A computer-implemented apparatus, and method for generating an output digital font from a base font and one or more font descriptor files. The method involves, in an exemplary embodiment, the steps of retrieving from memory a file containing instructions and data for a generic base font; retrieving from memory a font descriptor file containing specifications for operating upon the base font to produce the desired output font; and then generating the output font by performing operations upon the base font in accordance with the specifications contained in the font descriptor file, to produce a character program for each character in the base font wherein the data representing the output font is the generic font data as transformed in accordance with said specification. Two or more font descriptor files may be combined, such as by using mathematical weighted averaging of the parameter values for different typographic design features, or otherwise, to create font descriptor files for hybrid typefaces.

The document display system comprises a first character shape generator, a first display and a first transmitter in a first terminal device; and a first receiver, a second character shape generator and a second display in a second terminal device. The first character shape generator generates the character shapes of characters constituting at least part of a document. The character shapes are generated in response to skeleton information and in response to shape generation information that includes information representing a typeface. The first display displays the characters with the character shapes generated by the first character shape generator so that the at least part of the document is displayed set in the typeface. The first transmitter transmits character information indicating the skeleton information for each of the characters. The first receiver receives skeleton information for each of the characters. The second character shape generator generates character shapes for the characters for which the first receiver receives the skeleton information. The character shapes are generated in response to the received skeleton information and in response to shape generation information. The second display displays the character shapes generated by the second character shape generator so that the at least part of the document is displayed set in the typeface.

A system and method for receiving and rendering Unicode text in multiple languages on a set top box is disclosed. The system includes a set top box which receives an application program from a broadcast station. The set top box executes the application program. The application program includes Unicode character encoding text for display on a television coupled to the set top box. An operating environment running on the set top box includes a Unicode encoding engine which the application program invokes to display Unicode text. The encoding engine determines the language of characters in the text and invokes a rendering engine corresponding to the language of each character, thus enabling characters from different languages to be mixed in the same text string. The rendering engine has specific knowledge of the language, such as rendering direction and context. One or more glyph sets may be plugged in to the set top box to support different languages and fonts according the locale in which the set top box will be used. The rendering engine renders the characters using the glyphs in the glyph sets. Furthermore, glyphs not present in the set top box may be downloaded to the set top box along with the application program and rendered by a rendering engine. A set top box and method for efficiently storing and quickly retrieving the large number of Japanese Unicode characters using a hash table and hashing method in the set top box is also disclosed.

A method generates a distance field for a region of a shape descriptor representing an object. The distance field includes a set of cells for which cell types are defined. A configuration of a set of cells for the region is generated. Each cell of the configuration includes a cell type and a method for reconstructing the distance field within the cell. The configuration of the set of cells is modified until an optimal configuration is reached. The modification is based on the shape descriptor, the region, and the set of cell types. The optimal configuration of the set of cells is stored in a memory to generate the distance field for the region. Another method generates a two-dimensional distance field within a cell associated with a two-dimensional object. A set of boundary descriptors for the two-dimensional object is determined and partitioned into a set of segments. The segments are delimited by a set of features of the boundary descriptors. A first and second segment associated with the cell are identified. First and second sets of distance values using the first and second segments are specified. A method for reconstructing the distance field within the cell, using the first and second sets of distance values, is defined. The first and second sets of distance values and the reconstruction method are stored to enable reconstruction of the distance field within the cell by applying the reconstruction method.

Methods and apparatus that enable a user to select a font from a collection of available fonts. The invention receives font data identifying each font in a collection of available fonts, identifies a location in a navigation space for each available font, receives a target location, and uses the target location to identify a candidate font in the collection of available fonts. The navigation space is defined by a set of navigation attributes. Each navigation attribute corresponds to a distinguishing font characteristic. Each location is defined by a set of navigation attribute values for all navigation attributes defining the navigation space. The target location is defined by input values for each navigation attribute specified by a navigation input received interactively from the user. The candidate font is a font with a location in the navigation space identical to the first target location if the collection of available fonts contains such a font. If the collection of available fonts does not contain such a font, the candidate font is a font in the collection of available fonts that is close to the first target location in the navigation space. Particular embodiments have the following features. The invention interactively receives a second navigation input specifying a second input value for one or more navigation attributes, where the second input values and the first input values define a second target location in the navigation space, and uses the second target location to identify a second candidate font in the collection of available fonts. The target location is defined by the attribute values defining the navigation space location of a current font and an input value designating a desired change in an attribute value of the current font. The user can select the candidate font from a collection of installed fonts for use in an application running on a computer, or can download the candidate font from the World Wide Web.