US005995086A United States Patent [19] [11] Patent Number: 5,995,086 Dowling et al. [45] Date of Patent: Nov. 30, 1999 [54] METHOD OF GENERATING MULTIPLE Haralambous, Y., “ParametriZation of PostScript fonts MASTER TYPEFACES through METAFONT—an alternative to Adobe Multiple Master Fonts,” Third International Conference on Raster [75] Inventors: Terence S. Dowling, Saratoga; Imaging and Digital Typography. RIDT’94, Darmstadt, Ger Jonathan A. von Zelowitz, San many, Apr. 11—13, 1994, vol. 6, No. 3, ISSN 0894—3982, Francisco, both of Calif. Electronic Publishing: Origination, Dissemination and Design, Sep. 1993, UK, pp. 145—157. [73] Assignee: Adobe Systems, Inc., Mountain View, McQueen, C.D., III, et al., “In?nifont: a parametric font Calif. generation system,” Third International Conference on Ras ter Imaging and Digital Typography. RIDT’94, Darmstadt, [21] Appl. No.: 08/907,338 Germany, Apr. 11—13, 1994, vol. 6, No. 3, ISSN 0894—3982, Electronic Publishing: Origination, Dissemination and [22] Filed: Aug. 6, 1997 Design, Sep. 1993, UK, ppl 117—32. Related US. Application Data The NeW Print Shop, Bryderbund SoftWare, Inc., 1990, pp. 24—25. [63] Continuation of application No. 08/684,921, Jul. 22, 1996, Primary Examiner—Amare Mengistu abandoned, which is a continuation of application No. Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Fish & Richardson PC. 08/291,602, Aug. 16, 1994, abandoned. [51] Int. Cl.6 ..................................................... .. G09G 5/24 [57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl. ........................................... .. 345/194; 345/195 A method of displaying prede?ned characters contained in a [58] Field of Search ................................... .. 345/194, 195, font Which maintain their artistically pleasing shapes as font 345/141, 143 design properties change over a font design axis (Which de?nes a variable font design property) including the steps [56] References Cited of: U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS (1) including Within each character de?nition a character speci?c transition point Which Will be used to select a 4,933,866 6/1990 Markoff et al. prede?ned character attribute of the character When it is 5,042,075 8/1991 Sato .................................. .. 345/143 x displayed, the transition point lying along the font 5,185,818 2/1993 Warnock . .. 382/54 5,301,267 4/1994 Hassett et al. 395/150 design axis; 5,319,358 6/1994 Martinez et al. 345/141 (2) selecting a value for the variable font design property 5,398,306 3/1995 KaroW ............ .. 395/110 of the character along the font design axis, and then determining a prede?ned character attribute for the OTHER PUBLICATIONS character based upon the location of the selected value ITC Specimen Book, selected pages, 1976. in relation to the character-speci?c transition point KaroW, Peter, “Font Technology Methods and Tools,” URW along the font design axis; and Software & Type GmbH, Springer—Verlag 1994, pp. V and (3) displaying the character using the selected value of the 105—149. variable font design property and the determined, pre Boag, A., “Fonts: A survey of current issues,” Desktop de?ned character attribute. Publishing Commentary, Jun. 1994, UK, vol. 10, No. 2, ISSN 0957—3178, pp. 6—9. 12 Claims, 4 Drawing Sheets 1 u 101 102 / U.S. Patent N0v.30, 1999 Sheet 1 of4 5,995,086 1 3 29m; FIG. U.S. Patent N0v.30, 1999 Sheet 2 of4 5,995,086 (D O FIG. 2 f??? $2 #3 (A) / \aii / \ m1, —37 @iaa —39 U.S. Patent N0v.30, 1999 Sheet 3 of4 5,995,086 1%) 1/01 102 50\_ width 103 60 W70 W80 ‘glee \ 104\W61 W71 ght 52W W64W62 W74W72 {984 17 W65 W75 W85 W195 W66 W76 W86 W9 W67 W" W8? W3; W68 W78 W88 W98 W69 W79 W89 w-gg FIG. 3 5,995,086 1 2 METHOD OF GENERATING MULTIPLE multiple master typeface can be used to automatically emu MASTER TYPEFACES late a speci?ed font With a high degree of accuracy. The more Widespread use of multiple master typefaces This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/684,921, has created certain problems. One of them, solved by this ?led Jul. 22, 1996, noW abandoned, Which Was a continu invention, is the unintended creation of character-speci?c ation of Ser. No. 08/291,602, ?led on Aug. 16, 1994, noW anomalies as the Weight, Width, style and siZe are selected abandoned. along their respective design axes. Whereas many of the individual characters Which are selected along the various FIELD OF THE INVENTION design axes using linear interpolation may be artistically This invention relates to an improvement in the method of 10 pleasing, others at certain Weights and Widths are not so generating of multiple master typefaces. A multiple master pleasing. typeface alloWs the user to create a myriad of fonts by Referring to FIG. 1, the letter “W” is a representative selecting values for the font variables, or “design axes,” character of a multiple master font of characters. Only a Which de?ne font properties such as Width, Weight, siZe and single font property, Weight is varied along a single design style. The user can generate any instance of a character 15 axis. The “W” gets bolder as the Weight increases doWn Within this multiple master typeface by interpolating master Wardly in the direction of the arroW 13. Letter 10 at the top shapes using a combination of the font variables. This of the page is the lightest Weight character of the ten invention alloWs the user to obtain prede?ned characters of characters shoWn in FIG. 1. Character 11 shoWn at the a font, Which are not pure interpolations, and Which maintain bottom of the page is the boldest of the ten characters. 20 their artistically pleasing shapes as font design properties As Will be understood by one skilled in the art, this change along a font design axis. illustration in FIG. 1 represents a selection of ten characters. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND The font could Well include interpolations and extrapola PRIOR ART tions generating a myriad of additional “W’s” that are not shoWn in FIG. 1 or, for that matter, in FIGS. 2 and 3 Which 25 Multiple master typefaces have been used since the early Will be explained later. 1980’s When they Were introduced in Germany in a com To the untutored eye, all the characters in FIG. 1 generally puteriZed typeface generation system called “Ikarus”. These look like a letter “W”. HoWever to a font designer, at least typefaces Were also described in US. Pat. No. 4,933,866 some of these characters are not artistically pleasing. As the Which issued on Jun. 12, 1990, and is incorporated herein by 30 font gets heavier, a font designer might prefer to connect reference. serifs 14 and 16 instead of leaving gap 15 betWeen them. At As a simple example of multiple master typefaces, con an even heavier Weight, the designer might prefer to connect sider a typeface With a design matrix based on a single serifs 17 and 19 and eliminate gap 18 betWeen them. In variable—Weight. This Weight variable varies along a addition, the slanting line 20 in character 21 overcompli Weight design axis. At one end of the axis is the master 35 cates the character, and a font designer might prefer to have design of least Weight, called “light”; at the other end the this line 20 removed. Until the present invention, there Was design of heaviest Weight, called bold. An example using the no technique available for inserting these character-speci?c character “W” is shoWn in FIG. 1. The user can select a attributes into a multiple master font design. This invention custom Weight value virtually anyWhere along the Weight provides a Way of overcoming that de?ciency. design axis 13. 40 More complex matrices are also possible using more than BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION one design axis, for example Weight and Width. A user can Brie?y, the method of this invention provides a Way to generate an instance of a character on-the-?y by choosing a display prede?ned characters contained in a font Which point anyWhere along the tWo design axes of such a multiple maintain their artistically pleasing shapes as font design master typeface. 45 properties change over a font design axis (Which de?nes a Prior to the development of multiple master fonts, a font variable font design property). The method includes the family included only several discrete Weights, for example, steps of: regular, semibold, bold and black. Such font families con tained one or tWo variations in Width (e.g., condensed and (1) including Within each character de?nition a character expanded), and speci?c character designs Were sometimes speci?c transition point Which Will be used to select a provided for individual point siZes. Users Were limited to the prede?ned character attribute of the character When it is choices available in the font family, or they had to use displayed, the transition point lying along the font arti?cial techniques for bolding, lightening, expanding com design axis; and pressing an existing design. The neWer multiple master (2) selecting a value for the variable font design property typefaces enable users to select the value of the Weight, 55 of the character along the font design axis, arid then Width, siZe and style of the typefaces along a linear scale to determining a prede?ned character attribute for the suit their needs. character based upon the location of the selected value Because multiple master typefaces are generated on-the in relation to the character-speci?c transition point ?y, substantially less computer storage space is required than along the font design axis.