Simplifying complex characters to maintain legibility

A computer program product comprising one or more computer readable media with computer executable instruction that implement a method of automatically executing hinting instructions for a character in order to improve a character bitmap produced from an outline of the character at a certain size and output resolution when the character outline is scan converted, the method comprising steps for:

• receiving a character to be output, the character comprising one or more features, each of which further comprises one or more strokes;
• identifying one or more semantic character classifications for the character;
• identifying one or more hinting instructions that are associated with each of the one or more semantic character classifications, the one or more hinting instructions preserving semantic meaning for the character while altering either stroke presence, stroke location, or both for at least one stroke of at least one feature of the character based on a reference character size and output resolution;
• determining that an actual character size and output resolution for the character is within the reference character size and output resolution for the one or more hinting instructions;
• and
• producing a hinted character outline by using the one or more hinting instructions to alter either stroke presence, stroke location, or both for the at least one stroke of the at least one feature of the character.

A method for adding hinting instructions to a set of characters in order to improve a character bitmap produced from an outline of a character in the set of characters at a specified size and output resolution when the character outline is scan converted, the method comprising steps for:

• receiving a set of characters to be output, each character comprising one or more features with one or more strokes;
• and
• for each character in the set of characters:
• identifying one or more semantic character classifications to which the character belongs;
• identifying one or more hinting instructions that are associated with the one or more semantic character classifications for the character, the one or more hinting instructions preserving semantic meaning for the character while altering either stroke presence, stroke location, or both for at least one stroke of at least one feature of the character based on a reference character size and output resolution;
• and
• associating the one or more hinting instructions with the character.

A computer program product comprising one or more computer readable media carrying computer executable instructions that implement a method for adding hinting instructions to a set of characters in order to improve a character bitmap produced from an outline of a character in the set of characters at a specified size and output resolution when the character outline is scan converted, the method comprising acts of:

• retrieving a set of characters to be output, each character comprising one or more features with one or more strokes;
• and
• for each character in the set of characters:
• determining whether the character belongs to one or more semantic character classifications;
• if the character belongs to a semantic character classification, accessing one or more hinting instructions that are associated with the semantic character classification, the one or more hinting instructions preserving semantic meaning for the character while altering either stroke presence, stroke location, or both for at least one stroke of at least one feature of the character based on a reference character size and output resolution;
• and
• adding the one or more hinting instructions to the character.

A computer program product comprising one or more computer readable media carrying computer executable instruction that implement a method of automatically adding hinting instructions to a character in order to improve a scaled character bitmap produced from an outline of the character at a certain size and output resolution when the character outline is scan converted, the method comprising acts of:

• retrieving a character of an East Asian language to be output, the character comprising one or more features, each of which further comprises one or more strokes;
• determining that the character belongs to one or more semantic character classifications;
• accessing one or more hinting instructions that are associated with each of the one or more semantic character classifications, the one or more hinting instructions preserving semantic meaning for the character while altering either stroke presence, stroke location, or both for at least one stroke of at least one feature of the character based on a reference character size and output resolution;
• comparing an actual character size and output resolution for the character to the reference character size and output resolution for the one or more hinting instructions;
• executing the one or more hinting instructions to alter either stroke presence, stroke location, or both for the at least one stroke of the at least one feature of the character to produce a hinted character outline;
• creating a scaled character bit map from the hinted character outline;
• and
• sending the scaled character bit map to an output device.

A method of reducing at least one character stroke to improve character legibility for a scaled character bitmap produced from a character outline at a certain size and output resolution when the character outline is scan converted, the method comprising acts of:

• defining a character outline that comprises one or more features, each of which further comprises one or more strokes;
• defining one or more reference character sizes and output resolutions;
• comparing an actual character size and output resolution for the character to the one or more reference character sizes and output resolutions;
• defining one or more hinting instructions for the character to be executed if the actual character size and output resolution falls within one of the reference character sizes and output resolutions, as opposed to defining one or more stroke-reduced bit maps to be embedded, the one or more hinting instructions preserving semantic meaning for the character while reducing at least one stroke of at least one feature of the character.