Printer driver and method for supporting worldwide single binary font format with built in support for double byte characters
US6490051B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 21, 1998 |
| Grant date | Dec 3, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 21, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F3/1211
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
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. This system and method greatly enhance printer performance by utilizing, to the maximum extent possible, printer resident device fonts. This system also eliminates the need for separate printer drivers to support separate language symbol…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.