JPS6323578B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides specific original image information output from a computer to a specific one of a plurality of CRT display devices.
This relates to a method of displaying information on a CRT display device. More specifically, image information output from one computer at a certain point in time and image information at another point in time can be displayed simultaneously on different CRT display devices, or the original image output from a computer at a certain point in time can be displayed on multiple This relates to a method of dividing the image into areas and displaying the image information of each area on different CRT display devices simultaneously. The present invention provides a multi-CRT image display method in which a device displays separate images.

[Conventional technology] Conventionally, one computer has multiple CRTs.
It is known to connect display devices and display the same image on a plurality of CRTs using R, G, and B video signals. However, recently in the business field there is a strong demand for connecting a plurality of CRT display devices to a single computer and displaying different images on each of them. For example, in a company with multiple sales offices, the sales status of each office can be recorded on multiple CRTs.
There is a demand for being able to display each item individually and compare them at the same time. Even with the introduction of personal computers, the disadvantage of displaying the status of each office by sequentially changing the CRT image of a single computer was that simultaneous comparisons were not possible and the visual effects were ineffective. . It is also known to connect multiple CRT terminals to a single host computer via telephone lines to display separate images. However, in this case, the computer and
To connect the CRT terminal to the telephone line
This has the disadvantage of requiring the use of an RS232C interface, an acoustic coupler, or a modem, which increases the size of the system, and also requires a large amount of man-hours to develop terminal control software.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] It is not possible to simultaneously display original image information output from a single computer at different times on a CRT display device, or to divide original image information at a certain point into multiple areas. In order to simultaneously display images on different CRT display devices, it is necessary to control the video memory.

Conventionally, for controlling the video memory of a computer, a video memory control device has been developed to temporarily store data for one screen in the video memory, but depending on the computer model, the effective CRT screen Due to the difference in size and positional relationship, the target computers are limited, and there is a disadvantage that it lacks versatility regardless of the type of computer. There is no easy way. In addition, since it is not possible to meet the demand for storing not the entire original image but a portion of an arbitrary position and size, the original image at a certain point in time is divided into multiple areas and displayed on multiple CRT display devices at the same time. It was impossible to do so.

The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and provides a video memory in which the position and size of an image portion to be stored in the video memory from among the original images output from a computer can be arbitrarily set. and a means for displaying an image at a certain point in time output from the computer or a part of the original image in a corresponding relationship on each of a plurality of CRT display devices. It is possible to simultaneously display image information at one time and image information at another time on different CRT display devices, or to divide the original image output from a computer at a certain point into multiple areas and display the image information for each area at the same time. This was done to provide a method that allows display on different CRT display devices and provides versatility regardless of the type of computer connected.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention employs the following means to solve the above-mentioned problems.

Multiple video memory control devices on one computer, multiple CRTs via the video memory section
Connect the display devices and have them each display a separate image.

Information transmission does not use a telephone line as in the past, but uses R, G, and B video signals that are normally output as signals from a computer to a CRT.

A portion of the original image that is to be stored in the video memory is selected from among multiple CRT display devices.
A machine number code display area is provided to select the specified one, and the machine number code of the CRT is determined from the R, G, and B signals in the machine number code display area read by the video memory control unit, and the corresponding machine is selected. Display the CRT original image information of the number.

Further, the video memory control device described above is capable of arbitrarily setting the position and size of the portion of the original image that is to be stored in the video memory.

That is, the gist of the present invention is to input the R, G, and B video signals of the original image output from a single computer, perform data processing, and then select the image to be stored in the video memory from among the original images. A video memory control section 1 in which the position and size of a portion can be arbitrarily set, a video memory section 2 connected thereto, and video information stored in the video memory are displayed.
A plurality of CRT image display systems 4 each having a CRT display device 3 are provided, and a plurality of the
A machine number code display area is provided to select one of the CRT image display systems.
The machine number code is determined from the R, G, and B video signals in the machine number code display area read by the CRT image display system, and the original image information is displayed on the CRT display device of the CRT image display system with the matching machine number. A multi-CRT featuring the following features:
This is an image display method.

The present inventor has already developed a video memory control device that can arbitrarily define the position and size of an image part to be stored in the video memory from within the original image,
An application has been filed for the invention (Utility Application No. 59-15217)
issue).

Regarding the control of the video memory in the present invention,
By using the video memory control device based on this invention, it is possible to arbitrarily set the position and size of the image portion of the original image that is to be stored in the video memory. That is, in a video memory control device that inputs a video data signal of an original image, performs data processing, and then stores it in the video memory, the number of vertical lines and the number of horizontal pixels at the starting point of the image portion to be stored in the video memory. a vertical coordinate register and a horizontal coordinate register for setting the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the image portion, respectively, a vertical row number register and a horizontal pixel number register for setting the vertical and horizontal sizes of the image portion, respectively; It has a vertical coordinate counter, a horizontal coordinate counter, a vertical row number counter, and a horizontal pixel number counter provided respectively, and the counter counts the number of pixels and the number of rows from the data input signal of the original image. However, by comparing the setting values of the corresponding registers and sending a signal specifying the position and size of the image part of the original image to be stored in the video memory, the video memory can be stored. Take control.

Such a video memory control device is referred to as a video memory control unit, and the video memory unit connected to this unit and the video information stored in the video memory are displayed.
If you use a CRT image display system with a CRT display device, you can store only the necessary parts of the original image in memory, read it out from memory again, and then
Since it can be displayed on a CRT display device in a CRT display system, a specific original image or a partial image of a specific area within the original image can be displayed on any one of a plurality of CRT display devices. Can be done.

Furthermore, in the present invention, a machine number code display area is provided in a part of the original image portion to be stored in the video memory for selecting a designated one from among a plurality of CRT image display systems. In the image display system, the machine number code is determined from the R, G, and B video signals in the machine number code display area,
By displaying the original image information on the CRT display device of the CRT image display system with the matching model number, a specific original image or a partial image of a specific area within the original image can be displayed on the CRT display device that should be designated. Display.

[Function] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of an apparatus used to implement the multi-CRT image display method according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a video memory control section; In the control unit, the R, G,
After inputting the B video signal and performing data processing, it has a function of arbitrarily setting the position and size of the image portion of the original image to be stored in the video memory. Reference numeral 2 denotes a video memory section connected to the video memory control section, which stores only an arbitrary portion of the original image by the function of the video memory control section 1. Reference numeral 3 denotes a CRT display device that displays the video information stored in the video memory section 2. These video memory control section 1, video memory section 2, and CRT display device 3 constitute a CRT image display system 4. The CRT image display system is number 1,
A plurality of machines from machine number 2 to machine number n are provided. 5 is a personal computer; 6
is the R. output from the personal computer 5.
Directly display the original image using G/B video signals
It is a CRT display device. The R, G, and B video signals sent from the personal computer 5 to the CRT display device are branched from a branching section 7 to a video data transmission line 8, and each branching section 9 of the video data transmission line 8 displays the CRT image of each machine number. each sent to the system. Of the original images displayed on the CRT display device 6,
A machine number code display area 10 is provided in a part of the original image part to be stored in a video memory. This machine number code display area 10 is for selecting any one of the machine numbers 1, 2, . . . n of a plurality of CRT image display systems.
In the CRT image display system 4, the video memory control unit 1 and the video memory unit 2 work to determine the machine number code from the R, G, and B video signals in the machine number code display area 10, and the machine number code is determined to match this machine number code.
Original image information is displayed on the CRT display device of the CRT image display system only.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a case where images at different times are simultaneously displayed on a plurality of CRT display devices in the configuration of the present invention. In FIG. 2, the original image at the first point in time is displayed directly from the personal computer 5 to the CRT display device 6.
A ₁ , original image A ₂ at the second time point, ......
Machine number code display areas 10 ₁ to 10n are provided for each original image An at the n-th time point, and the machine number code display areas R, The machine number code is determined from the G/B video signal, each original image is stored in each video memory of the system with the matching machine number, and the CRT display device 3 ₁ of the CRT image display system corresponding to the original image at each time point is 3 ₂ ......3n each original image A ₁ , A ₂ ......An
are displayed respectively.

Further, in the configuration of the present invention, an example in which the original image output from the computer at a certain point in time is divided into a plurality of areas and each area is displayed simultaneously is shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, the original image directly displayed on the CRT display device 6 from the personal computer 5 is divided into a plurality of areas B ₁ , B _{2 .} . . Bn, and each area has a machine number code display area 10.
₁ , 10 ₂ ......10n is provided, and in multiple CRT image display systems, the machine number code is determined from the R, G, and B video signals in the machine number code display area by the functions of the video memory control section and the video memory section. , the original image of each area is stored in each video memory of the system with the matching machine number, and the CRT display device 3 ₁ , 3 ₂ ......3 of the CRT image display system corresponding to each area is stored.
Images B ₁ , B _{2 .} . . Bn of each area are enlarged and displayed on n.

[Embodiment] FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a specific example of a CRT image display system in the method of the present invention.
In FIG. 4, R.
The G/B video signals include a system clock 11, a vertical synchronization signal 12, a horizontal synchronization signal 13, and a video brightness signal 14 of a CRT image.
R (red), G (green), and B represent the three primary color information.
(Blue) signal is included, and depending on the computer model, an I signal indicating intensity may also be included.

Here, as shown in Figure 5, the effective screen range of the CRT screen (range of the displayed image) 5
1 is a range narrower than the raster range (scanning line range) 52. Furthermore, the correlation between the effective screen range and the raster range varies depending on the model of personal computer, and it is necessary to set the starting point and ending point of the effective screen for each model of personal computer.

In the present invention, the above-mentioned starting point and ending point can be set freely, and furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6, the starting point position (X ₀ , _Y0 )
and sizes X and Y can be set arbitrarily, and a CRT machine number code display area 10 is provided in a part of the image area.

The temporal position on the CRT screen of the R, G, and B video signals to be stored in the video memory is determined by the trailing edge (rising point) t ₀ of each of the vertical and horizontal synchronizing signals, as shown in Figure 7. There is a delay of t ₁ relative to the reference. The BP in between is called the back porch and is expressed in the horizontal direction by the number of image pixels, and in the vertical direction by the number of scanning lines. In other words, the starting point (X ₀ , Y ₀ ) in FIG. 6 can be determined from BP=t ₁ −t ₀ . In FIG. 7, l corresponds to X and Y in FIG. 6, and is expressed by the number of image pixels in the horizontal direction, and by the number of rows (scanning lines) in the vertical direction.

By setting BP and l in both the horizontal and vertical directions as described above, the starting point (X ₀ , Y ₀ ) and the sizes X and Y can be determined.

Returning to FIG. 4, in order to measure BP and l as described above, as shown in FIG. number) and
The number of vertical lines corresponding to Y in FIG. 6 is set in the vertical line number register 23. Further, the horizontal pixel number of the starting point is set as the horizontal BP in the horizontal coordinate register 22, and the number of horizontal pixels corresponding to X in FIG. 6 is set in the horizontal pixel number register 24. After setting in this way, the number of starting point scanning lines, the number of vertical scanning lines, the number of starting point pixels, and the number of horizontal pixels are counted by the counters 21', 23', 22', and 24' corresponding to each of the above registers. The match circuit 25 determines whether or not they match by comparing the value set in the register with the value set in the register. Only when they match, a signal is sent to the effective screen area gate 15 and the starting point (X ₀ , Y ₀ ) and the magnitudes X, Y are determined. The data length regulation counter 16 sets the data length (for example, 1 byte) for one time when horizontal pixel information is taken in, and this signal is sent to the latch circuit 1.
Enter 7-20. On the other hand, after being sent out from the video signal synchronization circuit 26, the video luminance signals R, G,
B and I are latched by the latch circuits 17 to 20 in the required amount according to the data length signal, and written into the video memory 28 under the control of the video memory control logic 27.

One feature of the present invention is that a CRT model code display area 10 is provided in a portion of the image portion 62 that is defined by the starting point (X ₀ , Y ₀ ) and the sizes X and Y and is to be stored in the video memory. This is because it was established. First, the contents of this CRT machine number code display area are read and set in latch circuits 17-20. This content is transferred to the microprocessor 29, RAM
30. In a microcomputer system using ROM 31, firmware in ROM 31 decodes and discriminates the machine number code. If the machine number code read is from the reading device itself,
If it matches the CRT model number, continue reading the data and sequentially store the data in the video memory 28.
When the storage is completed, the contents are displayed on the CRT 33 via the CRT display control circuit 32. If the CRT model numbers do not match, the video memory is not rewritten and the memory contents are displayed as they are.

For each of the multiple CRT image display systems,
If the built-in microprocessor and the firmware in the ROM are used to make a distinction, and the CRT model number code matches, then the R, G, and B video information is written to the video memory, so that it can be sent from a single computer. Images can be displayed on a specified CRT display device. By the way, there are various ways to set the machine number code to be displayed in the CRT machine number code display area, but one example is shown below.

An escape sequence (ESC sequence) is used as the control command format. An ESC sequence is a character string prefixed with the ESC code [1B (written as H1B) in hexadecimal] and a special function that is used within the system is defined.

(Control command) ESC C m Machine number data image (hexadecimal display) &H1B &H43 By receiving this control command, machine number data can be specified with 1 byte (8 bits). In other words, you can specify a CRT machine number from 0 to 255. Note that m is a color designation of R, G, and B, and m=1 is R.
(red), m=2 is G (green), m=3 is B (blue),
All backs (ground) shall be black. Now, if you want to specify the CRT machine number as red and number 11, do the following.

The control code is ESC C 1 11 In hexadecimal display &H1B &H43 &H1 &HB.

Therefore, when specifying in BASIC language, PRINT chr$(&H1B);chr$(&H43);chr
$(&HI);chr$(&HB) In this way, 〇●〇●〇〇〇● will be displayed in red in the CRT machine number code display area (● marks are red and others are black).

In this way, if you read the R, G, and B information in the CRT machine number code display area with a data length of 1 byte at a time and convert the contents into a decimal number from 0 to 255 using the firmware in the ROM 31, it will be
This will be the CRT machine number.

To implement the present invention, first, a predetermined diagram is drawn on the screen, and then a CRT function macro routine that defines the ESC sequence function is called. A flowchart for setting a predetermined code in the machine number code display area is shown in FIG. In FIG. 8, in step 1, the location of the machine number code display area is set. If specified in BASIC language
PRINT ESC=(X, Y). Here (X,
Y) is the starting point. In step 2, the machine number code and color are set. PRINT ESC in BASIC language,
C, m, DATA. Here, l is the color number and DATA is the machine number.

The flowchart for decoding the CRT machine number code using the firmware in the ROM is shown in Figure 9. In FIG. 9, after system initialization, in step 1, the position parameters of the CRT machine number code display area are set in the horizontal coordinate register and the vertical coordinate register, respectively. In step 2, set the horizontal pixel number register to 8 pixels (1
Byte) set. In step 3, set the RAM address to a specified location in the RAM area (for example, the first address).
Set to . In step 4, the R, G, and B data is read and written to the RAM. In step 5,
Reads 1 byte from the address set in the specified location in the RAM area. Based on this, it is determined in step 6 whether the data matches the own CRT machine number. If they match, the horizontal pixel number register and the vertical line number register are set, and in step 7, the full screen information is set. set in RAM. If the data does not match the own CRT machine number in step 5, the process returns to step 1 and waits for the next information.

[Effect of the invention] The present invention provides the following effects.

Since multiple CRT display devices can be connected to a single computer and different images can be displayed on each, for example, sales information for each office can be compared at the same time, making it ideal for visualization in the business field. The effect is remarkable.

Also, the multi-CRT screen has great advertising and event effects, making it valuable as a new advertising medium in place of neon signs.

Furthermore, since R, G, and B signals are used as the video transmission means, image transmission can be done instantaneously, and
There is no need to use an RS232C interface or telephone line, simplifying the system in terms of both hardware and software.

Furthermore, since the original image can be divided and any part enlarged and displayed on a specified CRT, the idea of multi-windows can be realized with multiple CRTs, which has the great effect of realizing new ways of using personal computers. The effects of this proposal are significant.

The method of the present invention also has the advantage of being versatile regardless of the type of computer to be connected.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of an apparatus used to implement the multi-CRT image display method according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a case where images at different times are simultaneously displayed on a plurality of CRT display devices in the configuration of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a case where, in the configuration of the present invention, an original image outputted from a computer at a certain point in time is divided into a plurality of areas and each area is displayed simultaneously. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a specific example of a CRT image display system according to the method of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a front view of the CRT screen showing the effective screen range and raster range of the CRT screen. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a screen portion of the original image to be stored in the video memory. FIG. 7 is a waveform diagram of a vertical or horizontal synchronization signal and a video luminance signal, respectively. FIG. 8 is a flowchart for setting a predetermined code in the machine number code display area. FIG. 9 is a flowchart for decoding the CRT machine number code using the firmware in the ROM.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. After inputting R, G, and B video signals of an original image output from a single computer and performing data processing, an image portion of the original image that is to be stored in a video memory. A CRT comprising a video memory control section 1 whose position and size can be arbitrarily set, a video memory section 2 connected thereto, and a CRT display device 3 that displays video information stored in the video memory. A plurality of image display systems 4 are provided, and a machine number code display area for selecting a designated one from among the plurality of CRT image display systems is provided in a part of the original image portion to be stored in the video memory. R, G,
A multi-CRT image display method characterized in that a machine number code is determined from a B video signal and original image information is displayed on a CRT display device of a CRT image display system having a matching machine number. 2 A machine number code display area is provided for each of the original image A ₁ at the first time point, the original image A ₂ at the second time point, and the original image An at the nth time point. A multi-CRT image display method according to claim 1, wherein each original image is displayed on a CRT display device of a CRT image display system corresponding to the image. 3 Divide the original image into multiple areas B ₁ , B ₂ ...Bn, provide a machine number code display area in each area,
CRT image display system corresponding to each area
2. The multi-CRT image display method according to claim 1, wherein the image of each area is displayed in an enlarged manner on a display device.