JP2880609B2 - Display output method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display output method for performing an animation display on a personal computer, a workstation, and a computer developed for CAI (learning using a computer), a game, or the like. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, animation display on a display screen of a personal computer or the like has been performed by C.
Widely used in fields such as AI and games.

[0003] The animation display is a display method in which a display object is moved, rotated or deformed by shifting the display object little by little and continuously displayed on a screen, so that the display object appears to be moving.

When moving an object to be displayed in an animation display by a computer, a point at a certain distance from a position (start point) where the object is displayed first is to be moved. Take on the route and display a new display at that position. Immediately before or immediately after newly displaying a display object, the display object that has been displayed so far is deleted.
By repeating this processing up to the end position (end point) to be moved, the user sees the displayed object as having moved from the start point to the end point, and an animation display is realized.

[0005] When an animation is displayed in this way, the quality of the animation display differs depending on the number of divisions from the start point to the end point. That is, if the number of times of display is increased and the number of times of display in the middle from the start point to the end point is increased, the movement of the display object becomes continuous and smoother. Conversely, when less, movement appears discontinuous and awkward. This applies not only to the movement of the display object, but also to rotation and deformation.

[0006]

By the way, in recent personal computers and workstations, even with hardware of the same architecture, higher-speed C
By mounting a PU chip or increasing the frequency of an operation clock, a computer with higher performance is often realized.

Here, the performance does not indicate only the processing speed of the CPU or the frequency of the operation clock, but indicates the difference in the processing speed of the overall unit data amount including the processing speed of the memory and peripheral circuits. Things.

When the performance of such a computer is improved, computers having the same architecture and having various performances are distributed to the market. This is not only a phenomenon of the same company's products, but is more prominent in leading computers because other manufacturers release compatible machines.

A computer having the same architecture normally operates on a computer having another performance without any modification to the program. However, in the case of a program displaying an animation, the performance of the computer is improved. It can be a problem.

That is, when there is a program that performs an animation display such that a display object moves from the left to the right of the screen on the computer of performance A, the start point to the end point are displayed on the computer of performance A at an appropriate moving speed. Even if the program is created by determining the number of display times in between, if the program is operated on a computer having a performance B higher than that of the computer, the moving speed is increased.

As a result, depending on the contents of the program, the way of movement is unnatural, or in extreme cases, the displayed object moves instantaneously. For example, in the case of CAI software, the In the case of game software, there is a problem that the game cannot be established because the user's reflexes cannot keep up.

Further, when a program title or the like is displayed for a predetermined time at the start of execution, there is a problem that the display disappears in an instant and the program title cannot be confirmed.

On the other hand, when the computer is operated on an old model computer or a popular computer, the moving speed is slow due to low performance, giving a user a feeling of irritation, and a problem in games. Occurs.

Therefore, when an animation is displayed by a program, the program must be created in consideration of the performance of the computer.

In order to make the moving speed on the screen the same for any computer of any performance, there is a method of inserting a time-gaining loop process according to the performance of the computer at the time of display. As a method, there is a method of adjusting the number of intermediate displays from the start point to the end point according to the performance of the computer. That is, if the computer has high performance, the number of display times is increased, and if the computer has low performance, the number of display times is reduced. Thereby, the moving speed can be kept the same regardless of the performance of the computer. At this time, if the performance of the computer is high, there is also an advantage that the display of the movement looks smoother.

As a method for knowing the performance of the computer, a method of allowing the user to specify the type of the CPU of the computer at the time of starting the program, or specifying the degree of difficulty in the case of a game.

However, in the former method, when a new CPU is loaded, it is necessary to update the program in accordance with the new CPU, and it is not possible to respond to a change in the clock frequency of the computer. Even if the frequency is designated, there is a problem that handling is very difficult for a beginner.

Also, in the latter method of designating the degree of difficulty, even if the degree of difficulty is the easiest, if the performance of the computer exceeds it, the program must be modified.
Also, in many games, the speed of movement is not the only factor that determines the difficulty of the game.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a display output method capable of performing an animation display or the like at a speed intended at the beginning of design even if there is a difference in computer performance. To provide.

[0020]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a program which is common to computers having the same architecture and different hardware performances such as a processing speed of a unit data amount. A display output method for executing the program and outputting the execution result to a display device or the like, wherein the program itself measures hardware performance at the start of execution of the program, and based on the measurement result, the speed of movement of the display object is equivalent. The value of the number of times of display that determines the movement of the display object is corrected so that

[0021]

According to the above-mentioned means, for example, before the animation display, the performance of the hardware for actually displaying is measured by the program itself, and the measured performance is used as a reference in the program. Based on the value of the performance of the computer, the speed of the movement of the displayed object will be the same speed as when displaying on the reference computer,
For example, by correcting the number of times of display between the start point and the end point and performing display with the corrected number of times of display, computers with different performances can obtain the same speed of movement.

In this case, what is adopted as the value indicating the performance depends on the nature of the display. If a large amount of computation such as ray tracing is required for displaying the displayed object, the processing speed of the CPU is adopted. If the computer has only a small amount of computation and can measure the display speed, it is displayed on the screen. Adopt the speed of display.

[0023]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of the present invention.
At the time of development, in the reference computer S whose performance is “1”, the number of display times required for performing an animation display of moving the display object 101 from the start point A to the end point B as shown in FIG. It is assumed that the display is performed (Vs-2) times from the start point A to the end point B. Assuming that the time required for one display is Cs, the total time required for the display object to move from the start point A to the end point B is

[0025]

Ts = Cs × Vs
(1) In the program actually provided to the user, if the performance measurement shows that the performance of the computer M is “n” with respect to “1” of the reference computer, as shown in FIG. The display count Vm is given by
Change to n. Assuming that the time required for one display of the display object 101 is Cm, the time required for the computer M to move from the start point A to the end point B is:

[0026]

Tm = Cm × Vm = Cm × (Vs
× n) ... (2)

Since the performance of the computer M is n times that of the reference computer S, the time required for one display of the display object is as follows:

[0028]

Cm = Cs / n (3) Substituting this into equation (2) gives

[0029]

Tm = (Cs / n) × (Vs × n) = C
s × Vs = Ts (4), which is the same as the moving speed of the reference computer S.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline of a program structure when the present invention is incorporated into a program for performing animation display. The animation display program 200 at the time of program development executes the performance measurement routine 201 and executes once. Is obtained, and then the value Es is presented to the programmer (step 202).
This value Es is held as a constant 213 in the program 210 provided to the user. In the subsequent step 203, animation display is performed using the number of display times Vs.
Determined above to be optimal. In order to determine the number of display times Vs, a value that is sufficiently appropriate so as not to execute a dummy instruction for time adjustment is adopted.

Since the moving distance and the moving speed are different for different displayed objects, the number of times of display is different for each displayed object.

On the other hand, the program 21 provided to the user
At 0, the performance of the operating computer M is measured in step 211, and its value Em and the constant Es in the program are measured.
After determining the display count Vm from (213), animation display is performed according to the value (step 21).
2).

A method for measuring the performance of the computers S and M is shown in the flowcharts of FIGS.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing of the processing speed measurement routine when the performance of the CPU is adopted as the processing speed.

In FIG. 3, first, the loop counter is set to 0 (step 301), and the time t1 at the start of measurement is obtained from a timer built in the computer (step 30).
2). Thereafter, the dummy instruction group is looped a predetermined number of times (steps 303 to 305), and the current time t2 is obtained again, and the required time Um up to that time is obtained (step 306,
307).

The dummy instruction group in step 304 is an instruction for measuring the processing speed only, and is coded so as not to adversely affect other parts such as a memory. At this time, the frequency of each type of instruction necessary to actually calculate the position and shape of the display object is calculated in advance, and the instructions are executed so as to execute each type of instruction at the same rate, thereby increasing the measurement accuracy. be able to.

At the start of a program, it usually takes some time to read the program or to perform initial settings. Therefore, if the predetermined number of loops is appropriately determined, the time required for performance measurement does not seem unnatural to the user. It is possible to do so.

Although the performance is measured by the loop in FIG. 3, a method may be used in which the number of loop executions within a predetermined time is measured by using a timer interrupt and the processing speed is used.

At the time of program development, the same processing as in FIG. 3 is also executed in advance by the computer S as a reference, and the required time Us is obtained.

FIG. 4 shows a measuring method when the display speed of the screen is adopted as the processing speed. Here, before and after the title screen display (step 402), the current time d1, d2
(Steps 401 and 403), and the required display time Dm is obtained (step 404).

In FIG. 4, however, a hardware dedicated to graphics (hereinafter referred to as VRAM) is provided in the hardware.
It is assumed that an image can be displayed simply by writing to the RAM. If the hardware has a processor for graphic display and the display can be performed by sending a command to the processor, the step 403 is to know the end of the drawing by an interrupt or to keep the completion flag on. There may be different processes such as monitoring and knowing.

In the case of FIG. 4 as well, the program is executed by the computer S as a reference at the time of program development, and the required time Ds is obtained.

When the performance is measured by the method of FIG. 3 or 4 at the time of program development and the required time Us or Ds is obtained, the value is stored in the program 200 at the time of development as a constant as indicated by 213 in FIG.

The program 21 actually provided to the user
At 0, animation display is performed by the method shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 shows a program 21 provided to the user.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart in which step 212 in FIG. Here, it is assumed that the CPU speed is adopted for the performance, and that the display object 101 moves from the start point (x0, y0) on the display screen to the end point (xe, y0) in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG.

First, the number of times of display on the computer M is determined from the number of times of display on the reference computer S and the performance ratio of the computer, and is set to Vm (step 50).
1). Here, if the operating computer M has twice the performance of the reference computer S, the ratio between Us (the required time of the reference computer S) and Um (the required time of the active computer M) is 2: 1. Therefore, the display count Vm is twice the display count of the reference computer S.

Thereafter, the loop counter i is initialized (step 502), and the display object 101 is displayed while being shifted in the loop (steps 503 to 507). And.
If i ≧ Vm-1, finally, a display object is displayed at the position of the end point (steps 508 and 509), and the animation display ends.

On the other hand, when the display speed is adopted as the performance, in step 501 in FIG. 5, since the time required for the display Ds obtained in FIG. 4 is used as the basis, the number of display times of the reference computer S × (Ds / Dm) → Vm.

In the above embodiment, the case of displaying an animation has been described. For example, a pin is pushed out from behind an elastic plate as in a display device developed for a blind person, and a braille pattern is formed by the pushing pattern of the pin. The same can be applied to a touch board expressing.

[0050]

As described above, according to the present invention, before an animation is displayed, the performance of the running computer is measured by itself in the program, and the value set by the reference computer is changed based on the measured value. As a result, even computers with different performances can constantly display movements such as movement, rotation, and deformation of a display object displayed in animation display or the like.

As a result, it is possible to prevent the speed of the displayed object from becoming unnatural or the display from being too fast to become unrecognizable even with computers having different performances, and to provide a display that changes more smoothly with a computer having high performance. And other effects can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the structure of an animation display program to which the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a performance measurement method when a CPU processing speed is adopted as the performance of a computer.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a performance measurement method when the display speed of a screen is adopted as the performance of a computer.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an animation display method in a program provided to a user.

[Explanation of symbols]

101: display object, 200: program at the time of development, 20
1, 211: performance measurement routine, 210: program provided to the user.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A display output method for causing a computer having the same architecture and different types of hardware performance such as a processing speed of a unit data amount to execute a common program and outputting the execution result to a display device or the like. The hardware performance is measured by the program itself at the start of the execution of the program, and based on the measurement result, the value of the number of display times that determines the movement of the display object is corrected so that the speed of the movement of the display object becomes equal. And a display output method.