Printer Bold Character Generation via Position Shifting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing techniques for making characters appear bolder require a costly determination process on each pixel, which increases with the size of the bitmap, leading to inefficiencies in character processing.
Innovation Solution
A printer system that draws characters multiple times by varying their position, specifically shifting them horizontally and vertically, to create a bold effect without the need for pixel-by-pixel determination, using a receiving unit and drawing unit to generate a combined bitmap character through superimposition.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a determination process is performed on each pixel to identify adjacent pixels for bold effect, then the bold character effect is achieved, but the processing cost increases in proportion to the bitmap size
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a bold character by copying the original character bitmap multiple times and positioning the copies at offset locations around the original character. Instead of analyzing each pixel to find adjacent pixels, the system simply replicates the character bitmap at predetermined offset positions (e.g., top, bottom, left, right, and diagonal positions) and combines them through logical OR operations. This copying approach eliminates the need for pixel-by-pixel determination while achieving the same visual bold effect.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple character bitmap copies at different positions into a single combined bitmap that produces the bold effect. The merging process uses logical OR operations to combine the pixel data from the original character and its offset copies, ensuring that any pixel that is set in any of the source bitmaps will be set in the result. This combining approach efficiently creates the bold appearance without requiring complex pixel analysis.
2Measurement precision
If pixel-by-pixel determination is performed for bold process, then accurate adjacent pixel identification is achieved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-calculating and storing offset positions where character copies should be placed to achieve the bold effect. Instead of determining adjacent pixels during runtime through complex algorithms, the system has predetermined the offset positions (such as 1-pixel offsets in various directions) in advance. When processing a character, it simply applies these pre-determined offsets to generate copy positions, significantly reducing processing time while maintaining accurate identification of areas that should be bolded.
Data Source
AI summary
A printer includes a receiving unit configured to receive data for drawing a character at a predetermined drawing position, and a drawing unit configured to, based on the data for drawing the character, draw the character multiple times by varying a drawing position of the character each time. The drawing performed multiple times includes at least drawing at the predetermined drawing position, drawing at a drawing position shifted from the predetermined drawing position only in a horizontal direction, and drawing at a drawing position shifted from the predetermined drawing position only in a vertical direction.