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. 03, 2002
Filed:
Sep. 21, 1998
Amanda Nguyen, Bothell, WA (US);
Ganesh Pandey, Kirkland, WA (US);
Alvin Scholten, Redmond, WA (US);
Zhanbing Wu, Bellevue, WA (US);
Eigo Shimizu, Seattle, WA (US);
Peter Wong, Woodinville, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
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 sets. Printing of both proportional and fixed pitch characters in the same device font is also provided.