4.4 Character bitmap data
4.4.1 Standard Format
Standard Format consists of the following bitmaps.
- Bitmap data for horizontal-writing characters
- Patch bitmap data for horizontal-writing characters
- Patch bitmap data for vertical-writing characters
- Bitmap data for horizontal-writing characters
Character bitmaps are stored in the sequence described in the code area table. The bitmaps are stored starting from segment 3. If a segment size exceeds 65,535 bytes, the excess is stored in the segment of the next number.
A bitmap for one character is defined by a monochrome bit map of 8-bit boundary. White data is expressed by 1 and black data is expressed by 0.
Sizes of the character bitmap are equal to the sizes described in "4.2.2 Parameter Structure". There is no dummy byte between any two bitmaps.
For a vertical-writing character, the bitmap data is usually generated by rotating the bitmap data of a horizontal-writing character by 90 degrees of counterclockwise. However, a character that cannot be created from a horizontal-writing character bitmap needs to have separate bitmap data. In this case, the patch bitmap data for the vertical-writing character must be prepared.
- Patch bitmap data for horizontal-writing characters
Patching a bitmap data for a horizontal character, a horizontal-writing bitmap might be prepared if necessary. The following section describes the patch table in detail.
- Patch bitmap data for vertical-writing characters
A vertical character bitmap data that cannot be created from rotating the bitmap data of a horizontal-writing character bitmap data by 90 degrees of counterclockwise needs to have separate bitmap data. In this case, the bitmap data must be stored rotating the bitmap data by 90 degrees of clockwise.