System and method for displaying text

1. An article comprising:

a machine-readable memory that provides instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations including,

receiving character outline data comprising a set of points that define at least portions of a character;

determining original interval boundaries only on the y-axis based on the character outline data wherein the original interval boundaries correspond to original breakpoints that are represented by points on the y-axis relating to character outline data;

creating modified breakpoints and modified interval boundaries to correspond to pixel boundaries of a display, wherein each of the modified interval boundaries is a distance from one of the original interval boundaries and the modified interval boundaries are specified to bound intervals on the y-axis only; and

vertically repositioning certain points of the set of points of the character along pixel boundaries based on the distances using a stepwise transform relative to the y-axis, and on characteristics of a font, but without using hinting information, and wherein horizontal stems of the character maintain the same thickness through the transform.

2. The article of claim 1 , wherein the font characteristics include a distance from a top of an uppercase character to a baseline.

3. The article of claim 1 , wherein the font characteristics include a distance from a top of a lowercase character to a baseline.

4. The article of claim 1 , wherein the instructions represent an operating system for the machine.

5. The article of claim 1 , wherein the instructions represent a word processing program for the machine.

6. The article of claim 1 , wherein the stepwise transform is a linear transform.

7. The article of claim 1 , wherein the stepwise transform comprises at least one of a quadratic transform and a cubic transform.

8. An article comprising:

a machine readable memory that provides instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising,

receiving character outline data comprising a set of points that define at least portions of a character, the portions including at least one horizontal stem,

determining original interval boundaries only on the y-axis based on the character outline data wherein the original interval boundaries correspond to original breakpoints that are represented by points on the y-axis relating to character outline data;

creating modified breakpoints and modified interval boundaries to correspond to pixel boundaries of a display, wherein each of the modified interval boundaries is a distance from one of the original interval boundaries and the modified interval boundaries are specified to bound intervals on the y-axis only; and

vertically repositioning certain points of the set of points of the character along pixel boundaries based on the distances using a stepwise linear transform relative to the y-axis, and on characteristics of a font, wherein hints are omitted from the font, and wherein the horizontal stem of the character maintains the same thickness across the transform.

9. The article of claim 8 , wherein the instructions represent an operating system for the machine.

10. The article of claim 8 , wherein the instructions represent an application program for the machine.

11. A method of rasterizing a font character on a display device, the method comprising:

receiving character outline data comprising a set of points that define at least portions of a character, the portions including at least one horizontal stem;

determining original interval boundaries only on the y-axis based on the character outline data wherein the original interval boundaries correspond to original breakpoints that are represented by points on the y-axis relating to character outline data;

using a processor to create modified breakpoints and modified interval boundaries to correspond to pixel boundaries of the display, wherein each of the modified interval boundaries is a distance from one of the original interval boundaries and the modified interval boundaries are specified to bound intervals on the y-axis only; and

vertically repositioning certain points of the set of points of the character along pixel boundaries based on the distances using a stepwise transform relative to the y-axis, and on characteristics of a font,

wherein hinting information is ignored when vertically repositioning portions of the character, and

wherein the horizontal stem of the character has the same thickness before the transform as after the transform; and

displaying the repositioned character on the display device.

12. A method of repositioning a character for a display, comprising:

receiving character outline data of the character, wherein the character outline data includes a set of points;

determining original interval boundaries only on the y axis based on the character outline data wherein the original interval boundaries correspond to original breakpoints that are represented by points on the y-axis relating to the character outline data:

using a processor to create modified breakpoints and modified interval boundaries to correspond to pixel boundaries of the display, wherein each of the modified interval boundaries is a distance from one of the original interval boundaries and the modified interval boundaries are specified to bound intervals on the y axis only; and

vertically repositioning certain points of the set of points based on the distances using a stepwise transform relative to the y-axis, wherein horizontal stems of the character have the same thickness before the repositioning as after the repositioning.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the stepwise transform is a linear transform.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the stepwise transform comprises at least one of a quadratic transform and a cubic transform.