Printer driver and method for supporting worldwide single binary font format with built in support for double byte characters

A computer system for outputting printer commands to a printer in response to a print request from an application program, the printer including at least a first device font resident therein and selectable for printing via a first n-byte code, the application program providing at least text data to be printed, characters of the text data being identified via a second n-byte code, comprising:

• a graphics device interface for invoking a plurality of device driver functions for controlling the outputting of at least the text data, the graphics device interface being compatible to read the second n-byte code;
• a minidriver containing a characterization of the printer, the characterization including information identifying the at least one device font resident in the printer and the first n-byte code;
• a printer driver in communication with the minidriver for receiving at least the information identifying the device fonts resident in the printer and the first n-byte code, the printer driver further in communication with the graphics device interface for receiving at least the text data to be printed, the printer driver utilizing the information to translate the second n-byte code to the first n-byte code, the printer driver outputting translated text data to the printer corresponding to the text data to be printed, and wherein the characters of the translated text data are identified via the first n-byte code;
• and
• wherein the printer includes at least two types of characters in the same device font stored therein, a first type of character is of a fixed pitch and a type of character is of a proportional pitch, and wherein the printer driver selects a correct device font, symbol set, and associated n-byte code during the translation of the text data to be printed, the text data to be printed including at least one character identified by the second n-byte code which, when translated by the printer drive, is a member of each of the first and the second types of characters, the printer driver thereby selecting and printing both fixed and proportional pitch characters.

A printer driver for controlling the printing by a printer of at least text data provided by an application program, the printer containing at least one device font stored therein having characters identified by a first n-byte code, the printer having associated therewith a minidriver containing information about the printer including information identifying the device fonts resident in the printer and the first n-byte code, comprising:

• a first data structure for receiving the information identifying the device fonts resident in the printer and the first n-byte code, the first data structure storing the first n-byte code;
• a second data structure for storing a second n-byte code utilized by the application program to output text data to be printed;
• a third data structure for receiving the text data to be printed from an application program, the text data utilizing the second n-byte code to identify individual characters within the text data;
• a fourth data structure for mapping the second n-byte code to the first n-byte code;
• a fifth data structure for transmitting to the printer at least the text data to be printed, the transmitted text data utilizing the first n-byte code to identify individual characters within the text data;
• and
• wherein the fourth data structure cannot map at least one of the characters identified via the second n-byte code into a corresponding first n-byte code, the printer driver further comprising an eighth data structure to develop a bitmap of the at least one character, the fifth data structure further outputting the bitmap to the printer for printing thereof.

A printer driver for controlling the printing by a printer of at least text data provided by an application program, the printer containing at least one device font stored therein having characters identified by a first n-byte code, the printer having associated therewith a minidriver containing information about the printer including information identifying the device fonts resident in the printer and the first n-byte code, comprising:

• a first data structure for receiving the information identifying the device fonts resident in the printer and the first n-byte code, the first data structure storing the first n-byte code;
• a second data structure for storing a second n-byte code utilized by the application program to output text data to be printed;
• a third data structure for receiving the text data to be printed from an application program, the text data utilizing the second n-byte code to identify individual characters within the text data;
• a fourth data structure for mapping the second n-byte code to the first n-byte code;
• a fifth data structure for transmitting to the printer at least the text data to be printed, the transmitted text data utilizing the first n-byte code to identify individual characters within the text data;
• and
• wherein the printer includes at least two device fonts stored therein, a first device font containing characters which are of a fixed pitch and a second device font containing characters which are of a proportional pitch, and wherein the fourth data structure maps the second n-byte code to both a correct device font and its associated n-byte code, and wherein the fifth data structure transmits the text data to be printed including at least one character identified by the second n-byte code which is mapped to each of the first and the second device fonts, the fifth data structure thereby transmitting both fixed and proportional pitch characters to be printed.

A method of printing glyphs using a device font stored within a printer, the device font identifying individual characters by a first n-byte code, comprising the steps of:

• receiving information defining the first n-byte code;
• mapping the information defining the first n-byte code to predefined information defining a second n-byte code used by application programs to identify individual characters to be printed;
• receiving at least text information to be printed, the text information utilizing the second n-byte code to identify individual characters to be printed;
• translating the text information to be printed from the second n-byte code to the first n-byte code;
• transmitting the translated text information to the printer to be printed, the translated text information utilizing the first n-byte code to identify individual characters to be printed to utilize the device font stored within the printer;
• and
• wherein at least one of the characters identified via the second n-byte code cannot be mapped to a corresponding first n-byte code by the mapping step, the method further comprising the steps of generating a bitmap image of the at least one character, and transmitting the bitmap image to the printer for printing thereof.

A method of printing glyphs using a device font stored within a printer, the device font identifying individual characters by a first n-byte code, comprising the steps of:

• receiving information defining the first n-byte code;
• mapping the information defining the first n-byte code to predefined information defining a second n-byte code used by application programs to identify individual characters to be printed;
• receiving at least text information to be printed, the text information utilizing the second n-byte code to identify individual characters to be printed;
• translating the text information to be printed from the second n-byte code to the first n-byte code;
• transmitting the translated text information to the printer to be printed, the translated text information utilizing the first n-byte code to identify individual characters to be printed to utilize the device font stored within the printer;
• and
• wherein the printer includes at least two device fonts stored therein, a first device font containing characters which are of a fixed pitch and a second device font containing characters which are of a proportional pitch, and wherein the text data to be printed includes at least one character identified by the second n-byte code which, when translated, is member of each of the first and the second device fonts, the method further comprising the steps of mapping information defining each of the device fonts to the predefined second n-byte code, translating the text information to be printed from the second n-byte code to a correct device font and its associated n-byte code, and transmitting the translated text information to the printer including the correct device font and associated n-byte code to select and print both fixed and proportional pitch characters.