The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 17, 1996
Filed:
Jun. 10, 1993
Benjamin P Bauermeister, Seattle, WA (US);
Clyde D McQueen, III, Seattle, WA (US);
Michael S DeLaurentis, Seattle, WA (US);
Paul M Higinbotham, Seattle, WA (US);
Daniel E Lipkie, Seattle, WA (US);
Donald J Munsil, Seattle, WA (US);
Raymond G Beausoleil, Redmond, WA (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and system for parametrically generating characters and fonts. A font generation system is run on a computer and allows a user to create a Terafont binary file, which includes a set of universal font generation rules that are applied to generating fonts consistent with a common type of alphabet, and parametric data files, each of which specify a particular font. The user can create a new font, or replicate an existing font. The parametric data are distributed as files or embedded in documents. One or more characters of a font are generated using a font engine that executes the Terafont binary file on a computer using the parametric data specifying that font as an input. The parametric data provided to the font engine at least include a minimal set of font measurement data, such as a PANOSE.TM. number, which are used to compute global variables representing typographic characteristics common to many--if not all--of the glyphs in the font. Additional global and local variables needed to capture nuances of individual characters are computed or assigned default values by the font engine. Thus, a wide variety of fonts can be generated, each font using a set of parametric data relatively small in size, without extrapolating from a single master outline or interpolating between two or more outlines. Since the generated character outlines are defined in terms of conventional mathematical constructs, they are easily reformatted into other digital font formats by the font engine, if necessary.