Patent US 5,347,266

The invented method, device and resulting font structure recognize that different fonts may have shared characters or common bit patterns. For example, if the character ".sub.-- " is the same in two different fonts, it only needs to be stored in memory once. It can then be referenced by both fonts. Specifically, the invention identifies shared characters or bit patterns, stores one of the shared characters or patterns at one location, and references that location in all fonts needing the character or pattern.