JP2005242259A - Video display device and video display method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize a video display device capable of displaying a normal display character string at any time irrelevantly to the version of a font set. <P>SOLUTION: The video display device is provided with a storage means of storing a font set consisting of a plurality of fonts and a display character string generating means of reading a font out of the font set stored in the storage means and generating a display character string by using the read-out font. Version information on the font set is entered into a specified font in the font set stored in the storage means, and the display character string generating means reads the version information out of the storage means and generates the display character string by using only the font included in the font set stored in the storage means based upon the read-out version information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a video display device and a video display method, and is suitable for application to a television device, for example.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various video display devices such as television devices have an OSD (On Screen Display) screen display function for displaying various settings of the device itself (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In this case, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) of a microcontroller (hereinafter referred to as a microcomputer) of the television apparatus follows the OSD display program and responds to display contents from a font set stored in a font ROM (Read Only Memory). The OSD screen is displayed by appropriately reading the font and superimposing the OSD video signal generated using the read font on the television video signal.

  The OSD display program described above may be subjected to various changes such as addition of a new menu or change of a display character string (so-called version upgrade) in accordance with the development process of the television device or the improvement during the production period. .

Then, the OSD display program of the television apparatus is sequentially upgraded by transmitting and updating the upgraded OSD display program to the television apparatus via a broadcast wave, the Internet, or a recording medium such as a memory card. Is also considered.
JP 2001-117548 A

  Here, since the types of messages displayed on the OSD screen are limited, the fonts stored in the font ROM are sufficient for the fonts stored in the font ROM (for example, about 1000 characters).

  In addition, with the version upgrade of the OSD display program described above, the contents of the font set assumed by the upgraded OSD program may be changed due to, for example, adding characters used in a new message.

  In general, the version information of the font set stored in the font ROM is physically marked on the package of the font ROM. Therefore, unlike a personal computer font set that can manage and recognize versions on a file system, it is difficult for software to recognize font set version information stored in a font ROM.

  For this reason, when the OSD display program of the television apparatus is upgraded, there is a difference between the font set version assumed by the OSD display program and the actual font set version stored in the font ROM. Can happen.

  If the font set version stored in the font ROM is older than the font set version assumed by the OSD display program, the font to be used by the OSD display program is not stored in the font ROM. In this case, there is a problem that the OSD screen cannot be displayed normally.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to propose a video display device that can always display a normal display character string regardless of the version of the font set.

  In order to solve such a problem, in the present invention, a storage unit storing a font set composed of a plurality of fonts, a font is read from the font set stored in the storage unit, and a display character string is generated using the read font Display character string generation means for providing the image display device with the version information of the font set in a specific font in the font set stored in the storage means, and the display character string generation means The information is read, and the display character string is generated using only the fonts included in the font set stored in the storage unit based on the read version information.

  Thereby, the version of the font set stored in the storage means can be recognized, so that a normal display character string corresponding to the stored font of the font set can always be displayed.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to realize a video display device capable of recognizing the version of a font set stored in the storage unit and always displaying a normal display character string corresponding to the font stored in the font set. .

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(1) Overall Configuration of Television Device In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a television device according to this embodiment, and a microcomputer 2 controls the entire television device 1.

  The receiving circuit 3 operates in accordance with the control of the microcomputer 2 and demodulates a user arbitrary channel from a satellite digital broadcast wave received via the antenna 10 to generate a television video signal S1, which is converted into a high image quality module. 4 is supplied. The image quality improving module 4 increases the resolution of the television video signal S1 in accordance with the resolution of the display unit 5 and supplies the image to the display unit 5. The display unit 5 is composed of, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), and displays a television image based on the television image signal S1.

  The microcomputer 2 is configured by connecting a flash ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a font ROM 13, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 14, and an OSDC (On Screen Display Controller) 15 to the CPU 11.

  The CPU 11 implements various functions of the television device 1 by appropriately reading out various control programs stored in the flash ROM 12 and developing them in the RAM 14 for execution. The television apparatus 1 is configured to download and update the upgraded control program supplied via the satellite digital broadcast wave to the flash ROM 12. That is, the receiving circuit 3 extracts a control program from the satellite digital broadcast wave received via the antenna 10 and supplies it to the microcomputer 2. The CPU 11 of the microcomputer 2 updates the upgraded control program by overwriting the old control program in the flash ROM 12.

  The font set can also be upgraded by exchanging the font ROM 13. If the font set is recorded in a font flash ROM (memory that can be rewritten and erased in addition to data reading), the font set can be upgraded via a broadcast wave or the like.

(2) OSD Display Program According to the Present Invention The CPU 11 of the microcomputer 2 as the display character string generating means executes the OSD display program in response to an OSD screen display command input via a remote controller (not shown).

  A font ROM 13 serving as a storage means stores a font set used on the OSD screen, and one font character is assigned every 256 bytes as shown in FIG. Here, as shown in FIG. 2B, the font itself used in the OSD screen is a binary value of horizontal 24 pixels × vertical 32 pixels, and therefore the actual data size of the font itself is 24 × 32 = per character. 768 bits = 96 bytes. Of the 256 bytes assigned to one font character, the remaining area 160 bytes is an unused area.

  The microcomputer 2 can turn on and off the function of the OSDC 15 as appropriate. That is, when the OSD screen is displayed, the CPU 11 of the microcomputer 2 supplies the OSD drawing command to the OSDC 15 after turning on the OSDC 15. The OSDC 15 reads out the font designated by the OSD drawing command from the font ROM 13 for each character (256-byte unit).

  Then, the OSDC 15 generates an OSD screen message using the read font, and supplies it to the image quality improvement module 4 as the OSD video signal S2. The image quality enhancement module 4 superimposes the OSD video signal S2 on the television video signal S1, thereby overlappingly displaying the OSD screen on the television video.

  On the other hand, when the OSD screen is not displayed, the CPU 11 directly accesses the font ROM 13 by turning off the OSDC 15. In this case, the CPU 11 can access an arbitrary address in the font ROM 13 in units of a minimum of 1 byte.

  The television apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is characterized in that the version information of the font set stored in the font ROM 13 is entered in the font (character) itself of the font set. The OSD display program of the television apparatus 1 accesses the font set stored in the font ROM 13 in units of 1 byte by using the above-described access function in units of 1 byte, and acquires version information. The OSD display program generates a message as a display character string using only the font stored in the font ROM 13 based on the acquired version information of the font set, and displays it on the OSD screen.

  FIG. 3 shows a part of the font table of the font set according to the present embodiment. The version information (three digits) of the font set is written in a specific font on the font table (here, the font at font address 030B). Incidentally, the font of the font address 030B is a version number font used when displaying the version of the OSD display program on the OSD screen during product development or product test.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the uppermost 24 pixels (that is, 24 bits) of the version number font consisting of 24 horizontal pixels × 32 vertical pixels are used as the version information entry area. Then, the 24 bits of the version information entry area are divided into three, and one digit of the version number is embedded in each 8 bits (1 byte) as a binary number.

  For example, the version 1.01 is “00000001 00000000 00000001”, the version 1.15 is “00000001 00000001 00000101”, and the version 1.19 is “00000001 00000001 00000101”.

  Incidentally, the bit “1” of the version information entered in the version information entry area is displayed as a dot of 1 dot at the top of the version number font on the OSD screen. However, as described above, since the version number font is only used when displaying the version of the OSD display program during product development or product testing, the dot is not perceived by the user.

  When the OSD display program is started, the OSDC function is temporarily turned off, and the version information of the font set is read from the version information entry area of the version number font stored in the font ROM 13. Then, the OSD display program performs OSD display with a message having a content corresponding to the installed font of the font set stored in the font ROM 13 based on the read version information.

  For example, when the font set is upgraded from version 1.00 to 1.01, a new character “wait” is installed in the font set. When the version is upgraded from version 1.01 to 1.02, Assume that three new characters “start”, “motion”, and “medium” are newly installed in the font set. These new additional fonts, which were displayed as “Currently inoperable” in version 1.00 as a message for notifying that the user operation cannot be accepted when the OSD display program is started, It was added by improving the expression sequentially such as “Please wait for a while” in version 1.01 and “Please wait for a while.” In version 1.02.

  Then, the OSD display program selects and displays a message using only the fonts stored in the font set according to the font set version information read from the font ROM 13. In other words, when the font set version is 1.00, "Cannot operate now", when the version is 1.01, "Please wait for a while", when the version is 1.02, "Please wait for a while." Is displayed.

  Thereby, even when the version of the font set used as a standard by the OSD display program changes due to the upgrade of the OSD display program, the television apparatus 1 can perform normal OSD based on the stored font in the font set. The screen can always be displayed.

  Next, the processing procedure of the OSD display program described above will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  When the OSD display operation is input by the user, the CPU 11 of the microcomputer 2 enters from the start step of the OSD display processing routine RT1 and proceeds to step SP1 to instruct the OSDC 15 to stop the function, and then proceeds to the next step SP2. Move.

  In step SP2, the CPU 11 waits for the OSDC 15 to stop functioning. When it is confirmed that the OSDC 15 has stopped functioning, the CPU 11 proceeds to the next step SP3.

  As described above, the CPU 11 can access the font ROM 13 in units of 1 byte when the function of the OSDC 15 is stopped. In step SP3, after reading the version information from the font ROM 13, the CPU 11 proceeds to the next step SP3, instructs the OSDC 15 to start the function, and proceeds to the next step SP4.

  In step SP5, the CPU 11 waits for the function start of the OSDC 15, and when it is confirmed that the function of the OSDC 15 has started, the process proceeds to the next step SP6.

  In step SP6, the CPU 11 selects a message using only the mounted font of the font set stored in the font ROM 13 based on the acquired version information, and instructs the OSDC 15 to display the selected message.

  In step SP7, the OSDC 15 of the microcomputer 2 sequentially reads out the fonts used for the message one by one from the font ROM 13 in response to a message display command from the CPU 11, and proceeds to the next step SP8.

  In step SP8, the OSDC 15 of the microcomputer 2 sequentially develops the read fonts in a VRAM (not shown), generates an OSD video signal S2 from the decompressed data, and supplies the OSD video signal S2 to the image quality improvement module 4 to provide the television. By superimposing it on the John video signal S1, the OSD screen is displayed in an overlapped manner on the television video, and then the process proceeds to the next step SP9.

(3) Operation and Effect In the above configuration, in the television device 1, the version information of the font set stored in the font ROM 13 is entered in the predetermined font itself in the font set. Thus, the CPU 11 of the television apparatus 1 can read the font set version information from the font ROM 13 with the OSDC function turned off.

  The television apparatus 1 recognizes the version of the font set on the OSD display program, and displays the message on the OSD screen using only the fonts stored in the font set. Thereby, the television apparatus 1 can always display a normal OSD screen even when the version of the font set used as a standard by the OSD display program is changed by upgrading the OSD display program.

  According to the above configuration, a normal OSD screen corresponding to the stored font of the font set can always be displayed based on the version information read from the font set.

(4) Other Embodiments In the above-described embodiment, the version information entry area for entering the version information of the font set is provided in the uppermost stage of the version number font. The version information entry area can be provided at various other positions such as providing a version information entry area at an arbitrary location of the version number font or providing a version information entry area across a plurality of fonts.

  The data size of the version information entry area is not limited to 3 bytes described in the above embodiment, and may be increased or decreased as appropriate. If the version information entry area is set to a continuous area in the font ROM 13, the version information can be easily read.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to a television device having an OSD function has been described. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and a display having an OSD function, such as a digital still camera or a video camera. The present invention can be applied to various electronic devices including a unit.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the OSD display program is upgraded via the broadcast wave has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the OSD display program is upgraded via the Internet, or the memory is upgraded. The present invention can also be applied when the OSD display program is upgraded via a recording medium such as a card.

  The present invention can be applied to, for example, a television apparatus.

It is a basic diagram which shows the structure of the television apparatus by this invention. It is a basic diagram which shows a part of font table by this invention. It is a basic diagram which shows the data structure of the font ROM by this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an OSD display process procedure.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Television apparatus, 2 ... Control microcomputer, 3 ... Reception circuit, 4 ... Image quality improvement module, 5 ... Display part, 11 ... CPU, 12 ... Flash ROM, 13 ... Font ROM, 14 ... RAM, 15 ... OSDC.

Claims (2)

Storage means for storing a font set composed of a plurality of fonts;
A display character string generating means for reading a font from the font set stored in the storage means and generating a display character string using the read font;
Version information of the font set is written in a specific font in the font set stored in the storage means,
The display character string generation unit reads the version information from the storage unit, and based on the read version information, the display character string is generated using only the fonts included in the font set stored in the storage unit. A video display device characterized by generating. A version information reading step of reading out version information of the font set written in a specific font in the font set from a storage means storing a font set composed of a plurality of fonts;
A display character string generating step for generating the display character string using only the fonts included in the font set stored in the storage means based on the read version information. Method.

Images