HP PCL/PJL reference (PCL 5 Printer Language) - Technical Reference Manual Part I

9-8 Font Management EN
Unbound Scalable Fonts
Prior to introduction of the HP LaserJet IIIP printer, a downloaded
scalable font was restricted to a single symbol set. Now scalable fonts
with no symbol set affiliation can be downloaded. These new fonts
are called unbound fonts.
To download unbound fonts, the “PCL Font Header for Intellifont
Unbound Scalable Fonts” or the “Format 15 Font Header for Scalable
Fonts” (TrueType) must be used (see Chapter 11).
Bound and Unbound Fonts
The terms “bound” and “unbound” refer to the symbol set capacity of
a font. A bound font identifies a font which is restricted (bound) to a
single symbol set. An unbound font (or unbound typeface) indicates
the capacity to be bound to a set of symbols selected from a
complementary symbol index (such as the Master Symbol List
(MSL), or the Unicode symbol index).
Font Selection and Unbound Fonts
When a font is requested for printing, the printer selects a font which
most closely matches the current font selection characteristics
(symbol set, spacing, pitch, height, style, stroke weight, and
typeface). Refer to “Summary of Font Selection by Characteristics” in
Chapter 8 for detailed font characteristic selection information.
Since symbol set is the highest font selection priority and typeface is
the lowest, the printer searches for the symbol set first. A list of all
fonts that match the requested symbol set is made. This includes
bitmap, bound, and unbound fonts. Since bitmap and bound scalable
fonts contain only one symbol set, they can be easily identified.
However, determining which unbound fonts match a symbol set is
more complex. Symbol set compatibility for unbound fonts is
determined by identification of groups of symbols referred to as
symbol collections.