Control device, laser irradiation device, optimization font data database, recording method, and computer-readable storage medium

A recording method which controls a laser irradiation device to record visible information on a medium by irradiation of a laser beam, the recording method comprising:

• acquiring, by a drawing information acquiring unit of a control device, drawing information of a line image as an object to be drawn, from a drawing information storage unit of the control device which stores drawing information of line segments contained in line images of characters, numbers, and symbols;
• acquiring, by a thickness information acquiring unit of the control device, thickness information which specifies a thickness of each line segment;
• detecting, by an overlapping line segment detecting unit of the control device, a pair of line segments drawing ranges of which, inclusive of the line segment thickness, overlap each other, based on the thickness information and the drawing information;
• and
• dividing or shortening, by a line dividing/shortening unit of the control device, at least one of the pair of line segments so that the drawing ranges of the pair of line segments do not overlap each other,
• wherein the overlapping line segment detecting unit:
• detects an intersection of a pair of line segments,
• computes an altitude from an endpoint of one line segment of the pair of line segments perpendicular to the other line segment of the pair of line segments,
• determines whether the altitude intersects the other line segment of the pair of line segments, and
• detects, when the pair of line segments have an intersection, a distance between the intersection and the pair of line segments as being zero, detects a distance between an endpoint of one line segment of the pair of endpoints and an endpoint of the other line segment, and detects, when the altitude intersects the other line segment, a length of the altitude from the endpoint of one line segment of the pair of line segments to the other line segment.

A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer-readable program which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform a recording method which controls a laser irradiation device to record visible information on a medium by irradiation of a laser beam, the recording method comprising:

• acquiring, by a drawing information acquiring unit of a control device, drawing information of a line image as an object to be drawn, from a drawing information storage unit of the control device which stores drawing information of line segments contained in line images of characters, numbers, and symbols;
• acquiring, by a thickness information acquiring unit of the control device, thickness information which specifies a thickness of each line segment;
• detecting, by an overlapping line segment detecting unit of the control device, a pair of line segments drawing ranges of which, inclusive of the line segment thickness, overlap each other, based on the thickness information and the drawing information;
• and
• dividing or shortening, by a line dividing/shortening unit of the control device, at least one of the pair of line segments so that the drawing ranges of the pair of line segments do not overlap each other,
• wherein the overlapping line segment detecting unit:
• detects an intersection of a pair of line segments,
• computes an altitude from an endpoint of one line segment of the pair of line segments perpendicular to the other line segment of the pair of line segments,
• determines whether the altitude intersects the other line segment of the pair of line segments, and
• detects, when the pair of line segments have an intersection, a distance between the intersection and the pair of line segments as being zero, detects a distance between an endpoint of one line segment of the pair of endpoints and an endpoint of the other line segment, and detects, when the altitude intersects the other line segment, a length of the altitude from the endpoint of one line segment of the pair of line segments to the other line segment.