JPH0318717B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] This invention relates to a display device for displaying the output of an electronic computer, for example, as characters or image patterns on a display screen of a cathode ray tube. .

[Prior art]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of the configuration of a conventional display device of this type. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a bitmap memory section in which, for example, a plurality of various rectangular image patterns are held. Reference numeral 2 denotes a display control unit to which the positions and sizes of the plurality of rectangular image patterns in the bitmap memory unit 1, display priorities for superimposed display, and the plurality of rectangular image patterns are transferred. The position on the screen memory section 3 to be displayed and the width of the frame surrounding the rectangular image pattern on the screen memory section 3 are held as display control information. 3 is a screen memory section, which is a cathode ray tube (hereinafter abbreviated as CRT)
Image patterns corresponding to 8 display screen dots are stored. Reference numeral 4 denotes an area discriminating unit that identifies an area in the screen memory unit 3 that needs to be changed and an area in the bitmap memory unit 1 that corresponds to the area, according to the display control information in the display control unit 2 and the type of change. It plays a role of instructing the direct memory access controller unit 6 (hereinafter abbreviated as DMAC) to perform an image pattern transfer operation for the identified area. Reference numeral 5 denotes a frame discrimination unit which calculates a frame area surrounding the image pattern held in the screen memory unit 3 after the contents of the screen memory unit 3 are updated by the area discrimination unit 4 and the DMAC 6. It plays a role of instructing the DMAC 6 to fill the frame area on the screen memory section 3 with a frame pattern.
The DMAC 6 moves the bitmap memory section 1 according to instructions from the area discriminating section 4 and the frame discriminating section 5.
Data is transferred from the screen memory section 3 to the screen memory section 3, and a predetermined area in the screen memory section 3 is partially filled in. Reference numeral 7 denotes a video control section, which plays the role of generating a video signal corresponding to the image pattern to be displayed read out from the screen memory section 3 in accordance with a predetermined scanning timing.

Figure 2 shows, for example, three rectangular image patterns.
This is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which IP ₁ , IP ₂ , and IP ₃ are held in the bit map memory section 1, and each of these rectangular image patterns
Assuming that the positions of the upper left corner vertices of IP _i (i=1, 2, 3) in the bit map memory unit 1 are x _i and y _i , these represent the positions of the rectangular image pattern IP _i in the bit map memory unit 1. shall be taken as a thing. In addition, the above rectangular image pattern IP _i (i=1, 2,
3), the size in the x direction is expressed by (h _i ), and the size in the y direction is expressed by (v _i ), and using these, the size of the rectangular image pattern IP _i is expressed by h _i and v _i . Furthermore, the display priority of each rectangular image pattern IPi in the case of overlapping display is set as PR _i . Then, when PR _i < PR _j , the rectangular image pattern IP _i is displayed below IP _j , and as a result, a part of the rectangular image pattern IP _i is displayed as being hidden in IP _j . has been done.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating that the rectangular image patterns IP ₁ , IP ₂ and IP ₃ shown in FIG. 2 are superimposed and displayed in accordance with a predetermined display priority. Now, if it is assumed that these image patterns have a display priority of PR ₁ < PR ₂ < PR ₃ , then the rectangular image patterns IP ₁ , IP ₂ and IP ₃ are stored in a predetermined area in the screen memory section 3. The images are transferred to the position shown in FIG. 3 with a frame in descending order of display priority, and the state in the screen memory section 3 becomes as shown in FIG. The positions of the upper left corner vertices of each rectangular image pattern IP _i in the screen memory unit 3 are α _i and β _i , and these are the positions of the rectangular image pattern IP _i in the screen memory unit 3. ing. Furthermore, the frame FR _i surrounding these rectangular image patterns IP _i indicates the result of the frame determination unit 5 instructing the DMAC 6 to surround the IP _i with a width W _i after transferring the IP i to the screen memory unit 3. be. Here, the term "frame" is used not only to simply identify the data displayed in the rectangular image pattern from other areas, but also to perform the following functions. In other words, the frame here displays a command line or pull-down menu in one line that tells you what operation to perform on the area of the rectangular image pattern, or it can enlarge or reduce the data within this rectangular image pattern. or visually display the currently displayed position within the entire data. Therefore, it is not just a matter of filling in a certain predetermined width W ₁ ;
It is used as an area for displaying various information as described above. And this frame is
Unlike data, this is not stored in the bitmap memory section 1, but is generated based on the display control information for the frame of the display control section 2.

FIG. 4 specifically shows the control information held by the display control section 2 in order to generate the state of the screen memory section 3 shown in FIG. 3 from the state of the bitmap memory section 1 shown in FIG. 2 above. This is an example of a description.

Here, the display control section 2 generates the state of the screen memory section 3 shown in FIG. 3 above from the state of the bitmap memory section 1 shown in FIG. 2 mentioned above.
and the operation of DMAC6 will be explained.

The display control unit 2 checks the display priorities PR ₁ , PR ₂ , and PR ₃ of the display control information held, and if there is a relationship of PR ₁ < PR ₂ < PR ₃ as described above,
Rectangular image pattern IP ₁ with lowest display priority
The following processing is performed for .

First, the area determining section 4 instructs the DMAC 6 to transfer this rectangular image pattern IP ₁ from the bitmap memory section 1 to the screen memory section 3. In this case, among the control information regarding the rectangular image pattern IP ₁ , the above positions x ₁ , y ₁ ,
Information about the sizes h ₁ , v ₁ and the positions α ₁ , β ₁ on the screen memory section 3 is given to the DMAC 6, and this DMAC 6 transfers the rectangular image pattern IP ₁ in the bitmap memory section 1 into the screen memory section 3. control so that the data is transferred to positions α ₁ and β ₁ .

In addition, the frame determination unit 5 reads information regarding the frame FR ₁ of the rectangular image pattern IP ₁ from among the display control information, for example, the frame width W ₁ , and transmits the information corresponding to the frame FR ₁ on the screen memory unit 3 to the DMAC 6. Instructs to fill in the frame pattern.

In this case, the frame determination unit 5 determines h ₁ , v ₁ , α ₁ ,
β ₁ and the frame width W ₁ of the frame FR ₁ are read, and α ₁ −W ₁ , β ₁ −W ₁ , α ₁ +h ₁ +W ₁ ,
A small rectangular area determined by β ₁ , (α ₁ −W ₁ , β ₁ ),
A small rectangular area determined by (α ₁ , β ₁ +v ₁ ), (α ₁ +
h ₁ , β ₁ ), a small rectangular area determined by (α ₁ +h ₁ +W ₁ , β ₁ +v ₁ ), (α ₁ −W ₁ , β ₁ +v ₁ ), (α ₁ +h ₁ +W ₁ ,
By instructing the DMAC 3 to fill in each of the small rectangular areas determined by β ₁ +v ₁ +W ₁ ) with a frame pattern, the portion corresponding to the frame FR ₁ attached to the image pattern IP ₁ in the screen memory unit 6 is Screen memory section 3 as a frame pattern
held on top.

As mentioned above, the screen memory section 3
In , when rectangular image pattern IP ₂ and frame FR ₂ are transferred to a position where they overlap with rectangular image pattern IP ₁ and frame FR ₁ , which have already been transferred, regarding the overlapping part,
The image pattern part of IP ₂ and frame FR ₂ takes priority, and the image pattern part of IP 2 and frame FR ₂ that was already held in that part takes priority.
The image pattern portion of FR ₁ is replaced by a new rectangular image pattern IP ₂ and FR ₂ . A rectangular image pattern made in this way
After the transfer of IP ₂ and frame FR ₂ is completed, the area determination unit 4,
The frame discrimination unit 5 performs the same operation as described above for the next rectangular image pattern IP ₃ and frame FR ₃ , and the screen memory unit 3 becomes in a state as shown in FIG. Three overlapping framed rectangular image patterns are displayed.

Next, as an example of changing the display screen of the CRT 8, how the area discriminating section 4 and the frame discriminating section 5 operate when erasing the rectangular image pattern IP ₂ and the frame FR ₂ in the screen memory section 3 shown in FIG. 3 above. I will explain about it.

Figure 5 shows rectangular image pattern IP ₂ and frame
₃ is a diagram showing the state of the screen memory section 3 obtained as a result of erasing the rectangular image pattern IP 2 and the frame FR _2. When the rectangular image pattern IP ₂ and the frame FR 2 are erased, the display control section 2 Rectangular image pattern IP ₁ and frame FR ₁ that are covered by ₂ and do not appear on the display screen of CRT8
The screen memory section 3 is controlled so as to restore a part of the screen memory section 3 and generate the state of the screen memory section 3 shown in FIG.

Conventionally, in this type of display device, in order to minimize the amount of data transferred between the bitmap memory section 1 and the screen memory section 3 due to display changes, a screen memory section is used as shown in FIG. 3 is divided into small rectangles that do not overlap each other using the extension lines of each side of the frame corresponding to each image pattern, and the area discriminator 4 determines the need for change based on the display control information in the display control unit 2. A certain small rectangle (m ₁ ~
_m8 ). In this conventional example, the area discriminator 4 instructs the DMAC 6 to perform the following operations only on the small rectangles m ₁ to m ₈ in FIG. Then, for the small rectangle _m1 , a portion corresponding to _IP1 is transferred from the bitmap memory section 1 to the _m1 area. Also, the small rectangles m ₂ to _{m 8} are filled with the background pattern.

Next, the frame discriminator 5 determines e ₁ and e ₂ forming part of the frame FR ₁ of the rectangular image pattern IP ₁ as shown in FIG.
The corresponding area on the screen memory section 3 is filled with a frame pattern.

At this time, the frame determination unit 5 calculates the positions of the four vertices of each image pattern on the screen memory unit 3 based on the display control information in the display control unit 2, and further calculates the positions of the four vertices of each image pattern on the screen memory unit 3 based on the display priority of each image pattern. Calculate the position of the part that must be displayed as a frame in section 3, and use DMAC6
is instructed to fill in the area determined by the position information calculated on the screen memory unit 3 with a frame pattern.

In the conventional device of this type described above, an image pattern surrounded by a frame is written in the screen memory section 3 and displayed on the CRT 8, and each time the display contents are changed, the image pattern is It is configured to identify the changed part of the pattern, and then calculate the position of the frame area surrounding the image pattern by the frame discrimination unit 5, and for the same framed image pattern, the area discrimination unit 4 and the frame discrimination unit 5
In this case, it is necessary to calculate the change in the screen memory section 3 using a separate algorithm, which has the disadvantage that the processing is complicated and time-consuming.

Furthermore, since the area discriminating section 4 and the frame discriminating section 5 are separate, there is a drawback that the scale of the apparatus becomes large.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention has been made to solve these drawbacks, and handles display control information in the display control section 2 using coordinate values in the screen memory section 3 for both image patterns and frames. The purpose of this invention is to make it possible to determine the changed area of both the image pattern and the frame using the same algorithm, thereby improving the processing speed and simplifying the apparatus.The drawings will be described in detail below.

[Embodiments of the invention]

FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of the present invention, and since the same reference numerals as in the conventional example (FIG. 1) described above represent the same components, the explanation thereof will be omitted.

Here, reference numeral 9 denotes a change discriminating section corresponding to the area discriminating section 4 and the frame discriminating section 5 in the conventional example. The change determination unit 9 divides the screen memory unit 3 into small rectangles that do not overlap each other as shown in FIG. are managed.

In addition, the change determination unit 9 determines which of the small rectangles shown in FIG. An instruction is given to transfer the image pattern from the bitmap memory section 1 regarding the designated small rectangle, or to fill it with a frame pattern.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the above-described change determination section 9, in which image pattern IP ₂ and its corresponding frame FR ₂ are deleted from the state of the screen memory section 3 shown in FIG. 3 above. , 5th
This figure shows the operation of the change determination unit 9 when changing the state of the screen memory unit 3 shown in the figure.

FIG. 11 is a table showing the display control information in the display control unit 2 immediately before executing the process of the flowchart shown in FIG. 10. and,
FIG. 12 shows small rectangular divisions within the change range on the screen memory section 3 that may be changed as a result of deleting the image pattern IP ₂ and its corresponding frame FR ₂ from the screen memory section 3. and represents each vertex.

A detailed explanation of the flowchart shown in FIG. 10 will be given below.

First, in step 10, the image pattern to be changed and the range of change according to the frame area are determined by reading the coordinates of the frame _FR2 on the screen memory section 3 from the display control section 2.

In step 11, the change range determined in step 10 is divided into small rectangular areas that do not overlap each other using the corresponding image pattern in the display control unit 2 and the vertex coordinates of the frame. These small rectangular areas are numbered SP ₁ , SP ₂ , ... from the upper left of the change range, as shown in Figure 12, and SP _j generally represents the j-th small rectangle. .

In step 12, the image pattern to be deleted is
The display priority of IP ₂ and frame FR ₂ is read out from the display control unit 2 and the changed display priority is set to PR ₂ .

In step 13, select the image pattern to be deleted.
The display control information regarding IP ₂ and frame FR ₂ is deleted from the display control unit 2.

In step 14, a variable j indicating which small rectangle is currently being processed is initialized.

In step 15, +1 is added to j in order to process the next small rectangle.

In step 16, it is determined in which image pattern and frame the jth small square (SP _j ) is included. For this determination, let the coordinates of the upper left corner and lower right corner of the j-th small rectangle be (x ₁ j, y ₁ j), (x ₂ j, y ₂ j), and the coordinates of the upper left corner and lower right corner of any frame FR _i . (Fa _i ,
Fb _i ), (Fc _i , Fd _i ), and each coordinate is compared between each component of the x-axis and y-axis.

Then, if there is a frame FR _i that simultaneously satisfies both Faix1j and x2jFci ... Fbiy1j and y2jFdi ... in the table control information, it is determined that the small rectangle SP _j is part of the image pattern IP _i or the frame FR _i . will be done.

In step 17, if the small rectangle SP _j does not correspond to the display control information regarding all the image patterns or frames held in the display control unit 2 in step 16, the small rectangle SP _j is determined to be the background. .

Then, in step 18, the small rectangle SP _j
DMAC section 6 fills in the background pattern with the background pattern.
give instructions to

If it is determined in step 16 that the image is a specific image pattern or frame, the process proceeds from step 17 to step 19.

In step 19, the changed display priority _PR2 set in step 12 is compared with the display priority _PRi regarding the image pattern IP _i and frame FR _i determined in step 16.

Here, if PR ₂ < PR _i , the small rectangle SP _j is
This indicates that the display priority is higher than that of the image pattern or frame that should be modified. That is, in this case, PS _j is not affected by the change and remains in its current state. And this PR ₂ <PR _i
If so, control is transferred to step 23.

In the case of PR ₂ PR _i , the process proceeds to step 20 in which it is determined whether the small rectangle SP _j is part of the image pattern or the frame pattern.

In step 20, the coordinates of the upper left corner and the lower right corner of the small rectangle SP _j are set as (x ₁ j, y ₁ j), (x2j, y2j), and the positions of the upper left corner and lower right corner of the arbitrary image pattern IP _i are set as (Iai, Ibi) (Ici, Idi), Iaix1j and x2jIci ... Ibiy1j and y2jIdi ... If there is an image pattern IPi in the display control information that simultaneously satisfies both, it is determined that it is part of the small rectangular SPj image pattern IPi. Then, control proceeds to step 21.

In step 21, the DMAC 6 instructs the DMAC 6 to transfer the image of the corresponding part of the image pattern determined in step 20 on the bitmap memory section 1 to the small rectangular SPj section on the screen memory section 3.
Instruct to.

In step 22, if it is determined in step 20 that the small rectangle SPj is not part of any image pattern, the DMAC 6 is instructed to fill in the frame pattern for the SPj.

In step 23, one small rectangle mentioned above is
After processing for SPj is completed, check whether processing has been completed for all small rectangles within the change range, and if there are still small rectangles to be processed, control is returned to step 15, otherwise the process is changed. The operation of the determining section 9 ends.

After the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 10 is completed, the screen memory section 3 is in the state shown in FIG. 5 above.

Although the above embodiment describes the case where the rectangular image pattern is completely surrounded by the frame, the case is not limited to this. You can also do it.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the display device of the present invention, when changing the framed image pattern on the display screen of the CRT 8, the image pattern portion and the frame portion are read and the same algorithm is used to make necessary changes in the screen memory unit 3. Since the bit map memory unit 1 transfers images only to the minimum area and instructs the DMAC 6 to fill it with a frame pattern, display control information for images and frames can be held uniformly, and the screen This has an excellent effect in that the memory section 3 can be changed at high speed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a conventional display device of this type, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing three rectangular image patterns held in the bitmap memory section 1, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the screen memory section 3. The image patterns in snake map memory section 1 are IP ₁ , IP ₂ ,
A diagram showing the state of the screen memory section 3 after transfer in the order of IP ₃ , FIG. 4 is for generating the state of the screen memory section 3 of FIG. 3 from the state of the bitmap memory section 1 of FIG. 2. 5 is a diagram describing the display control information held in the display control unit 2, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the state of the screen memory unit 3 obtained as a result of erasing the image pattern IP ₂ and the frame FR ₂ , and FIG.
The figure shows an example in which the screen memory section 3 is divided by the extension lines of each side of each image pattern according to the conventional method, FIG. 7 shows the parts e ₁ and e ₂ that are filled with frame patterns in the conventional example, and FIG. , a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 9 is a diagram showing that the screen memory section 3 is divided according to the vertex coordinates of the image pattern and frame pattern using the algorithm of the present invention, and FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the operation of the change determination unit 9, FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a table of display control information in the display control unit 2 at the time when the flowchart shown in FIG. 10 is started, and FIG. image pattern
Small square division (SPj) within the change range on screen memory section 3 that may be changed when deleting IP ₂
FIG. In the drawing, 1 is a bitmap memory section, 2 is a display control section, 3 is a screen memory section, 4 is an area discrimination section, 5 is a frame discrimination section, 6 is a direct memory access controller section (DMAC), 7 is a video control section, 8 represents a cathode ray tube (CRT), and 9 represents a change determination section. The same reference numerals in the drawings indicate the same parts.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A first memory section that holds a plurality of rectangular image patterns, and a second memory section that stores image patterns and frames surrounding the image patterns in correspondence with dots on a display screen of a display device. and the predetermined image pattern in the first memory section is transferred to the second memory section.
a memory access controller unit that transfers information to a predetermined position in the memory unit of the image pattern; a display control unit that retains display control information such as position information and priority information regarding the image pattern and the frame surrounding the image pattern; In a display device comprising a video control section that generates a video signal based on the image pattern to be displayed read out from the second memory section, when changing the display on the display screen, the The second memory divides the screen into a plurality of areas based on the positional information regarding the first memory section, the rectangular image pattern regarding the second memory section, and the frame position information, and it is necessary to make changes to each area. A change determination unit is provided which determines an area within the frame and transfers a necessary part of the frame pattern or the rectangular image pattern from the first memory unit to the area based on priority information, and transfers the frame pattern and the image pattern within the frame. A display device characterized in that both display changes can be performed based on the operation of only this change determination section. 2. Claim 1, characterized in that a bitmap memory section is used as the first memory section.
Display device as described in section. 3. The display device according to claim 1, wherein a screen memory section is used as the second memory section.