Method and apparatus for generating personalized handwriting

Claim 1

A computer system for simulating handwriting in the production of output documents, comprising: wordprocessing means for providing an original document including a plurality of words; means for storing handwritten graphical representations of character strings in memory of the computer system to provide a dictionary in the memory of the computer system associating the character strings with their handwritten graphical representations; string replacement means connected to said input means and said dictionary means for decomposing the words from said original document into word character strings, associating the word character strings with the character strings represented in said dictionary means and replacing the words with their handwritten graphical representation so as to product an output document of simulated handwriting, the string replacement means including means for: associating a word character string with a plurality of character strings in the dictionary comprising the word character string if no corresponding character string exists in the dictionary for the word character string; connecting the handwritten graphical representations of said plurality of character strings in the dictionary so as to form a contiguous graphical representation of the word character string; and displaying and modifying said simulated handwritten document in order to effect changes in the placement and appearance of the handwritten graphical representation of character strings in said simulated and written document; and means for outputting the simulated handwritten document to an output device.

Claim 7

A method for simulating handwriting in a computer generated document, comprising: creating handwritten graphical representations of character strings; storing the handwritten graphical representations of the character strings in memory of the computer to provide a dictionary in the memory of the computer associating the character strings with their handwritten graphical representations; providing a document including a plurality of words; decomposing words in said document into one or more word character strings; replacing the word character strings with their associated graphical representation; associating a word character string with a plurality of character strings from the dictionary comprising the word character string if no corresponding character string exists in the dictionary for the word character string and connecting adjacent graphical representations of said plurality of character strings in the dictionary to form a contiguous graphical representation of the word character string; whereby a document of simulated handwriting is created; displaying and modifying said simulated handwritten document in order to effect changes in the placement and appearance of the handwritten graphical representation of character strings in said simulated handwritten document as desired; and outputting said simulated handwritten document to an output device.

Claim 8

A method for simulating handwriting in a computer generated document, comprising: creating handwritten graphical representations of character strings; storing the handwritten graphical representations of the character strings in memory of the computer to provide a dictionary in the memory of the computer associating the character strings with their handwritten graphical representations; providing a document including a plurality of words; decomposing words in said document into one or more word character strings; replacing the word character strings with their associated graphical representation; associating a word character string with a plurality of character strings from the dictionary comprising the word character string if no corresponding character string exists in the dictionary for the word character string and connecting adjacent graphical representations of said plurality of character strings in the dictionary to form a contiguous graphical representation of the word character string; whereby a document of simulated handwriting is created; displaying and modifying said simulated handwritten document in order to effect changes in the placement and appearance of the handwritten graphical representation of character strings in said simulated handwritten document as desired; and outputting said simulated handwritten document to an output device.