JPH0242234B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the display of alphanumeric data in data processing, and in particular to the display of character and numeric data using display attributes.
Concerning how to control images. Conventional alphanumeric data terminals have means for attaching attributes to character data. By assigning attributes to data, certain characteristics of the character data to be displayed can be added. The attributes relevant to the present invention are of a type called "display attributes." The display attributes are character
It specifies the characteristics of how an image is displayed. Display attributes are generally classified into two types: monochrome display attributes and color display attributes. The "color display attribute" specifies the color of character images and their background areas. A simple example is the attributes of the three primary colors "red,""green," and "blue," and a predetermined color can be displayed by combining these. "Monochrome display attributes" are attributes of character images used in monochrome display terminals. Examples of monochromatic display attributes are "blink" which causes the character image to flicker, "underline" which adds an underline to the character image,
These include "emphasis" which highlights the character image, "inversion" which inverts the character image and the background, and "digit separator" which is a vertical line or dot that delimits the data field. These attributes may also be used in combination. For example, it is possible to add an underline while inverting the character image. Such attributes or combinations of attributes are specified by attribute codes. By converting display terminals from monochrome to color, their performance has improved and, in fact, high quality color displays have become technically and economically viable. However, current applications
Software is often designed for terminals with only monochromatic display attributes. It would be desirable to be able to use color terminals without having to reprogram applications designed for single color terminals. Although it is possible to directly replace the monochromatic display attribute with a color display attribute, depending on the combination of attributes, this may result in a strange, glaring display. However, monochrome display attributes may also be useful when color display terminals are used. Therefore, the method of the present invention for controlling a color display terminal using a monochrome display attribute code that specifies a combination of monochrome display attributes in a terminal that displays a character image of alphanumeric data in color specifies a combination of monochrome display attributes. Receiving a monochrome display attribute code, converting the combination of monochrome display attributes specified by the monochrome display attribute code into a predetermined combination of color display attributes and a predetermined combination of monochrome display attributes, and converting these converted colors. The present invention is characterized in that the display of character images of alphanumeric data is controlled based on a predetermined combination of display attributes and a combination of monochrome display attributes. The present invention has the advantage that it is possible to match the monochrome display attribute and the color display attribute while using the monochrome display attribute in a color display terminal. Hereinafter, in order to distinguish between the states before and after such attribute conversion, the combination of monochrome display attributes before conversion will be referred to as a monochrome display attribute input set or monochrome input attribute set, and the combination of monochrome display attributes after conversion will be referred to as a monochrome display attribute input set or a monochrome input attribute set. The combination is sometimes referred to as a monochrome display attribute output set or a monochrome output attribute set. The present invention significantly increases the value of an already defined monochrome display attribute input set by converting it into a color display attribute set and a monochrome display attribute output set and controlling the display according to these sets. can. For example, a single color "blink" attribute used to draw attention to the display character may appear as a "red" image in a color display. The “emphasis” attribute is expressed in color as “white” (red plus green plus blue). However, a character that has both the “blink” and “emphasis” attributes is the one that attracts the most attention.
Appears as a blinking red image. Furthermore,
When the “thousand separator line” attribute is activated, “emphasis”
Depending on the attribute, the character image can be changed from blue-green to yellow. Of course, the shape of the column separator line itself appears in blue in both cases. The monochrome display attribute input set and the monochrome display attribute output set may be the same, they may overlap, or one may be a subset of the other. The present invention involves the conversion of a monochromatic display attribute set to a monochromatic display attribute set and a color display attribute set, that is,
From small sets to large sets
It can be conceptualized as a transformation into Conversion between continuity sets is performed by an attribute conversion mechanism, which may include storage, and monochromatic and color logic to control color display. DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a microprocessor-controlled alphanumeric color display terminal 10. A normal parallel-connected bus 11 connects the microprocessor 1
2. Addresses for interconnecting ROM, ie, code storage device 13, which stores machine language microcode for driving the microprocessor 12, and RAM, ie, work memory 14, which stores various types of working data; Contains data and control lines. The communication adapter 15 sends and receives data to and from the microprocessor 12 through bit-serial communication such as a twin-axial cable. Refresh buffer 16 receives data bytes from bus 11 under control of microprocessor 12 and also sends these bytes in a predetermined sequence to color display 20.
Contains two ports of RAM to permanently maintain the CRT image. Refresh buffer 1
6's memory, timing and gate logic is of conventional design. In this embodiment, refresh buffer 16 transfers one data byte at a time to color display controller 20. data·
A byte represents an alphanumeric image or display attribute to be displayed. There are two types of display attributes: color and single color. The color display attribute specifies the color of the displayed character or its background.
In this example, the primary colors red, green, and blue are each
It has two strengths, ON and OFF, so 7 colors (plus blue) can be used. The monochromatic display attribute shows the character regardless of color, ie, the character can be seen in the black and white character image and its background area. The set of five-input monochrome display attributes in this example were previously used in the IBM 5250 series of monochrome data entry workstation terminals. The “Column Separator Line” (COLS) attribute indicates the beginning and end of each character position, so operators entering data into fixed-length fields can tell the range of the field in which characters are being entered. . The attribute is the last raster scan of the character frame, the one immediately to the left of the character.
Displayed as two dots: a dot and a dot immediately to the right. The Blink (BLNK) attribute causes the character image to blink approximately twice per second. The "underline" (UNSC) attribute causes a horizontal line to be displayed on the last scan of the character frame.
The "Intensify" (INT) attribute, also called the "Highlight" attribute, increases the brightness of the entire character image. The "reverse video" (REV) attribute changes the display from a normally bright character on a dark screen to a dark character on a bright screen. The REV attribute remains as a monochrome display attribute even in the current color display environment. The REV attribute provides a single two-dimensional image with values representing “character” and “background”.
Although the state of the forward video signal is inverted, all of the color display attributes can be controlled independently of the REV attribute. It is also possible to include other monochromatic display attributes, such as italics or other fonts, and subscript or superscript. Other color display attributes can obviously be incorporated as well. Attributes other than display attributes can also be used if desired. Since attributes other than display attributes are not used in this embodiment, the term "attribute" itself is considered to refer only to display attributes. In Figure 1, in addition to the above, there is an input/output adapter (hereinafter referred to as I/O adapter) 17 as a major component.
and keyboard 18. Keyboard 18 may be of conventional design with parallel or serial interfaces. I/O adapter 17 receives character bytes or other codes from keyboard 18 and interfaces to other internal or external elements not related to the present invention, such as cursor position registers or dot matrix printers. . Lines from I/O adapter 17 to color display controller 20 specify certain modes of operation as described below. FIG. 2 shows a portion of a color display control device 20 related to the present invention. Other, e.g. raster
Functions not relevant to the present invention, such as scan generation and timing, color beam convergence, and video signal amplification, have been omitted from the diagram. As background, in this example,
As in television technology, a horizontal raster with "even" and "odd" interlaced scan fields is used. Each character position has 12 scans vertically (S0-S12, i.e. 6 scans from each scan field) and 9 horizontally along each scan.
Occupies dots (T0 to T8). Typically, for example scans S1-S9 and dots T1-T
The character image is located in the range 7, and the other scans and dots are used as boundaries to prevent the character image from closely touching the adjacent character image. Character image codes have values from X40 to XFF (“X” means hexadecimal representation), and attributes have values from X20 to X3.
It has a value of F. The attribute has the following code (bit 7 is the most significant dot of the code byte): Bit : Attribute 7: Always 0 as an attribute code 6: Always 0 as an attribute code 5: Always 1 as an attribute code 4: Column separator (COLS) 3: Blink (BLNK) 2: Underline (UNSC) 1: Emphasis (INT) 0: Reverse Video (REV) The attribute itself occupies one character on the display, but the image of the attribute is not normally displayed and appears as a blank or space character. Therefore, for example, the attribute code
00101110 (=X2E) specifies that the character following the code position blinks, is underlined, and is highlighted. New data bytes are input from the refresh buffer 16 every character time of one scan in both scan fields, and the data bytes are
Sent to line 21. Character generator 22
receives both data bytes and a scan count SC23 that cycles from S0 to S12. Line 24 contains a parallel 9-bit D0-T8 signal representing dots T0-T8 of the current scan count 23 of the data bytes sent on data line 21.
D8 appears (all attribute codes X20-X
3F is normally erased in the next logic of character generator 22). The bits on line 24 are
As previously explained, it is latched into register 25 by character clock 26, which occurs every character time. A dot clock 29 occurring nine times from T0 to T8 during each character clock 26 causes the serializer 27 to convert the parallel scan bits into a serial video signal.
Convert to bits. Additionally, the inversion of the serial binary (light or dark) video signal appearing on line 28 is selected by control of the true complement (T/C) input. In this embodiment, attributes are displayed on the same or next line as the associated character. Logic 30 is 1
This ensures that the correct attribute code is enforced during character time. Attribute codes (i.e., X20-X3F) are on data line 21
decoder 31 sends a signal on line 32 each time a signal appears on line 32. Using the above signal as a clock signal, the attribute code of the data line 21 is input to a register 33 indicating the current attribute. Attribute code is the last scan (S1 in even scan field)
0, or S in an odd scan field
11), the attribute code is also input by the AND gate 34 into the register 35 indicating the starting attribute. The last of these attribute codes is held in registers 33 and 35 until it is replaced with the correct time in the next character line. Set/Reset/Latch (hereinafter referred to as SR)
Switching of said register 33 or 35 to line 36 (via multiplexer 37) is selected by control of a latch 38. line 32
When an attribute signal is present on line 3, register 33 is set to line 3 by RS latch 38 and multiplexer 37.
6. At the right edge of any scan, the horizontal retrace signal (line 39) is connected to RS latch 3.
8 and register 35 provides an output signal on line 36 until RS latch 38 is reset by line 32. That is, when the display surface is being scanned from left to right, each attribute code is sent from register 33 to line 36;
Controls the display attributes of the associated character until the next attribute code is scanned. register 35 by holding the last attribute of the previous character line and sending it to line 36 at the appropriate time.
operates only before the first attribute code of the scan appears. Decoder 40 provides a scan count or position signal that is used by several other elements of color display controller 20. In particular, the odd field position signal (line 41) is active during the six scans S1, S3, S5, S7, G9 and S11 of the second scan field of each interlaced frame (even scan field).
The fields are scan S0, S2, S4, S6,
S8 and S10). The final scan position signal (line 42) indicates the final scan of each scan field, scan S10.
and is active during S11. The overall function of each element of attribute conversion ROM 50, monochrome logic 60, and color logic 70 is as follows. (a) Convert an input set of monochrome display attributes into a set of color display attributes and an output set of monochrome display attributes. (b) generating a color signal according to the set of color display attributes; (c) modifying the video signal according to a subset of monochromatic output attributes; In fact, each of the elements 50, 60 and 70 may perform more than one part of the function to reduce overall cost. As previously explained, the five monochrome functions input to the system are column separator (COLS), blink (BLNK), underline (UNSC), emphasis (INT), and reverse video (REV). Of these,
The subsets actually used in the display are COLS,
They are BLNK, UNSC and REV. Additionally, another monochromatic output attribute, NOND, is generated from certain combinations of input attributes. NOND
causes all subsequent characters to be blanked out, or displayed as spaces. Color display attributes can be divided into three independent primary color signals, or
Seven colors are considered to be produced by the combination of these signals. Primary color signals are green (G), red (R),
and represented in blue (B). However, in order to avoid eye fatigue and produce more pleasant tones with a limited number of colors, CRT's phosphors differ somewhat from the standard colors of ordinary televisions. Actual colors are pink (R+B), red (R), yellow (R+G),
Green (G), blue-green (G+B), blue (B), and white (R+G
+B). Of course, black is the case when all three primary colors do not exist. Table 1 summarizes the overall conversion from a monochromatic input attribute set to a monochromatic output attribute set and a primary color attribute set. Attribute code (X2
0 to X3F) are first developed in each vertical column of single-color input attribute items as shown by the "1" item of each designation code. The item "1" expanded in each vertical column of the monochrome output attribute and color attribute items specifies the corresponding attribute code.

【table】

[Table] By the attribute conversion ROM 50, the monochrome input attribute set on line 36 is converted into a signal (outputted to lines 51 to 55) representing a set of output monochrome output attributes, and a signal representing the color attribute. (output on lines 56-58).
The attribute conversion ROM 50 converts address lines A0 (least significant bit, LSB) to A8 (most significant bit,
1024 (bytes) x 8 (bits) with MSB)
It is configured to operate using part of the ROM IC module. Lines 51 to 5 that output attributes
8 is 8 data lines D0 (LSB) to D7
(MSB). Five inputs from line 36 are input from address lines A2-A6. Address lines A7-A8 are mode control lines unrelated to the present invention. While the CRT's color convergence is adjusted by the "convergence mode" line generated by I/O adapter 17 in FIG.
is inhibited. On the other hand, the highlighted (INT attribute ON) character is white (R+G+B)
While the monochrome display attribute input remains unchanged, e.g. by activating the "two-color mode" line, using the color only in ranges where the normal strength character is green. Use as output. In other words, there is no substantial conversion. Since the underline and the digit separator are not included in the character generator 22, to ensure that they are generated at the correct time, the lower address is used to identify the last scan of the odd scan field, scan S11. - Lines A0 and A1 are used. Table 2 shows the complete contents of attribute translation ROM 50 addressed by address lines A0-A8. Data line D0 (LSB) to D
The value appearing in 7 (MSB) may deviate from the expected value. This occurs because the attribute conversion ROM 50 performs more than just converting attributes. Furthermore, it allows monochromatic logic 60
and color logic 70 helps generate certain attributes directly. For example, line 54 outputting UNSC will not be active whenever the UNSC attribute is active, rather than
is active only when both the and COLS attributes are active, simplifying the monochrome logic 60. Furthermore, during scan S11, that is, when both A0 and A1 are at high level,
By activating REV line 51 and B line 58, the UNSC attribute is actually generated and color logic 70 is simplified. Table 2 shows the address 128 of the attribute conversion ROM 50.
The contents of the seven color modes in ~255 are shown. The "Attribute" column in Table 2 shows the hexadecimal attribute code. The "Address" column indicates the first address of the 4-byte data group representing the attribute. The "Data@A" column shows the hexadecimal data contained in each of the 4 bytes. The last byte of the four bytes may have different contents from the other three bytes. “Data@A+
3'' column shows the contents of the last byte in the different cases.

[Table] Monochrome logic 60 basically has monochrome display attributes.
Changes the display character image according to the output set of COLS, BLNK, UNSC, REV, and “non-display” (NOND). This is done not only by acting directly on the monochromatic video signal, but also in conjunction with attribute conversion ROM 50 and/or color logic 70, as will be explained later.
REV output on line 51 is serializer 27
true/complement (T/C) input of the line 28 and acts as an exclusive OR gate for the serial video on line 28. That is, REV=0, indicating normal video, sends the signal unchanged on line 28, and REV=1, indicating reversed video, inverts the signal and sends it on line 28. output on line 52
NOND resets register 25 via OR gate 61, blanking the parallel video signal from line 24. Another input to OR gate 61 (line 32) effectively causes all attribute codes to automatically become the NOND attribute and appear as blanks on the CRT. The BLNK attribute is implemented by ANDing the output of line 53 (BLNK) with the several pulses per second clock signal (line 62) in AND gate 63 which provides the third input to OR gate 61. The active signal (line 65) and COLS (line 55) between the dot positions T0 to T8 of each character for each scan are ANDed by an AND gate 64. However, except during the scan S11 of the character having the underline attribute,
Attribute conversion ROM 50 disables COLS, so line 66 is activated only at the correct dot and scan time of the appropriate character. As previously explained, UNSC
(line 54) must be active.
With AND67, the signals on lines 54 and 66 are
ANDed, and the result is indicated by the signal appearing on line 68. Lines 66 and 68 affect the video signal by color logic 70. Color logic 70 receives the color display attributes of lines 56-58 and specifies one of seven colors to display the appropriate character. The serial video signal on line 28 controls AND gates 71-73 to provide selective activation of the color signals. When the signal on line 28 is high, line 56
The signal at ~58 is passed through gate 71~ without being changed.
73 and when the signal on line 28 is low, the signal on lines 56-58 passes through gate 71
~73 is not passed. Thereby, the video dots belonging to the character image will have their attributes transformed.
Displayed in one of seven colors specified by the ROM, with background dots displayed in black (absent all colors). In reverse video mode, the background color is specified by lines 56-58 and the character image is black. Since the digit separator line dot is always displayed in blue regardless of the color of the character at that position on the CRT, AND gates 74, 75 and 77 and OR gate 76
You need to control the color of the column separator line. Each time line 66, previously discussed, is active, the inverting inputs of AND gates 74 and 75 do not pass the G and R color signals. Line 66 also passes the B color signal through OR gate 76. AND gate 77 does not pass the B color signal at dot locations T0 and T8 when line 68 indicates UNSC and COLS, so T0 and T8 are black whenever UNSC and COLS are active. The normal color display head 80 is a color CRT,
It includes a video signal amplifier, scan generation circuit, power supply, etc., and displays alphanumeric characters in the color specified by the color signal input (lines 81-83). The control signals (lines 81-83) now represent both the color and output monochromatic attributes specified by the original input attribute bits received on data line 21. Control signal (lines 81-83)
is a binary value, but if desired could have more than two levels to represent a wider range of hues and intensities on the CRT. Additionally, some conventional color displays have an intensity or brightness control signal separate from the color control signal. As previously explained, the overall attribute transformation process can be distributed differently between each element 50, 60, and 70. The attribute conversion ROM 50 can also load two or more mappings from input attributes to monochromatic output and color attributes, and furthermore, the attribute conversion ROM 50 can be replaced in whole or in part by read/write memory. , thereby allowing loading of the mapping from the microprocessor 12 of FIG. 1 via the communications adapter 15 or from the keyboard 18. FIG. 3 shows an example of a conventional video serializer 27 useful in conjunction with the present invention. Ring counter 91 is dot clock 29
In response, a repeating sequence of dot signals T0-T8 is output. Each dot signal represents nine horizontal dots spaced one dot apart at each character location on the CRT display. T0 and T8 are OR gates 92
is ORed, and the column separator signal T08 previously described appears on line 65. Dot signal T0 to T
8 are input to a pair of AND gates and AND gate 94, respectively, and control the outputs of these AND gates. The pair of AND gates also receives a corresponding one of parallel video signals V0-V8 from register 25 of FIG. The selection between each pair of gates is determined by the true one's complement (T/C) input (line 5).
Based on 1). If T/C is high, AND gate 93 transfers the data unchanged to OR gate 95 at the correct time. If T/C is at a low level, the data value is inverted by the inverting AND (NAND) 94. OR gate 95 simply collects all of the outputs of AND gates 93 and 94 and forwards them to serial video line 28. Many other embodiments of serializer 27 are possible, and a particularly economical one is shown here as part of a custom logic chip in this embodiment.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 is a schematic block diagram of an alphanumeric color display terminal according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a detailed logic diagram of the color display control apparatus of FIG. 1 for carrying out the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a logic diagram of a conventional video signal serializer useful in control; FIG. 10... Alphanumeric color display terminal, 11
...Bus, 12...Microprocessor, 13...
...Code storage device, 14... Working storage device, 1
5... Communication adapter, 16... Refresh buffer, 17... I/O adapter, 18... Keyboard, 20... Color display control device, 21... Data line, 22... Character generator, 2
3...Scan count, 24...Line, 2
5...Register, 26...Character clock, 27...Serialization device, 28...Line, 29
...Dot clock, 30...Logic, 31
...decoder, 32 ... line, 33 ... register, 34 ... AND gate, 35 ... register,
36... line, 37... multiplexer, 38
...SR latch, 39...line, 40...decoder, 41, 42...line, 50...attribute conversion
ROM, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56,
57, 58...Line, 60...Single color logic,
61...OR gate, 62...clock line, 63,64...AND gate, 65,66...
...Line, 67...AND gate, 68...Line, 70...Color logic, 71,72,7
3, 74, 75...AND gate, 76...OR gate, 77...AND gate, 80...color display head, 81, 82, 83...line, 91...
...Ring counter, 92...OR gate, 9
3, 94...AND gate, 95...OR gate.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A method for controlling a color display terminal using a monochrome display attribute code that specifies a combination of monochrome display attributes in a terminal that displays a character image of alphanumeric data in color, comprising: receiving a monochrome display attribute code specifying a combination of monochrome display attributes, converting the combination of monochrome display attributes specified by the monochrome display attribute code into a predetermined combination of color display attributes and a predetermined combination of monochrome display attributes; A method for controlling a color display terminal, comprising controlling the display of a character image of alphanumeric data based on a predetermined combination of converted color display attributes and a predetermined combination of monochrome display attributes.