Apparatus for and method of enlarging character pattern

Claim 1

A method of enlarging character patterns, characterised in that it comprises the steps of; (a) generating a fundamental character pattern representative of a character to be enlarged, said fundamental character pattern being composed of a dot-matrix in which said character is represented by vertical strokes, horizontal strokes and slant strokes oriented at an angle of 45° with respect to said vertical and horizontal strokes; (b) forming a square pattern in accordance with each dot element of said fundamental character pattern,.each square pattern being composed of four adjacent dot elements one of which is to be enlarged; (c) reading an enlarged partial pattern corresponding to said dot element to be enlarged out of a storage means, into which all kinds of enlarged partial patterns have previously been stored, in accordance with said square pattern and a magnifying rate, said enlarged partial patterns being predetermined in accordance with the corresponding square pattern and magnifying rate; and (d) combining said enlarged partial patterns read out of said storage means so that an enlarged character pattern corresponding to said fundamental character pattern is formed (e) whereby outlines of each stroke of said enlarged character pattern are interpolated to be smooth.

Claim 2

A method of enlarging character patterns, characterised in that it comprises the steps of; (a) generating a fundamental character pattern representative of a character to be enlarged, said fundamental character pattern being composed of a dot-matrix in which said character is represented by vertical strokes, horizontal strokes and slant strokes oriented at an angle of 45° with respect to said vertical and horizontal strokes; (b) forming a square pattern in accordance with each dot element of said fundamental character pattern,.each square pattern being composed of four adjacent dot elements one of which is to be enlarged; (c) reading an enlarged partial pattern corresponding to said dot element to be enlarged out of a storage means, into which all kinds of enlarged partial patterns have previously been stored, in accordance with said square pattern and a magnifying rate, said enlarged partial patterns being predetermined in accordance with the corresponding square pattern and magnifying rate; and (d) combining said enlarged partial patterns read out of said storage means so that an enlarged character pattern corresponding to said fundamental character pattern is formed (e) whereby outlines of each stroke of said enlarged character pattern are interpolated to be smooth.

Claim 3

An apparatus for enlarging character patterns, characterised in that it comprises; (a) character pattern generating means for generating a fundamental character pattern representative of a character to be enlarged, said fundamental character pattern being composed of a dot-matrix in which said character is represented by vertical strokes, horizontal strokes and slant strokes oriented at an angle of 45° with respect to said vertical and horizontal strokes; .(b) square pattern forming means for forming a square pattern in accordance with each dot element of said fundamental character pattern, said square pattern being composed of four adjacent dot elements one of Which is to be enlarged; (c) storage means for previously storing an enlarged partial pattern with respect to each kind of said square patterns, each enlarged partial pattern being predetermined in accordance with the corresponding square pattern and a magnifying rate; (d) means for reading said enlarged partial pattern out of said storage means in accordance with said square pattern and magnifying rate; and (e) means for combining said enlarged partial patterns read out of said storage means so that an enlarged character pattern corresponding to said fundamental character pattern is formed (f) whereby outlines of each stroke of said enlarged character pattern are interpolated to be smooth.

Claim 4

An apparatus for enlarging character patterns, characterised in that it comprises; (a) character pattern generating means for generating a fundamental character pattern representative of a character to be enlarged, said fundamental character pattern being composed of a dot-matrix in which said character is represented by vertical strokes, horizontal strokes and slant strokes oriented at an angle of 45° with respect to said vertical and horizontal strokes; .(b) square pattern forming means for forming a square pattern in accordance with each dot element of said fundamental character pattern, said square pattern being composed of four adjacent dot elements one of Which is to be enlarged; (c) storage means for previously storing an enlarged partial pattern with respect to each kind of said square patterns, each enlarged partial pattern being predetermined in accordance with the corresponding square pattern and a magnifying rate; (d) means for reading said enlarged partial pattern out of said storage means in accordance with said square pattern and magnifying rate; and (e) means for combining said enlarged partial patterns read out of said storage means so that an enlarged character pattern corresponding to said fundamental character pattern is formed (f) whereby outlines of each stroke of said enlarged character pattern are interpolated to be smooth.

Claim 8

An apparatus according to any of claims 2 to 5, in which said means for combining said enlarged partial patterns together comprises output shift registers and an output buffer which accumulates data shifted out of said output shift registers, said output shift registers receiving said enlarged partial patterns read out of said storage means.