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| FAQs TrueDoc is an OEM software development kit (SDK) that solves the problems associated with fonts in portable electronic documents, as well as in applications, operating systems, platforms, and devices. TrueDoc gives OEMs and ISVs a system that delivers 100% font fidelity while providing industry-leading font compression, imaging speed, and typographic quality. Bitstream has also adopted TrueDoc technology for use in its widely-implemented TrueDoc Printing/Imaging System. The TrueDoc Printing System offers printer manufacturers more compressed resident font suites, faster performance, and the unprecedented ability to create font suites on-the-fly. This document presents the answers to the most common questions that customers ask about TrueDoc. For more information, contact a Bitstream sales representative. GENERAL QUESTIONS
What is Bitstream TrueDoc? Bitstream TrueDoc is an OEM source code product that solves the problems associated with fonts in portable electronic documents. It delivers 100% font fidelity with significant font compression and high performance. TrueDoc makes publishing hassle free, and makes it possible to generate and share richly-formatted electronic documents. What makes TrueDoc unique? TrueDoc's approach to the font fidelity issue is unique because it delivers 100% character shape fidelity with no significant size or performance penalty. It is the smallest and fastest solution available. Furthermore, TrueDoc accomplishes this without infringing on the legal copyright protection of font programs. Does TrueDoc compete with portable document applications? No. TrueDoc is a technology in the form of a software development kit (SDK) that developers can write into portable document applications. Does TrueDoc deliver complete document fidelity? Yes. Unlike other portable document applications, TrueDoc does not synthesize look-alike fonts when users receiving a document do not have the same fonts on their system as the author's, nor does TrueDoc rely on embedded fonts that travel with the document. These methods have numerous drawbacks, including large file sizes and slow performance, but most importantly, they do not guarantee font fidelity. A TrueDoc-generated typeface looks exactly like the original. TrueDoc works with symbol and pi fonts, and also with non-Western characters, such as Kanji or Arabic. Bitstream TrueDoc can handle any character shape, regardless of complexity or font format (PostScript, TrueType, and so on), and it does so with no performance penalty. How can TrueDoc run on all platforms? TrueDoc is source code written in standard ANSI C. You can easily compile it, using popular tools on all platforms. It is a self-contained application that functions a level above the operating system (OS). Therefore, it is independent of the OS and the application it works with. What is TrueDoc made up of? What do the components do? TrueDoc has two main software components, the Character Shape Recorder (CSR) and the Character Shape Player (CSP). The CSR records the font character shapes from a document, compresses them, and stores them in a highly compressed data structure called a Portable Font Resource (PFR). The PFR travels along with the portable document. The CSP reads the data from the PFR and images the font character shapes at any resolution and any size at the receiving end. What is the size of the Portable Font Resource (PFR)? The size of the PFR varies according to the number of different character shapes in the recorded document. In comparison to existing font formats, it offers better than 2-to-1 compression over PostScript fonts, and better than 3-to-1 compression over TrueType fonts. How does TrueDoc achieve such a high level of compression? TrueDoc achieves its high level of compression through a combination of tactics. First, TrueDoc usually records only the character shapes in the document. If there is no 'q' in the original document, there will be no 'q' in the PFR. This is called character subsetting. Also as part of its subsetting tactic, TrueDoc uses sophisticated character recognition to break compound characters (accented characters, fractions, etc.) down into their component parts. (If the characters ó, ô, ö, and õ are in a document, TrueDoc saves the 'o' once, and each accent separately.) Second, TrueDoc uses an extremely advanced hinting process to ensure the high quality rendering of characters at low resolutions (below 600 dpi). Hints can take up a lot of room in fonts. Bitstream has developed an extremely compact hinting technology to keep TrueDoc PFRs as small as possible. With TrueDoc, what does the viewer see on screen? Within the viewing application that the portable document application manufacturer provides, the user sees exact replicas of the character shapes from the original document. Furthermore, the fonts in the viewer's document are fully scalable, so the user can zoom in and out of the document; the character shapes redraw on the fly. TrueDoc is completely resolution and size independent. The TrueDoc PFRs contain fully scalable outline fonts. If the receiver prints, what exactly is being printed? TrueDoc can print documents in two different ways. First, the user can send a page to the printer in graphics mode. Second, OEMs can implement one or more of Bitstream's TrueDoc font regeneration modules. These modules take the data in the PFR and temporarily translate that data into PostScript, TrueType, or HP PCL font format for printing the document. This second method delivers the best possible performance, especially if you deal with high-resolution typesetters and similar devices. How are font metrics, kerning, and tracking handled? The application in which TrueDoc is implemented handles character spacing. TrueDoc simply records characters and plays them back. What legal considerations are involved with fonts in electronic documents? Legitimate licensees of fonts or font software can create, print, copy, or distribute documents anywhere in the world. After all, that is what publishing is all about, and that is precisely why font vendors create and sell their font products. The end result of distributing a document electronically and printing it at its intended destinations is no different from printing and distributing the document. Similarly, TrueDoc lets publishers distribute documents electronically for viewing or printing anywhere in the world, but without, for instance, the resolution limitations associated with faxing. TrueDoc captures character shapes at the publishing or authoring end, encodes the shapes digitally, and allows them to be transmitted to recipients, maintaining, within the reproduced document, the typographic quality that the author intended. In other words, TrueDoc provides a way to reproduce the look and feel of a document. When recording characters, the TrueDoc recorder does not access the original font directly. In addition, TrueDoc does not copy or use any hinting information from the original font. TrueDoc's internal, automatic hinting process handles all hinting to guarantee exceptional quality on all devices. TrueDoc works differently from font embedding, which must conform to the explicit software license granted by the individual font foundry. Many font foundries grant local user licenses. For example, many license agreements clearly state that "a user may install the enclosed font(s) on up to five workstations only" or that "font programs may not be disassembled or transmitted." TrueDoc regenerates curves and hints so that the resulting character shapes are suitable for transporting and imaging. TrueDoc can generate standard font formats at the receiving end, so that they can work seamlessly with existing operating systems and printers. These generated fonts are installed only temporarily for the purpose of rendering and viewing the original document. Bitstream does not condone and does not knowingly allow such regenerated fonts to be used for any other purpose.Why is TrueDoc a better solution? While all of the competing font technologies offer valuable assets, none deliver 100% font fidelity as TrueDoc does. The others generally rely on font embedding, which makes portable documents larger; font synthesis, based on libraries of descriptors; or "morphing" of an existing font outline into a new shape. Inevitably, these strategies fall short of the most important goal: the viewer must see exactly what the author created. TrueDoc offers similar levels of compression and performance in an on-the-fly system and is the only one to deliver 100% fidelity. What is the OEM licensing model for TrueDoc? The licensing model is based on an up-front access fee, plus royalty payments. For more information, contact Bitstream OEM or ISV Sales. When will the code be available? The TrueDoc SDK is available now. OEMs can get source code for evaluation by signing a Bitstream confidential disclosure agreement. CONCLUSION Bitstream TrueDoc is a compact, high performance font subsystem that succeeds everywhere other font systems do, then surpasses them. No other font technology can deliver 100% font fidelity across all platforms and devices regardless of the complexity of the character. TrueDoc has limitless applications, from portable electronic documents to printer controllers, printer drivers, and new media publishing. TrueDoc can solve font problems wherever users need to record or view formatted documents. |
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