the fonts are not the same, the comparison process identifies the areas of difference between them, so that a determination can be made whether such differences are critical to the appearance of the document. A number of font references are encapsulated within a font profile, to identify the fonts that are available for use within a particular environment, such as a service bureau.

Abstract: A font synchronization system ensures that fonts which are specified in the creation of a document are the same as those that are employed in the subsequent handling and printing of the document. Each font that is utilized within a document, or available in a printing system, is characterized by a font reference that unambiguously identifies significant features of the font. Font references associated with a document are compared with those available on a computer resource, to see if two fonts are the same in all significant respects. If the fonts are not the same, the comparison process identifies the areas of difference between them, so that a determination can be made whether such differences are critical to the appearance of the document. A number of font references are encapsulated within a font profile, to identify the fonts that are available for use within a particular environment, such as a service bureau.

Abstract: A computer implemented method includes the steps of: a) generating a template PDL (page description language) specification, the template specification including template data and associated graphic attributes (i.e.

Abstract: The method of the invention determines conditions for a processing able to be carried out on data of a document, by at least one input/output means. It includes: an operation of determining at least one symbol scatter quantity related to the said document, an operation of comparing each said scatter quantity with predetermined values, and a configuration determination operation during which the result of each said comparison is taken into account in order to determine the configuration of the input/output means intended to implement this processing.

Abstract: A seal producing apparatus includes file storing and recalling procedures wherein calling of a file is permitted only when a seal loaded in the seal producing apparatus is a seal type having a shape and size suitable to contain the allowable number of lines and the allowable number of characters per line in the seal type associated with the file to be called and when the size of the seal type of the seal loaded in the seal producing apparatus is equal to or larger than the size of the seal type associated with the file to be called.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to improve an efficiency in using bins in a sorter of an image forming system, to which a plurality of personal computers are connected. If the number of the receptacles appointed in accordance with the receptacle appointment command or the number of sets of sheets to be sorted is larger than the number of empty receptacles, offset sorting is performed in which the position, at which the recording sheets are received, is shifted in the same receptacle. If the appointed number of the receptacles or the number of sets of sheets to be sorted is smaller than the number of empty receptacles, a normal sorting process is performed in such a manner that the bins are allotted in accordance with the position of the bins appointed with the command for appointing receptacles or the number of sets of sheets to be sorted.

Abstract: A system and corresponding method for use when an application prints a document and a corresponding envelope is printed by an independent process, unknown to the application, using soft fonts (dynamic fonts). The system allows creation of a mail piece, which generally consists of document pages and an envelope; the pages to be printed according to data and layout specified in a pages file and using a pages font as indicated in the pages file; and the envelope to be printed with address information extracted from the pages file according to instructions specified in an envelope template file. The instructions of the envelope template file include a layout and a dynamic envelope font, such as a true type font. The system includes a printer driver, responsive to a call to prepare to start printing the pages of the mail piece and in turn for obtaining from the envelope template file the envelope font.

Abstract: A method for determining the information loss or conditional entropy in a paper channel where an imager produces an output from symbols printed on a substrate and a paper channel designed in accordance with such method. A parametric, statistical model of the channel is chosen. Test patterns are then transmitted through the channel to determine optimal parameter values for the model. These values are the used in the model to estimate the information loss in the channel. This information loss is used as a figure of merit in making design choices for the paper channel.

Abstract: An apparatus for text input and a method for its use. The apparatus includes a display device, a computing device, and an input device. The computer device is configured to generate a character or plurality of characters and to cause the display device to display the character or characters at a desired position on the display device screen. The input device operates to enlarge the character or plurality of characters depending on the position of the input device relative to characters displayed on said display device. The input device is configured to permit a user to select the enlarged character or plurality of characters.

Abstract: Using the concept of off-screen rendering, a Unicode encoding value for a non-Latin1 glyph is converted into a bitmap image using Java™ in order to print glyphs that are not supported by a printer. The method uses the JDK application information together with the platform specific operating system's information to perform a non-operating system specific rendering or generic rendering of the non-Latin1 Unicode glyphs for use in printing the glyphs. This solution is glyph-based instead of font-based and works within the confines of Java™ classes and methods. It is primarily an extension of the Java language that exposes a host font manager, such as a TrueType™ font engine, in such a way as to bring the bitmap of a glyph into an application or applet executing on the virtual machine. The bitmap of the glyph may then be printed.

Abstract: The character display apparatus according to the present invention has a constitution including (1) character display means having at least a character segment in the shape of a character, and a background segment provided around the character segment and constituting a background of an outline character; and (2) display control means for performing on-off control of the character segment and the background segment, which constitute the character display means.

Abstract: When a command for the status response is issued from a host computer to a printer, a data-receipt administration portion adds, to the received command, an ID peculiar to each command, and stores the commands and the peculiar ID; and a data-transmission administration portion immediately returns the ID added to the command to the host computer. A printer-language analyzing portion analyzes the received command, while a status-response processing portion produces information that must be responded to the command. The produced response information is, together with the previously-stored ID added to the corresponding command, returned from the data-transmission administration portion to the host computer. The host computer collates the previous-received ID and the ID received together with the response information with each other so that the command and the corresponding response can be made correspond to each other.

Abstract: A document reproduction system comprises an electronic reprographic apparatus and a controller. The controller includes an image manipulation device adapted to screen out unwanted images from a document being reproduced.

Abstract: A print data output circuit for outputting bitmap data for printing based on character codes is provided with: a data memory for storing character codes to be printed; a bitmap data memory for storing bitmap data corresponding to the character codes stored in the data memory; a clock generator that generates a predetermined clock signal; a counter unit that generates first address data of the data memory, a character code stored at the first address of the data memory being read out of the data memory, second address data of the bitmap data memory being generated in accordance with the clock signal and the character codes corresponding to the first address data, bit map data stored at the second address of the bitmap memory being output therefrom; and a parallel-to-serial converter that converts bitmap data stored in the bitmap data memory and corresponding to the second address data to serial data for printing.

Abstract: A character information processing apparatus prints at least one line of an input character string on a printing medium having a size limited at least in width thereof. There is stored information of settings concerning at least one attribute of a first kind of predetermined attributes concerning a layout of characters of the input character string and a second kind of predetermined attributes which can be set to the characters of the input character string on character-by-character basis, in a manner correlating the information of the settings with the input character string. A first instruction signal is generated to start a modification process for modifying the information of the settings.

Abstract: A computer implemented method for generating a plurality of bit maps suitable for high-speed printing includes the steps of: (a) providing a page description code specification, where the page description code specification defines at least one data area, and the page description code further defines a graphics state corresponding to the data area, where the graphics state including at least one attribute which controls the appearance of data in the data area; (b) interpreting the page description code specification, and during the interpretation step, identifying the data area defined by the page description code specification; (c) upon the identification of the variable data area in step (b), applying the graphics state corresponding to the data area to a set of alphanumeric characters so as to generate a plurality of character bit maps; (d) storing the plurality of character bit maps; (e) retrieving a variable data item from a plurality of variable data items; (f) associating the variable data item with th

Abstract: An outputting apparatus such as a laser beam printer comprises a memory to store designation information to designate a selection-impossible font from a plurality of fonts and a selector to select a font which is most adaptive from the fonts other than the selection instructed font in accordance with an input of selection instruction information to instruct so as to select the selection-impossible font that is designated by the designation information stored in the memory. The plurality of fonts include internal fonts provided in the apparatus and fonts which are supplied from the outside.