Bitstream Inc.

Charles Ying

John S Collins

A computerized system, such as one practiced with an e-commerce font server, enables a user to select one or more fonts. According to one aspect, a user can select a font from a multi-dimensional font space defined by the attribute values of a plurality of fonts. The system repeatedly 1) enables the user to select a spatial specification defined relative to the currently selected font in the space; 2) determines which fonts, if any, match the spatial specification; 3) displays character-font shapes of those fonts; and 4) makes one of the displayed fonts a new currently selected font relative to which a new spatial specification can be selected. The spatial specification can merely selects fonts which are closest in the attribute space, can select the nearest font in a selected direction, or can provide more complex spatial selection. According to another aspect of the invention, a server makes fonts available to clients over a network. The server uploads from a client an image of one or more shapes belonging to a given font and performs pattern matching to select which fonts stored on the server best match the uploaded font shapes. The server downloads displayable font shapes for each such best matching font so a user can select one or more of them. It uploads information from the client identifying one or more fonts selected for downloading, and then downloads the selected fonts to the client in a form suitable for use by the client's operating system.

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Seattle, WA, United States of America

Charles Ying