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.