JP2005300974A - Device and method for image processing - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To lighten a load and to make display speed up by making efficient processing of referring to the information of a SAT, in processing of displaying a sprite on a display screen. <P>SOLUTION: An image display processor 100 which draws an image of the sprite stored in a main memory 12 in line buffers 107 and 108 to display the image on the display screen of a display device 15 transfers the SAT (sprite attribute table) stored in the main memory 12 to a SAT-RAM 102, and a rearrangement processing part 103 rearranges processing of sorting the SAT, according to Y coordinates of respective sprites. Consequently, in the processing of drawing the sprite, the sorted SAT only needs to be referred in order, where the processings are more efficient and faster than retrieving all the SATs. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image display processing device that displays a 2D (two-dimensional) image, and an image display processing method in the image display processing device.

  When a 2D (two-dimensional) image is displayed on a display screen using a background and a sprite (character), the display is performed based on information stored in a table called a SAT (Sprite Attribute Table). It was.

Normally, the SAT is associated with a specific sprite and includes information such as the display position, size, and shape of the sprite.
Conventionally, in the process of drawing a sprite on the screen, all SATs related to the sprite displayed on the screen are searched, and the drawing target is determined based on information such as the display position, size, and shape of the sprite included in each SAT. To identify the sprite. Thereafter, the image data of the sprite to be drawn is acquired from the memory and drawn on the drawing area (buffer) (see, for example, Patent Document 1-2).

JP-A-60-21494 JP 61-162084 A

  When drawing and displaying a screen for each horizontal scanning line using a line buffer, it is necessary to specify which sprite is displayed for each horizontal scanning line, so the display position, size, etc. for all sprites It is necessary to obtain information. Therefore, in the process of drawing a sprite, the process of searching all SATs is essential.

  However, when there are many sprites displayed on the display screen and a large number of SATs are used, it takes a lot of time to search all SATs, and there is a problem that the processing load is extremely large.

  An object of the present invention is to reduce the load and increase the speed by improving the efficiency of the process of searching and referring to the SAT in the process of displaying sprites on the display screen.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following features. In the following description, a configuration corresponding to the embodiment is shown as an example in parentheses. Reference numerals, names, and the like are reference numerals used in the drawings described later, names in the drawings, and the like.

  The present invention stores an attribute information storage unit (for example, SAT-RAM 102) that stores a plurality of sprite attribute information (for example, SAT-0,...) Including position information indicating the display position of the sprite, and the attribute information storage unit. The plurality of sprite attribute information is provided with alignment processing means (for example, rearrangement processing unit 103) that determines a reference order based on position information included in each sprite attribute information, and is stored in the attribute information storage unit. The sprite is rendered by referring to the sprite attribute information according to the reference order determined by the alignment processing means.

  In the present invention, the attribute information storage unit includes a plurality of the sprite attribute information and index information (for example, NEXT SAT-INDEX) that specifies sprite attribute information to be referred to next to each sprite attribute information. The arrangement processing means may be configured to determine the reference order of the sprite attribute information stored in the attribute information storage unit, and set or update the index information based on the determined reference order. .

  In the present invention, the alignment processing unit determines a reference order only for the sprite attribute information including the position information among the sprite attribute information stored in the attribute information storage unit, and ends with the determined reference order. The index information corresponding to the positioned sprite attribute information may be set to content (for example, SAT-end) indicating that there is no sprite attribute information to be referred to next.

  In the present invention, the attribute information storage unit stores start sprite information (for example, a START SAT number) that specifies sprite attribute information to be referred to first when referring to the plurality of sprite attribute information. When the alignment processing unit determines the reference order for the plurality of sprite attribute information stored in the attribute information storage unit, the start sprite information is set to indicate the first sprite in the determined reference order. When sprite attribute information that does not need to be referenced is detected in the sprite rendering process, the start sprite information may be updated so that the sprite attribute information is not referred to in subsequent processes.

  According to the present invention, a plurality of sprite attribute information including position information indicating the display position of the sprite is stored in the attribute information storage unit, and the plurality of sprite attribute information stored in the attribute information storage unit The sprite is drawn by determining the reference order based on the position information included in the sprite attribute information and referring to the sprite attribute information stored in the attribute information storage unit according to the reference order determined by the alignment processing means. It is possible to efficiently refer to sprite attribute information related to sprites to be used. For example, when drawing a sprite for each horizontal scanning line, if the reference order of the sprite attribute information stored in the attribute information storage unit is determined based on the vertical position of the sprite, it is positioned on the horizontal scanning line to be drawn. Only sprite attribute information related to the sprite to be selected can be selected and referenced. As a result, processing such as searching all sprite attribute information stored in the attribute information storage unit is not performed, and only necessary sprite attribute information is efficiently referred to, thereby significantly reducing the processing load of drawing sprites. The processing speed can be greatly increased.

  Further, in the present invention, the attribute information storage unit stores a plurality of sprite attribute information and index information for specifying sprite attribute information to be referred to next to each sprite attribute information in association with each other. When the reference order of the sprite attribute information stored in the attribute information storage unit is determined and the index information is set or updated based on the determined reference order, the sprite attribute information is simply referred to sequentially according to the index information. Sprite attribute information can be referenced efficiently and quickly. Further, since the index information can indicate the reference order of the sprite attribute information stored in the attribute information storage unit, it is not necessary to change the arrangement order of the sprite attribute information itself. Since the index information only needs to include information specifying the sprite attribute information to be referred to next, the amount of information is much smaller than the sprite attribute information. Therefore, the index information process is much lighter and can be executed at a higher speed than the process of changing the arrangement order of the sprite attribute information itself. Further, when changing the reference order of the sprite attribute information, it is only necessary to rewrite the index information. As a result, the processing required to determine and change the reference order of the sprite attribute information can be executed at high speed with few resources.

  In the present invention, the alignment processing means determines the reference order only for the sprite attribute information including the position information among the sprite attribute information stored in the attribute information storage unit, and the sprite located at the end in the determined reference order When the index information corresponding to the attribute information is set to a content indicating that there is no sprite attribute information to be referred to next, the processing is promptly performed after all the sprite attribute information including the position information is referred to. Can be terminated. As a result, it is possible to omit a wasteful process of referring to sprite attribute information that does not include position information and has substantially no meaning, so that the process of drawing a sprite can be performed very efficiently and at high speed.

  Further, in the present invention, the attribute information storage unit stores start sprite information for designating sprite attribute information to be referred to first when referring to a plurality of sprite attribute information, and the alignment processing means is stored in the attribute information storage unit. When the reference order is determined for a plurality of stored sprite attribute information, the start sprite information is set to indicate the first sprite in the determined reference order, and it is not necessary to refer to the sprite drawing process. When the sprite attribute information is detected and the start sprite information is updated so that the sprite attribute information is not referred to in the subsequent processing, if the sprite attribute information is referred to according to the start sprite information, the unnecessary sprite attributes Processing can be performed ignoring information. As a result, useless processing can be omitted, the efficiency of processing for drawing a sprite can be improved, and the speed can be increased.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of an image display apparatus 1 according to an embodiment to which the present invention is applied.
As shown in FIG. 1, an image display device 1 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11 that controls each unit of the image display device 1, a main memory that stores various data and programs including background and sprite image data, SAT, and the like. 12, a sequence control unit 14 that controls processing between various functional units (not shown), a display device 15, and an image display processing device 100.

  The image display processing device 100 transmits / receives various data to / from the CPU 11 and the main memory 12 via the bus I / F 13, and refers to the SAT stored in the main memory 12 according to control by the CPU 11. The drawing based on the image data stored in 12 is executed. The image display processing device 100 is connected to the display device 15, outputs a video signal based on the drawn image to the display device 15, and displays the image on the screen of the display device 15.

  The image display processing device 100 includes a SAT transfer unit 101, a SAT-RAM (SAT-Random Access Memory) 102, a rearrangement processing unit 103, a sprite control unit 104, a background control unit 105, a color processing drawing control unit 106, and a line buffer 107. , 108 and a video output unit 109.

The SAT transfer unit 101 is connected to the main memory 12 via the bus I / F 13 and transfers the SAT in the main memory 12 to the SAT-RAM 102.
The SAT-RAM 102 temporarily stores the SAT transferred by the SAT transfer unit 101.
The rearrangement processing unit 103 performs rearrangement processing (FIG. 4) described later on the SAT stored in the SAT-RAM 102.

  The sprite control unit 104 specifies a sprite located on the horizontal scanning line to be processed by referring to the SAT stored in the SAT-RAM 102 according to the control by the CPU 11. Then, the sprite control unit 104 reads out image data of the sprite located on the horizontal scanning line to be processed from the main memory 12 and outputs it to the color processing drawing control unit 106.

  Under the control of the CPU 11, the background control unit 105 refers to a BAT (Background Attribute Table) (not shown) stored in the main memory 12, determines a background to be drawn, and stores image data of this background. Read from the main memory 12 and output to the color processing drawing control unit 106.

  Based on the sprite image data input from the sprite control unit 104 and the background image data input from the background control unit 105, the color processing / drawing control unit 106 is either the line buffer 107 or the line buffer 108. Draw a background and a sprite.

  Both of the line buffers 107 and 108 are buffer memories that temporarily store an image for one horizontal scanning line, and are used by switching alternately.

  The video output unit 109 accesses either the line buffer 107 or the line buffer 108, reads an image drawn in the line buffer, generates a video signal, and outputs the video signal to the display device 15.

  The display device 15 is a display device having a display screen such as a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) or an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), and displays various images based on a video signal input from the video output unit 109.

Here, switching between the line buffer 107 and the line buffer 108 in the image display processing apparatus 100 will be described.
As described above, each of the line buffers 107 and 108 stores data relating to an image for one horizontal scanning line, and cannot perform drawing and image reading at the same time. For example, while the color processing / drawing control unit 106 is drawing an image in the line buffer 107, the color processing / drawing control unit 106 cannot read the image from the line buffer 107.

Therefore, in the image display processing device 100, by alternately switching between the drawing side by the color processing drawing control unit 106 and the side from which the image is read by the video output unit 109, the drawing and display of images are continuously performed. I can do it.
That is, while the color processing / drawing control unit 106 is drawing in the line buffer 107, the video output unit 109 performs a process of reading an image from the line buffer 108. Thereafter, when drawing to the line buffer 107 and image reading from the line buffer 108 are completed, the line buffer 107 and the line buffer 108 are switched. Subsequently, the color processing / drawing control unit 106 performs drawing on the line buffer 108, and the video output unit 109 reads the image in the line buffer 107.

  In the following description, of the line buffer 107 and the line buffer 108, the side from which an image is read by the video output unit 109 is referred to as a line buffer A, and the side to be drawn by the color processing drawing control unit 106 is referred to as a line buffer B. To do. Therefore, at a certain point, the line buffer 107 becomes the line buffer A, the line buffer 108 becomes the line buffer B, and when the line buffer is switched, the line buffer 108 becomes the line buffer A and the line buffer 107 becomes the line buffer B. .

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image display processing apparatus 100. An outline of processing executed by each unit of the image display processing apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIG.
First, when display processing of one screen is started (step S11), the SAT stored in the main memory 12 is transferred to the SAT-RAM 102 by the SAT transfer unit 101 (step S12). Thereafter, the rearrangement processing unit 103 executes the rearrangement process for the SAT stored in the SAT-RAM 102 (step S13).

  After the rearrangement process, the START SAT number stored in the SAT-RAM 102 is initialized (step S14). The START SAT number is information for designating the SAT to be referred to first when referring to the SAT stored in the SAT-RAM 102 in the process of step S19 described later.

  Subsequently, the line buffers 107 and 108 are initialized (step S15), and a raster display process for displaying a raster image on the display screen on the display device 15 is started (step S16).

  In the raster display process, an image stored on the line buffer A side of the line buffers 107 and 108 is read by the video output unit 109 and displayed on the display device 15 (step S17). Here, in the line buffer A, the raster from which the image is read by the video output unit 109 is initialized each time.

  During the execution of the image display in step S17, the color processing / drawing control unit 106 draws the background on the line buffer B (step S18), and further draws the sprite (step S19).

  When the drawing to the line buffer B is completed and the display of the image stored in the line buffer A is completed (step S20; Yes), the line buffers A and B (line buffers 107 and 108) are switched (step S21). ).

  Here, when the display of all the screens is completed (step S22; Yes), the process returns to step S11 to display the next screen.

If the display of the entire screen has not been completed (step S22; No), the operation of the image display processing device 100 returns to step S17.
Then, the image of the line buffer B on which the background and sprites are drawn in steps S18 to S19 is read by the video output unit 109 and displayed on the display device 15. Further, the image of the next horizontal scanning line is drawn in the line buffer A.

  If the display of the image in the line buffer A is completed while drawing in the line buffer B in steps S18 to S19, the drawing in the line buffer B is stopped, and the process proceeds to step S21. The line buffers A and B (line buffers 107 and 108) may be switched. Further, after the display of the image in the line buffer A is completed, the signal is delayed until the drawing in the line buffer B is completed and the line buffers A and B are switched, and the drawing time of the image in the line buffer A is delayed. It is also possible to lengthen the length.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing in detail the process of transferring the SAT stored in the main memory 12 to the SAT-RAM 102 in step S12 of FIG.
In the main memory 12, SATs corresponding to a plurality of sprites are stored with respective SAT numbers (SAT-0,...). Each of these SATs includes information indicating the position of the corresponding sprite, information indicating the size of the sprite, and other information (not shown).

In the present embodiment, the upper left corner of the sprite is set on the display screen of the display device 15 when an XY coordinate system is set with the upper left corner as the origin, the horizontal direction as the X axis, and the vertical direction as the Y axis. The position of the sprite is indicated by the X coordinate and the Y coordinate. The size of the sprite is indicated by the number of rasters in the horizontal (X direction) and vertical (Y direction). For example, SAT-4 shown in FIG. 3 is information on a sprite displayed at a position of (X, Y) = (50, 30) and having a size of 8 × 8 rasters.
In the example of FIG. 3, it is assumed that SAT-5 and SAT-10 and subsequent SATs are unused and do not include information on the corresponding sprite.

  The SAT transfer unit 101 transfers the SAT related to the screen to be processed among the SATs stored in the main memory 12 to the SAT-RAM 102 as it is. In other words, the SAT stored in the main memory 12 is stored in the SAT-RAM 102 in the same order as the arrangement order in the main memory 12.

  Further, when the SAT is transferred to the SAT-RAM 102, the NEXT SAT-INDEX indicating the reference order of each SAT is generated and associated with each SAT. NEXT SAT-INDEX is information that specifies the SAT to be referred to next when each SAT is referenced. For example, since NEXT SAT-INDEX corresponding to SAT-0 in FIG. 3 is SAT-1, when SAT-0 is referred to, SAT-1 is referred to next. NEXT SAT-INDEX corresponding to SAT-9 is SAT-end. This indicates that there is no SAT to be referenced after referring to SAT-9.

  Further, the SAT-RAM 102 stores a START SAT number that designates the first SAT to be referred to among the SATs stored in the SAT-RAM 102. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the START SAT number is SAT-0.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a rearrangement process for rearranging the SATs stored in the SAT-RAM 102 in step S13 of FIG.
In the state before the rearrangement processing shown on the left side in FIG. 4, the SAT in the SAT-RAM 102 is stored in the same order as in the main memory 12, and the NEXT SAT-INDEX and the START SAT number are both in the main memory 12. The content indicates that each SAT is referred to in the SAT order.

  The rearrangement processing unit 103 performs rearrangement processing on the SAT stored in the SAT-RAM 102 and determines the order of each SAT based on the Y coordinate (vertical position) indicating the position of the sprite. In this rearrangement process, the rearrangement processing unit 103 can be executed by arithmetic processing based on various sort algorithms such as bubble sort, shell sort, heap sort, merge sort, and quick sort. Note that unused SATs such as SAT-5 and 10 shown in FIG. 4 are ignored (excluded) in the rearrangement process.

  Then, after determining the order of each SAT, the rearrangement processing unit 103 updates the START SAT number and the NEXT SAT-INDEX based on the determined order. Note that the rearrangement processing unit 103 does not change the arrangement order of the SAT itself.

  In the example shown in FIG. 4, when SAT-0 to 10 are arranged in the order of the Y coordinate, the values of SAT-3, 9, 0, 8, 6, 7, 2, 1, 4 are in order from the smallest Y coordinate value. Line up on the street. Since SAT-5 and 10 are unused, they are excluded from this order.

  In the state after the rearrangement process shown on the right side in FIG. 4, the START SAT number is SAT-3 with the smallest Y coordinate. Accordingly, in the process of drawing the sprite, SAT-3 is first referred to among SAT-0 to SAT-10. Since NEXT SAT-INDEX corresponding to SAT-3 indicates SAT-9, SAT-9 is referred to after SAT-3. Further, according to NEXT SAT-INDEX, SAT is referred to in the order of SAT-0, 8, 6, 7, 2, 1, 4 after SAT-9. Since the NEXT SAT-INDEX corresponding to SAT-4 is SAT-end, the reference (search) of the SAT in the SAT-RAM 102 is ended after the SAT-4 is referred to.

  As described above, the rearrangement processing unit 103 performs the rearrangement process on the SAT stored in the SAT-RAM 102, determines the order of the SATs in the order of, for example, the smallest Y coordinate value, and each SAT is determined according to the determined order. Update START SAT number and NEXT SAT-INDEX for reference.

  5 to 9 are diagrams showing in detail the process in which the SAT is referred to in step S19 of FIG. 5 to 9, unreferenced (unreferenced) SAT is indicated by a normal frame, referenced SAT is indicated by a double frame, and it is determined that the end condition is met when referenced. The SAT that has not been processed is indicated by a double frame and hatched lines, and the SAT that is determined not to be processed is indicated by a double frame and shaded area.

FIG. 5 shows an example of drawing a horizontal scanning line whose Y coordinate is 0 (Y = 0).
First, SAT-3 is referenced according to the START SAT number. Here, since the Y coordinate of SAT-3 is 10, SAT-3 is not an object to be displayed on the horizontal scanning line of Y = 0. Therefore, when SAT-3 is referenced, it is determined that the termination condition is met, and the process of referring to SAT is terminated.

FIG. 6 shows an example of drawing a horizontal scanning line with a Y coordinate of 10 (Y = 10).
First, SAT-3 is referenced according to the START SAT number. Since the Y coordinate of SAT-3 is 10 and the size of the sprite is 8 × 8, it is determined that the sprite corresponding to SAT-3 is the display target of the horizontal scanning line of Y = 10, and on the horizontal scanning line. Drawn on. Subsequently, SAT-9 is referred to according to NEXT SAT-INDEX corresponding to SAT-3. Here, since the Y coordinate of SAT-9 is 14, the sprite corresponding to SAT-9 is not an object to be displayed on the horizontal scanning line of Y = 10. Therefore, when SAT-9 is referenced, it is determined that the termination condition is met, and the process of referring to the SAT ends.

FIG. 7 shows an example in which a horizontal scanning line (Y = 18) having a Y coordinate of 18 is displayed.
First, SAT-3 is referenced according to the START SAT number. Here, since the Y coordinate of SAT-3 is 10, and the size of the sprite of SAT-3 is 8 × 8, the sprite corresponding to SAT-3 is Y = 17 from the horizontal scanning line of Y = 10. It is displayed on the horizontal scanning line and is not displayed on the horizontal scanning line of Y = 18. Accordingly, SAT-3 is determined not to be displayed on the horizontal scanning line of Y = 18.
Subsequently, SAT-9 is referred to according to NEXT SAT-INDEX corresponding to SAT-3. Since the Y coordinate of SAT-9 is 14 and the size of the sprite is 8 × 8, it is determined that the sprite corresponding to SAT-9 is the display target of the horizontal scanning line of Y = 18, and the horizontal scanning is performed. It is drawn on the line.
Next, SAT-0 is referenced according to the NEXT SAT-INDEX corresponding to SAT-9. Since the Y coordinate of SAT-0 is 18 and the size of the sprite is 8 × 8, it is determined that the sprite corresponding to SAT-0 is the display target of the horizontal scanning line of Y = 18, and the horizontal scanning is performed. It is drawn on the line.
Subsequently, SAT-8 is referred to according to NEXT SAT-INDEX corresponding to SAT-0. Since the Y coordinate of SAT-8 is 20, the sprite corresponding to SAT-8 is not a target to be displayed on the horizontal scanning line of Y = 18. Therefore, when SAT-8 is referenced, it is determined that the termination condition is met, and the process of referring to SAT is terminated.

  In the process of drawing the horizontal scanning line with Y = 18, it is determined that SAT-3 is not a display target, so it is necessary to refer to SAT-3 in the process of drawing the horizontal scanning line after Y = 19. There is no. Therefore, after it is determined that SAT-3 is not subject to display, the START SAT number is set to SAT that is referenced after SAT-3 and that is not subject to display, that is, SAT-9. The

FIG. 8 shows an example of drawing a horizontal scanning line with a Y coordinate of 21 (Y = 21).
First, SAT-9 is referenced according to the START SAT number. Since the SAT-9 has a Y coordinate of 14 and a sprite size of 8 × 8, the sprite corresponding to the SAT-9 is displayed from the Y = 14 horizontal scanning line to the Y = 21 horizontal scanning line. It is. Therefore, the sprite corresponding to SAT-9 is determined to be the display target of the horizontal scanning line of Y = 21, and is drawn on the horizontal scanning line.
Next, SAT-0 is referenced according to the NEXT SAT-INDEX corresponding to SAT-9. Since the Y coordinate of SAT-0 is 18 and the size of the sprite is 8 × 8, the sprite corresponding to SAT-0 is determined to be the display target of the horizontal scanning line of Y = 21, and on the horizontal scanning line. Drawn on.
Subsequently, SAT-8 is referred to according to NEXT SAT-INDEX corresponding to SAT-0. Since the Y coordinate of SAT-8 is 20 and the size of the sprite is 8 × 8, it is determined that the sprite corresponding to SAT-8 is the display target of the horizontal scanning line of Y = 21. Drawn on.
Next, SAT-6 is referenced according to the NEXT SAT-INDEX corresponding to SAT-8. Since the Y coordinate of SAT-6 is 21 and the size of the sprite is 8 × 8, it is determined that the sprite corresponding to SAT-6 is the display target of the horizontal scanning line of Y = 21, and on the horizontal scanning line. Drawn on.
Subsequently, SAT-7 is referred to according to NEXT SAT-INDEX corresponding to SAT-6. Since the Y coordinate of SAT-7 is 22, the sprite corresponding to SAT-7 is not an object to be displayed on the horizontal scanning line of Y = 21. Therefore, when SAT-7 is referenced, it is determined that the termination condition is met, and the process of referring to SAT is terminated.

FIG. 9 shows an example in which a horizontal scanning line (Y = 22) having a Y coordinate of 22 is displayed.
First, SAT-9 is referenced according to the START SAT number. Here, since the Y coordinate of SAT-9 is 14, and the size of the sprite of SAT-9 is 8 × 8, the sprite corresponding to SAT-9 is Y = 21 from the horizontal scanning line of Y = 14. It is displayed on the horizontal scanning line and is not displayed on the horizontal scanning line of Y = 22. Therefore, SAT-9 is determined not to be displayed, and SAT-0 is then referenced according to the NEXT SAT-INDEX corresponding to SAT-9. Since the Y coordinate of SAT-0 is 18 and the size of the sprite is 8 × 8, the sprite is drawn on the horizontal scanning line of Y = 22 based on SAT-0.
Subsequently, SAT-8 is referred to according to NEXT SAT-INDEX corresponding to SAT-0. Since the Y coordinate of SAT-8 is 20 and the size of the sprite is 8 × 8, the sprite is drawn on the horizontal scanning line of Y = 22 based on SAT-8.
Furthermore, SAT-6 is referred to according to NEXT SAT-INDEX corresponding to SAT-8. Since the Y coordinate of SAT-6 is 21 and the size of the sprite is 8 × 8, the sprite is drawn on the horizontal scanning line of Y = 22 based on SAT-6.
Next, SAT-7 is referred to according to the NEXT SAT-INDEX corresponding to SAT-6. Since the Y coordinate of SAT-7 is 22 and the size of the sprite is 8 × 8, the sprite is drawn on the horizontal scanning line of Y = 22 based on SAT-7.
Furthermore, SAT-2 is referred to according to NEXT SAT-INDEX corresponding to SAT-7. Here, since the Y coordinate of SAT-2 is 24, it is not an object to be displayed on the horizontal scanning line of Y = 22. Therefore, when SAT-2 is referenced, it is determined that the termination condition is met, and the process of referring to SAT is terminated.

  In the process of drawing the horizontal scanning line of Y = 22 shown in FIG. 9, it is determined that SAT-9 is not the target. Accordingly, in the process of drawing the horizontal scanning lines after Y = 23, it is not necessary to refer to SAT-9, so the START SAT number is updated to SAT-0.

FIG. 10 is a chart showing the number of searches when the SAT in the SAT-RAM 102 is searched.
In the chart shown in FIG. 10, the leftmost item “Y coordinate” indicates the Y coordinate of the horizontal scanning line to be searched, and the item “end determination” indicates the SAT that matches the end condition in the process of referring to the SAT in the SAT-RAM 102. The item “START SAT update” indicates whether or not the START SAT number has been updated. The item “number of searches” indicates the number of times each SAT is searched (referenced) for SATs that are not “unused”. In the chart of FIG. 10, the number of times each SAT is referred to is shown with each SAT number as an item.

In FIG. 10, the process of searching for and referring to a specific SAT from the SATs in the SAT-RAM 102 is counted as a single search. If one SAT is referenced and the SAT matches the termination condition, the SAT is unprocessed and the SAT reference count is counted as “0”, but the SAT-RAM 102 searches for the SAT. Therefore, “number of searches” is counted as “1”.
For example, in the process of drawing the horizontal scanning line with Y = 1, as described with reference to FIG. 5, the sprite corresponding to SAT-3 referred to first is not drawn on the horizontal scanning line. Therefore, since only the determination that SAT-3 meets the termination condition is performed, in the chart of FIG. 10, the reference count is “0” for all SAT-3 and below, and the search count is “1”. Is counted.

  Further, for example, in the process of drawing a horizontal scanning line with Y = 18, as described with reference to FIG. 7, since sprites corresponding to SAT-9 and SAT-0 are determined to be displayed, SAT The reference count is “1” for −9 and SAT-0. Further, it is determined that SAT-3 is not the target and that SAT-8 matches the termination condition. Since these determinations are counted as the number of searches, the total number of searches is “4”. In addition, since the SAT-3 is not the target, the process of updating the START SAT number is performed, so “START SAT update” is “1”.

  As shown in FIG. 10, when the process of drawing each horizontal scanning line from the horizontal scanning line of Y = 0 to the horizontal scanning line of Y = 38 is performed, the total number of searches is 111 times. This number of times is extremely small compared to the case of searching all SATs stored in the SAT-RAM 102 in the process of drawing all horizontal scanning lines by the conventional method.

  Further, in the process of drawing the horizontal scanning line of Y = 38, it is determined that the sprite corresponding to SAT-4 is not the target. This is because the Y coordinate of SAT-4 is 30, and the size of the sprite is 8 × 8. Then, the START SAT number is updated, but as shown in FIGS. 5 to 9, the NEXT SAT-INDEX corresponding to SAT-4 is SAT-end. That is, since there is no SAT to be referenced after SAT-4, the START SAT number is updated to SAT-end.

  Thereby, in the process of drawing the horizontal scanning lines after Y = 39, since the START SAT number is SAT-end, there is no sprite to be displayed. Therefore, the process is terminated without searching for and referring to the SAT in the SAT-RAM 102. In this case, since only the START SAT number is referenced, the number of searches is zero.

In the example shown in FIGS. 3 to 9, only nine SATs 0 to 4 and 6 to 9 among the SATs stored in the SAT-RAM 102 include the position information of the corresponding sprites. SAT after 5 and SAT-10 were unused.
Here, in the case where 256 SATs of SAT-0 to 255 are stored in the SAT-RAM 102 and SAT-5 and SAT-10 to 255 are unused, as described above, Y = In the process of drawing horizontal scanning lines after 39, the number of searches is “0”. That is, even if 256 SATs are stored in the SAT-RAM 102, the number of searches is only 111 times.
Note that unused SAT is ignored when the reordering process is performed by the reordering unit 103. Therefore, only the capacity in the SAT-RAM 102 is consumed, and can be almost ignored as a factor that increases the processing load. .

By the way, in the above case, that is, in the case where 256 SATs of SAT-0 to 255 are stored in the SAT-RAM 102 and SAT-5 and SAT-10 to 255 are unused, Similarly, a case is assumed where all SATs in the SAT-RAM 102 are searched. In this case, for example, when the number of horizontal scanning lines (vertical rasters) in one screen is 240, the number of times of searching for SAT in the process of displaying one screen is calculated by the following equation (1). , 61440 times.
256 × 240 = 61440 times (1)

  That is, in the image display processing apparatus 100, the number of times of searching for the SAT is extremely small compared to the case of searching and referring to the SAT by the conventional technique. As a result, the processing load when displaying sprites can be greatly reduced, and the processing speed can be significantly increased.

  As described above, according to the image display processing apparatus 100 in the embodiment to which the present invention is applied, the SAT transfer unit 101 transfers the SAT from the main memory 12 to the SAT-RAM 102, and the SAT in the SAT-RAM 102 is parallel. Since the rearrangement processing is executed by the replacement processing unit 103, in the process of drawing the sprite, the aligned SATs may be referred to sequentially. Therefore, compared to the case where all the SATs in the SAT-RAM 102 are searched regardless of whether or not they are required, the number of SAT searches / references can be reduced to the minimum necessary number, and the processing related to the sprite drawing can be performed. Can be executed very efficiently and at high speed.

  Further, the rearrangement processing unit 103 determines the SAT order based on the Y coordinate included in each SAT in the rearrangement process, updates the NEXT SAT-INDEX and the START SAT number based on the determined order, The process of rearranging itself is not performed. Since NEXT SAT-INDEX is information specifying the SAT to be referred to next, the amount of information is very small compared to the SAT itself. For this reason, the rearrangement processing unit 103 can execute the rearrangement process for determining the SAT order at a high speed with a small load. Furthermore, the rearrangement processing unit 103 ignores unused SATs and executes rearrangement processing. Therefore, it is possible to omit a wasteful process of referring to a SAT that has no meaning and to draw a sprite. Processing can be executed extremely efficiently and at high speed.

When drawing a sprite, the SAT in the SAT-RAM 102 is referred to according to the START SAT number and the NEXT SAT-INDEX to quickly determine whether the sprite corresponding to each SAT is a display target. It becomes possible.
Also, when referring to the SAT, if it is determined that a certain SAT is a non-target SAT, the START SAT number is updated so that the SAT is not referred to in the subsequent processing, so unnecessary processing is omitted, The processing efficiency can be improved and the speed can be increased.

In the above embodiment, each SAT stored in the main memory 12 and the SAT-RAM 102 has been described as corresponding to one sprite. However, the present invention is not limited to this. When one sprite is displayed at a plurality of locations on the screen, a plurality of SATs may be associated with one sprite. In such a case, the present invention is applied as in the above embodiment. It is possible.
In the above embodiment, the arithmetic processing executed by the rearrangement processing unit 103 is not limited to those according to the above-described bubble sort, shell sort, heap sort, merge sort, and quick sort alignment algorithms. Of course, it is also possible to use.
Further, in the above embodiment, in order to specify a sprite to be displayed on a certain horizontal scanning line, the sprite corresponding to the SAT is displayed based on the Y coordinate included in each SAT in the SAT-RAM 102 and the size of the sprite. Although the case where it is determined whether or not it is a target has been described, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the Y coordinate included in the SAT, the size of the sprite, and information indicating the shape of the sprite are included. It is also possible to make the above determination based on this, and it is also possible to make the above determination based on the SAT X coordinate.
Furthermore, the specific mounting method of the image display device 1 is arbitrary, and each functional unit constituting the image display processing device 100 may be realized separately, or a plurality of functional units may be implemented by one piece of hardware. It may be realized, and it can be arbitrarily changed whether it is realized by dedicated hardware or by cooperation of hardware and software. Of course, other specific details can be changed as appropriate.

It is a block diagram which shows the functional structure of the image display apparatus 1 in embodiment of this invention. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the image display processing device 100 shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing in detail a process of transferring the SAT stored in the main memory 12 to the SAT-RAM 102 in step S12 of FIG. It is a figure which shows in detail the rearrangement process which rearranges SAT stored in SAT-RAM102 in step S13 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the process in step S19 of FIG. 2 in detail. It is a figure which shows the process in step S19 of FIG. 2 in detail. It is a figure which shows the process in step S19 of FIG. 2 in detail. It is a figure which shows the process in step S19 of FIG. 2 in detail. It is a figure which shows the process in step S19 of FIG. 2 in detail. 3 is a chart showing the number of SAT searches in the process of step S19 of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Image display device 11 CPU
12 Main memory 13 Bus I / F
14 Sequence Control Unit 15 Display Device 100 Image Display Processing Device 101 SAT Transfer Unit 102 SAT-RAM
103 rearrangement processing unit 104 sprite control unit 105 background control unit 106 color processing drawing control unit 107, 108 line buffer 109 video output unit

Claims (5)

An attribute information storage unit for storing a plurality of sprite attribute information including position information indicating a display position of the sprite;
For a plurality of sprite attribute information stored in the attribute information storage unit, an alignment processing unit that determines a reference order based on position information included in each sprite attribute information,
Drawing the sprite by referring to the sprite attribute information stored in the attribute information storage unit according to the reference order determined by the alignment processing means;
An image display processing device characterized by the above. In the attribute information storage unit, a plurality of the sprite attribute information and index information specifying sprite attribute information to be referred to next to each sprite attribute information are stored in association with each other.
The alignment processing means determines a reference order of the sprite attribute information stored in the attribute information storage unit, and sets or updates the index information based on the determined reference order;
The image display processing device according to claim 1.   The alignment processing unit determines a reference order only for the sprite attribute information including the position information among the sprite attribute information stored in the attribute information storage unit, and sets the sprite attribute information positioned at the end in the determined reference order. 3. The image display processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the corresponding index information is set to content indicating that there is no sprite attribute information to be referred to next. The attribute information storage unit stores start sprite information that specifies sprite attribute information to be referred to first when referring to the plurality of sprite attribute information,
The alignment processing means sets the start sprite information to indicate the first sprite in the determined reference order when the reference order is determined for the plurality of sprite attribute information stored in the attribute information storage unit. ,
In the process of drawing a sprite, when sprite attribute information that does not need to be referred to is detected, updating the start sprite information so that the sprite attribute information is not referred to in subsequent processes;
The image display processing device according to claim 1, wherein: A plurality of sprite attribute information including position information indicating the display position of the sprite is stored in the attribute information storage unit,
For a plurality of sprite attribute information stored in the attribute information storage unit, determine a reference order based on position information included in each sprite attribute information,
Drawing sprites by referring to the sprite attribute information stored in the attribute information storage unit according to the determined reference order;
An image display processing method characterized by the above.

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