JPH0318999Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Technical field of the invention] This invention checks whether the bright spot captured by the light pen is a display character or not, and if it is a display character, notifies the host computer of the character string. By the way,
This invention relates to a raster scan type display device that allows command input using a light pen.

[Prior art and problems]

Keyboards, pointing devices such as joysticks and light pens are widely used as input means for raster scan type display devices. Typically, in these input devices, the keyboard is used for character input, and the other pointing device is a CRT (Cathode Ray).
Tubu (cathode ray tube) is used for inputting flat position information on a screen. Therefore, in applications where images and text must be handled at the same time, it is recommended to install two CRT display devices, one with a keyboard for inputting characters and the other with a pointing device such as a light pen, or When displaying text and images superimposed on the same CRT display device, the two should be clearly differentiated, such as using a keyboard to enter text and a pointing device to enter images. was. This conventional method has the disadvantage that the keyboard and pointing device must be used alternately for operation.

In addition, an operation method using only a pointing device is possible by converting commands into a table as position information, but since images and command input must be handled at the same level, it lacks speed and flexibility. There's a problem.

[Purpose and structure of the idea]

The present invention is based on the above consideration, and
The object of the present invention is to provide a raster scan type display device that allows inputting characters as well as images on a CRT screen using a light pen. Therefore, the present invention provides a raster scan type display device in which character codes and graphic data are given as display data from a host computer, which has a character memory and a character generator, stores the character codes, and generates a video signal. a first display control means for converting the graphic data into a video signal; a second display control means having an image memory and storing the graphic data and converting it into a video signal;
a display control means, a video signal addition means for adding the two video signals, a display means for displaying the video signal added by the video signal addition means, and a light pen signal according to an instruction on the screen of the display means. light pen signal generation means for generating and supplying the light pen signal to the first display control means and the second display control means; It is checked whether a character code exists at the address where the light pen signal was generated, and if a character code exists, the character code or a group of character codes including the character code is sent to the host computer, and the character code is sent to the host computer. If the light pen signal does not exist, the second display control means is configured to send a signal indicating the content to the host computer, and the second display control means has at least an address storage means readable from the host computer, and the second display control means has at least address storage means readable from the host computer, When this occurs, the corresponding light
The host computer is configured to store an address at which a pen signal is generated in the address storage means, and when the signal sent from the first display control means is a character code or a group of character codes, the host computer inputs a character. If the signal is processed and the signal has no character code, the graphic data at the address stored in the address storage means is recognized and processed.

[Example of idea]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing one display example on the display screen of a raster scan type display device to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention.

The display example shown in Figure 1 uses FT NMR (Fourier Transformation)
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) This is an example when used as a display device for analytical equipment, and the screen shows
NMR absorption spectra and parameters and commands related to the spectra are displayed separately at the top and bottom of the screen. With this invention, on such a display screen, the operator can use a light pen to indicate the peak position of the spectrum, and the intensity, ppm value, and frequency of that peak can be extracted as the reduction result. In addition, it is possible to give operation instructions (commands) by indicating displayed commands and parameters using a light pen. Therefore, these commands and parameters should be sent to the host computer as ASCII codes. Therefore, for example, using a light pen to point to a block of letters on the screen that says ``RT'' would mean ``RT'' from the keyboard.
This is equivalent to inputting CR>''. Although this method is superficially similar to the menu-style display and instruction method commonly used in conventional CAD (Computer Aided Design), This is fundamentally different from this. In other words, in the conventional method, when displaying commands or parameters as a menu on a CRT screen, a certain area is cut out using X and Y coordinates, and the cut out "area" corresponds to a command or parameter.
In other words, the area position information becomes meaningful only when it is referenced with a command or parameter in the internal table of the host computer. On the other hand, regarding commands or parameters in the present invention, the code of the displayed character itself is passed to the host computer, and regarding light pen input for spectrum display, the X of the bright point indicated by the light pen , Y coordinates are passed to the host computer.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention using a block diagram. In FIG. 2, 1 is a host computer, 2 is a keyboard, 3 is a serial interface, 4 is a CRT controller, 5 is a character memory, 6 is a character generator, 7 is a shift register, 8 is a video signal adder, 9 is a CRT display tube, 10 is an X-axis address register, 11 is a Y-axis address register, 12 is an image control circuit, 13 is an image memory, 14 is an image shift register, 15 is a light pen signal amplification circuit, 16 each indicate a light pen. Character memory 5 stores character codes.
It is stored in ASCII code and has a one-to-one correspondence with the display screen of the CRT display tube 9. The character generator 6 converts the character code into display data in the form of characters that can be displayed on the CRT display tube 9. The shift register 7 converts the display data from the character generator 6 into a video signal and sends it to the video signal adder 8. Serial interface 3 transfers character codes to CRT controller 4 and host computer 1.
This is an interface for sending and receiving data between The CRT controller 4 generates a horizontal synchronization signal and a vertical synchronization signal for driving the CRT display tube 9 and supplies them to the CRT display tube 9.
It is also supplied to the image control circuit 12 as a synchronization signal.
Also, when a character code is sent from the host computer 1 through the serial interface 3,
This is written into the character memory 5. Furthermore, it performs control to display the contents stored in the character memory 5, and also controls the display of the contents stored in the character memory 5.
When a bright spot on the screen of the CRT display tube 9 is specified in step 6 and a light/pen signal 19 is sent from the light/pen signal amplification circuit 15, it is checked whether or not a character exists at the position of the specified bright spot. If a character exists, the character code is sent to the host computer 1, and if the character does not exist, an error signal is sent to the host computer 1. When a key signal is sent from the keyboard 2, the character code is also sent to the host computer 1. do. The image memory 13 stores bit information corresponding to display pixels of an image, and has a one-to-one correspondence with the display image. For example, when the display image is displayed with 1024 x 512 dots, the image memory 13 is
1024, Y=512 memory bit matrix. The image shift register 14 converts the display data read out from the image memory 13 into a video signal and sends it to the video signal adder 8. The X-axis address register 10 and the Y-axis address register 11 are used to set addresses on the image memory 13. Image control circuit 12
In this case, host computer 1 uses X-axis address register 1.
When an instruction to write data (spectrum) is given after setting the address of the image memory 13 in 0 and Y-axis address register 11, the specified data is written in the image memory 13, and the data is sent from the CRT controller 4. According to the supplied synchronization signal, the image memory 13 and the image shift register 14 are controlled to add the video signal of the data (spectrum) stored in the image memory 13 from the image shift register 14. It is sent to the device 8. Furthermore, with Light Pen 16
When a bright spot on the screen of the CRT display tube 9 is designated and a light pen signal 19 is sent from the light pen signal amplification circuit 15, the address of the designated bright spot position is input to the X-axis address register 10 and the Y-axis address register 10. and axis address register 11.

Next, the overall processing flow will be explained.

The host computer 1 specifies an address and sends a character code to the CRT controller 4 using, for example, the display contents shown in FIG. Furthermore, the host computer 1 displays the display contents shown in FIG.
Addresses are set in the axis address register 10 and Y-axis address register 11 to send spectrum data.

The CRT controller 4 writes the character code sent from the host computer 1 into the character memory 5 according to the designated address.

The image control circuit 12 stores the spectrum data sent from the host computer 1 in an X-axis address register 10 and a Y-axis address register 1.
The data is written into the image memory 13 according to the address set to 1.

The CRT controller 4 generates a horizontal synchronizing signal and a vertical synchronizing signal, supplies them to the CRT display tube 9 and the image control circuit 12, and supplies them to the character memory 5.
The contents stored in are read out and sent to a video signal adder 8 through a character generator 6 and a shift register 7.

The image control circuit 12 includes a CRT controller 4
The contents of the image memory 13 are read out in accordance with the synchronization signal supplied from the image shift register 14 and sent to the video signal adder 8 through the image shift register 14.

As a result, the video signal adder 8 adds the video signal of the commands and parameters stored in the character memory 5 and the video signal of the spectrum data stored in the image memory 13.
The contents as shown in FIG. 1 are displayed on the screen of the CRT display tube 9.

When the operator uses the light pen 16 to indicate a bright spot on the screen of the CRT display tube 9, the optical signal is converted into an electrical signal, and the light pen signal amplification circuit 8 generates a light of sufficient size as a control signal.・
The pen signal 19 is amplified. This light pen signal 19 is then sent to the CRT controller 4 and the image control circuit 12.

When the CRT controller 4 receives the light pen signal 19, it checks whether a character code other than "space" exists at the specified address on the screen. This is the same as checking whether visible characters are displayed on the screen of the CRT display tube 9. If a character code exists at the position indicated by the light pen 16, the corresponding character or a group of characters without spaces is sent to the host computer 1 via the serial interface 3 as one unit. Send by character code. However, if a character code does not exist at the position indicated by the light pen 16, such as when one of the peaks of the spectrum is indicated, an error (ERROR) signal is sent to the host computer 1, e.g.
Send in a code based on ANSI standards.

The image control circuit 12 receives a light pen signal 19
When the address on the screen is sent, the specified address on the screen is set in the X-axis address register 10 and the Y-axis address register 11.

When the host computer 1 receives a character code from the CRT controller 4 via the serial interface 3 in which a character or a group of characters without spaces is sent as a unit, the host computer 1 processes the character code in the same way as inputting characters from the keyboard 2. Accept, decipher, and process generically. However, when an error signal is sent from the CRT controller 4, the host computer 1
The contents of the and Y-axis address register 11 are read out, and the X and Y coordinates of the peak on the spectrum are determined from this address information.

The configurations for storing the character codes and spectrum data sent from the host computer 1 in each memory, and for displaying the display data stored in each memory on the CRT display tube 9, may be changed as appropriate. It goes without saying that the invention can be modified and the present invention can be similarly applied even with such modifications.

[Effect of idea]

As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, a character string representing a command and an image can be clearly distinguished on the same screen, so a command of any length can be placed in any location. , a light pen can be used to enter commands into the host computer in code. Furthermore, since image control is separate from command handling, high-speed processing is possible.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing one display example on the display screen of a raster scan type display device to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention. 1...Host computer, 2...Keyboard, 3...
...Serial interface, 4...CRT controller, 5...Character memory, 6...
Character generator, 7...Shift register, 8...Video signal adder, 9...CRT display tube, 10...X-axis address register, 11...
Y-axis address register, 12... Image control circuit, 13... Image memory, 14... Image shift register, 15... Light pen signal amplification circuit, 16... Light pen.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A raster image in which character codes and graphic data are provided as display data from a host computer.
In the scan type display device, the first display control means has a character memory and a character generator, stores the character code and converts it into a video signal, and has an image memory, stores the graphic data and converts it into a video signal. a second display control means for converting into a signal, a video signal addition means for adding the two video signals, a display means for displaying the video signal added by the video signal addition means, and an instruction on the screen of the display means. light pen signal generation means for generating a light pen signal and supplying the light pen signal to the first display control means and the second display control means, the first display control means When a signal is generated, it is checked whether a character code exists at the address where the light pen signal was generated, and if a character code exists, the character code or a group of character codes including the character code is sent to the host computer. and when the character code does not exist, a signal indicating the content is sent to the host computer, and the second
The display control means has at least an address storage means readable from the host computer, and is configured to store an address at which the light pen signal is generated in the address storage means when the light pen signal is generated. In the host computer, if the signal sent from the first display control means is a character code or a group of character codes, character input processing is performed, and if the signal has no character code, the above-mentioned processing is performed. A raster scan type display device, characterized in that it is configured to recognize and process graphic data of addresses stored in address storage means.