Real-time rasterization system for a column-oriented printing apparatus or the like
US5081594A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 31, 1989 |
| Grant date | Jan 14, 1992 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 31, 2009 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06K2215/0097
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A rasterization system is provided to control the formatting and manipulations of font and character information to perform real-time rasterization of images of selected characters to be output to a column-oriented printing or display apparatus. The rasterization system is comprised of a programmable data processor for receiving input data and font data and for generating print data and control signals for outputting the selected characters. The programmable data processor performs the real-time rasterization of the input data (representing the desired characters to be printed) and the font data (representing the outlines of the particular size and font of the selected character set) by creating an intermediate edge list data base before completing the fill or rasterization process required to generate the pixel output data used to print the selected characters on the tape. The creation of an intermediate edge list data base allows the data processor to perform the rasterization of the characters in real-time at a rate sufficiently fast enough to keep up with the worst-case data transfer rate required by the printing or display apparatus.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.