JPH066683A - Arrow pointer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an arrow which can be discriminated at all times irrelevantly to the brightness of its background by generating an indication mark consisting of an outline and a core figure having a large brightness difference at a specific position in a presentation image. CONSTITUTION:As an example of a dot pattern of an arrow font, an arrow font in dot pattern which consists of longitudinally 16 2-bit pixels and laterally 16 pixels so that two arrow edge dots are black (corresponding to '00'), an arrow center part is white (corresponding to '01'), and parts other than the arrow are through (corresponding to '10') is stored in a ROM. The shapes of the black outline and white internal core need to clearly be discriminated. When the brightness of a circumferential image is low, the white part of the arrow makes an arrow indication position distinctive and when the brightness is high, the black edge part of the arrow makes the arrow indication place clear. The need for the white/black switching of the arrow is eliminated, so a white/black polarity changeover switch is unnecessary.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an arrow pointer device for displaying an instruction mark such as an arrow by adding a signal from the outside to attract the attention of a viewer on a presentation image such as a video image screen or a computer graphic. It is a thing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when designating a specific position on an image, a white or black symbolic figure (abbreviated as an arrow hereinafter because an arrow is often used in practice) is superimposed on a video signal as an arrow pointer signal. I was letting it. In this case, depending on the brightness level of the background image, the arrow is difficult to see, so
At that time, the arrow generation circuit was switched by a switch or the like to change the color of the arrow from white to black (or vice versa).

[0003]

In the above-mentioned prior art,
Since the color of the arrow is fixed to white or black, sufficient contrast cannot be obtained depending on the brightness level of the background, and there is a drawback that the pointing position becomes unclear. Therefore, the operator has to manually switch the color of the arrow from white to black or from black to white so that the highest contrast can be obtained according to the brightness level of the screen. On the hardware side, in addition to the arrow position control mechanism (joystick, etc.), the arrow white /
A black polarity changeover switch was required, and remote control was troublesome. The aim of the present invention is to eliminate these drawbacks and to always obtain an identifiable arrow, regardless of the brightness level of the background.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is to generate an instruction mark composed of a contour having a large brightness difference and a core figure at a specific position on a presentation image. is there. FIG. 1 shows an example of an arrow font dot pattern used in the present invention. Here, 16 pixels in the vertical direction, 16 pixels in the horizontal direction, 2 bits for each pixel, the edge 2 dots of the arrow are black (corresponding to "00"), the central portion of the arrow is white (corresponding to "01"), and other than the arrow. Through the part of ("
The above-mentioned dot pattern arrow font corresponding to 10 "is stored in the ROM. The black outline and the white inner core need to be able to maintain their shapes clearly, and mere shadowing and cushioning give a good impression. In addition, it is desirable to have the same number of black and white pixels in the thinnest part of the arrow, and the shape of the indication mark is not limited to the arrow, but a star shape, heart shape, etc. are also effective. Although the simplest white and black figures have been described, it may be effective to add colors such as red and white, which is naturally included in the gist of the present invention.

[0005]

As a result, when the brightness of the surrounding image is low, the arrow pointing location becomes clear by the white portion of the arrow, and when the brightness is high, the arrow pointing location becomes clear by the black portion at the edge of the arrow. Further, since the white / black changeover operation of the arrow is not necessary, the white / black polarity changeover switch is unnecessary.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. 1, 2 and 3 are input terminals, to which a video signal a from the camera is added, 1 is HD (horizontal drive signal) b and VD (vertical drive signal) which are synchronized with the video signal a.
c and are added. An area generator 4 generates a window signal f indicating where to display the arrow on the screen. A joystick 5 generates a horizontal control signal d for controlling the horizontal position of the arrow and a vertical control signal e for controlling the vertical position. An arrow generator 6 stores the above-described arrow dot pattern of 16 pixels in the vertical direction, 16 pixels in the horizontal direction, and 2 bits for each pixel in the built-in ROM, and the black portion of the arrow is "0".
The 2-bit signal g is generated by assigning 0 ", the white part to" 01 ", and the other part to" 10 ". 7 is a mix circuit, which mixes the video signal a and the 2-bit signal g to output the output signal h. 8 is an output terminal.

This operation will be described below. The joystick 5 generates a horizontal control signal d and a vertical control signal e for controlling the position where the arrow is generated and supplies it to the area generator 4.
Based on this, in the area generator 4, by the horizontal drive signal b, the vertical drive signal c, the horizontal control signal d, and the vertical control signal e,
A window signal f designating the corresponding arrow generation position is generated and supplied to the arrow generator 6. The arrow generator 6 gives an address corresponding to the window signal f supplied to the built-in ROM to read the pattern of the arrow, and supplies the corresponding 2-bit signal g to the mix circuit 7. In the mix circuit 7, the data of the 2-bit signal g is "00".
In the case of, the corresponding black level signal is output, in the case of "01", the corresponding white level signal is output, and in the case of "10", the video signal a is output. As a result, the edge of the arrow is black level, the inside of the edge of the arrow is white level, the input video signal is output as it is to the other part of the arrow, and a white arrow with a black border can be displayed on the image.

[0008]

According to the present invention, an identifiable arrow can be obtained regardless of the brightness of the background image, so that the pointing position on the screen can be always grasped and an arrow pointer excellent in operability can be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an arrow dot pattern of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 area generator 5 joystick 6 arrow generator 7 mix circuit a video signal f window signal g 2 bit signal h output signal

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An arrow pointer device for generating an instruction mark such as an arrow at a specific position on a presentation image, wherein the arrow pointer device comprises an instruction mark composed of a contour having a large brightness difference and a core figure.