Map Text Rendering Along Curved Roads
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image rendering systems for digital maps face challenges in efficiently rendering text along curved or multi-segmented lines, as current methods struggle to dynamically adjust the placement and orientation of text characters to follow complex line segments, leading to inflexible and processor-intensive processes.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method and system that determine line segments within an image, form text boxes oriented along these segments, and selectively render text characters within these boxes to ensure they align with the line segments, using encoding data to position text characters correctly, allowing for flexible text placement along curved or angled lines.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If text characters are rendered along curved or multi-segmented lines using traditional methods, then text placement flexibility is improved, but processing overhead increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The line along which text is to be rendered is divided into multiple line segments. For each line segment, a separate text box is formed with orientation and positioning calculations specific to that segment. This segmentation allows the rendering system to process text in discrete, manageable units rather than attempting to calculate positions for the entire curved line at once, thereby reducing overall processing overhead while maintaining flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
Text boxes are pre-formed for each line segment before actual text character rendering. The text boxes include pre-calculated orientation angles, positioning coordinates, and boundary definitions based on the geometric properties of each line segment. This preliminary preparation of text boxes eliminates the need for complex real-time calculations during the text rendering phase, reducing processing overhead while enabling flexible text placement along curved lines.
2Manufacturing precision
If text boxes are formed for each line segment with precise orientation, then text alignment accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Each text box is customized with local quality properties specific to its associated line segment, including orientation angle, position coordinates, and dimensional parameters. This local customization ensures that text in each segment is precisely aligned with the local geometry of the line, achieving high text alignment accuracy. The system manages this complexity by processing each text box independently rather than attempting global optimization.
Solution Approach 2:
The text box parameters (orientation, position, dimensions) are dynamically calculated based on the geometric properties of each line segment. Rather than using fixed or static text placement rules, the system adapts text box characteristics to match the local geometry of each segment, enabling precise text alignment along curved or angled lines. This dynamic approach manages complexity through algorithmic calculation rather than hardware complexity.
3Productivity
If text characters are selectively rendered based on center position within line segment ranges, then rendering efficiency is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system calculates the center position of each text character and compares it against the range of the associated line segment. Only text characters whose centers fall within the valid range are rendered, while those outside the range are selectively excluded. This partial rendering approach improves efficiency by avoiding the rendering of unnecessary text characters, while the precision requirement is managed through straightforward coordinate comparison rather than complex geometric calculations.
Data Source
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AI summary
A graphics or image rendering system, such as a map image rendering system, receives image data from an image database in the form of vector data that defines various image objects, such as roads, geographical boundaries, etc., and textures defining text strings to be displayed on the image to provide, for example, labels for the image objects. The imaging rendering system renders the images such that the individual characters of the text strings are placed on the image following a multi- segmented or curved line. This rendering system enables text strings to be placed on a map image so that the text follows the center line of a curved or angled road or other image feature without knowing the specifics of the curvature of the line along which the text will be placed when creating the texture that stores the text string information. This feature provides enhanced visual properties within a map image as it allows, for example, road names to be placed anywhere inside a road following the curvature of the road, thus providing a pleasing visual effect within the map image.