JPH01282593A - Electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display a moving image with natural halftones by converting an analog video signal into discrete data and transferring the result of halftone processing to a bit map memory in parallel, and then transferring the data in the memory to a binary display device. CONSTITUTION:A vertical synchronizing signal outputted by the video signal processing circuit 102 in an image input adapter 101 begins to be monitored in response to a processing start signal from the CPU 107 in information processing equipment 100. When the signal is inputted to an image data controller 104, a halftone processing circuit 105 processes it into halftone image data, which is stored in a memory 106. When the input processing is finished, the CPU 107 sends a signal for sending the data in the memory 106 to a VRAM 111 to a DMAC 108 to perform transfer and the processing from the image input to the transfer is repeated in a fraction of tens of seconds until an input signal for stopping the processing is inputted on a keyboard 113. Thus, an NTSC video signal 115 is displayed as a moving image on a display part 112.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image capture device and an image display device for information equipment.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, the methods of importing image data into the main body of computers, word processors, etc. have been using image reading devices in which the user moves the line sensor themselves, or in types in which the scanned document is placed within the movable range of a self-propelled image sensor. image reading device was used.

In this case, image digital data serially transmitted from the line sensor is received, the data is taken into the main body, and the data is sequentially displayed on the image display device based on the data. On the other hand, there is also a type that captures one screen worth of images such as TV broadcasts. As in the former case, one screen worth of images was displayed.

[Problems and Objectives to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, conventional image reading devices are of the type in which the line sensor is self-propelled or moved by the user. This type of device requires several seconds to several minutes for the sensor to move, so it has the disadvantage of a long reading time.The disadvantage is that the digital image data is also transferred serially, so it takes a very long time to read it. Were present.

On the other hand, since it is generally difficult for word processors, personal computer printing devices, or display devices to display smooth halftones, 9-image data is processed using halftone processing such as the dither method or minimum error diffusion method, and then displayed on a binary display device (white). It is common to process images to a state that can be displayed on a display device that can only express two states (such as black or black), and adjust the brightness and contrast of the image during processing or when capturing the image. However, since the nine-image data is transferred serially, the display device cannot display the image unless it receives all of the data for one side.

The user cannot check the brightness, contrast, etc. of the processed image until after it is transferred. However, as mentioned above, it takes several seconds to several minutes from reading to completion of the transfer, so the user has to wait for that time. That will happen. As a result, if the brightness, contrast, etc. of the received image were not to the user's preference, the user had to repeat the above-mentioned operation, which takes several seconds, while adjusting these. Especially if you want to adjust the brightness of the image to your liking.

The disadvantage was that it required repeated trial and error and was very difficult for the operator to use.

Furthermore, when importing images from television broadcasts or VTRs, the broadcast continuously transmits images one after another.

In order to determine which images to import from among the transmitted images, in addition to a word processor or computer and an image import adapter, a television or monitor display device is required to monitor the images, and the user can view the images while watching the monitor TV. It was necessary to plan the timing of import. Also,
Similar to the image reading device described above, there is a major drawback in that if the brightness of the image is contrary to the user's preference after being captured, there is no possibility of re-capturing it, such as in the case of television broadcasting.

An object of the present invention is to display read images and captured images in real time on a word processor or a personal computer. That is, by displaying a moving image in halftone representation on a digital display device, it is possible to monitor zero images.

The aim is to improve the ease of use for users, and to make it possible to monitor images on a word processor or a display device within the personal computer when capturing images such as television broadcasts.

[Means to solve the problem]

The present invention includes a means for converting an analog video signal into discrete data, a means for performing halftone processing on the converted data, a means for transferring the processing results in parallel to a bitmap memory, and a means for converting the data in the bitmap memory into two. It is characterized by displaying a halftone moving image by means of transmitting it to a value display device.

[Effect]

In the present invention, image data is written in parallel to memory and data is transferred in parallel.

〔Example〕

Two embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of the invention.

100 is information processing equipment such as a computer word processor.

An image capture adapter 101 has a function of capturing one screen worth of image data from an NTSC video signal. The internal structure etc. will be explained in detail below.

101 has a function of receiving an NTSC video signal (113) output from a television, VTR, video camera, etc., and inputs it to the video signal processing circuit 102. The circuit No. 102 has a function of separating the horizontal synchronization signal and vertical synchronization signal from the NTSC video signal, a filter that cuts the chroma signal, and amplification of the video luminance signal.

Consists of circuits such as pedestal clamps and processing? m
Analog-to-digital conversion circuit (A/D) with fi number 103
converter). The circuit 102 has a volume resistor that can change the amplification factor of the brightness signal and the pedestal clamp level, and can be changed according to the user's preference.

The luminance signal input to the A/D converter 103 is sampled with a sampling clock (fs) having a frequency of about 6 MHz synchronized with a horizontal synchronization signal, and converted into digital chill data. The converted data is input to an image data controller 104. The image data controller 104 uses the dither method for A/D conversion data.

Halftone processing is performed using methods such as the minimum error diffusion method (to give an overview of halftone processing, the dither method is used).

Image data at that location is generated by comparing the video data with periodically vibrating values. Specifically, 10
The dither pattern generated from the horizontal synchronization signal, vertical synchronization signal, and position information based on fs output from 2 and A
The image data is determined by comparing with the /D conversion value. In the minimum error diffusion method, the A/D conversion value is compared with a certain value to determine the value at that position, and the error is accumulated and used to determine the value at the primary position. ), and at the same time 104
The image data controller stores the halftone-processed image digital data in j@order 106 memory, and stores the result 1
One screen worth of image data is stored in the vertical synchronization signal section.

The NTSC video signal is a standard for transmitting one field of image information in 1/60 seconds. Therefore, the image data controller 104 performs halftone processing and stores it in memory within 1760 seconds. These processes are realized by pipeline processing, parallel processing, and parallel memory access. To specifically explain the case where the dither method is used as halftone processing, dither matrix data as shown in FIG. Pipeline processing is used to compare and store the comparison data in a shift register, and write it to memory in parallel when several bytes are available.A method for high-speed writing of one image data to memory is to prepare multiple memories. This can be achieved by writing multiple bytes in parallel or by interleaving. 100 word processors or personal computers can access 106 memories through 104 image data controllers, and 107 central processing units (CPUs) can access either the CPU itself or 108 direct memory access controllers (DMACs).
The image data in 106 is transmitted in parallel (byte transfer or word transfer) to the image memory (VRAM) in 110 display devices. As a result, the transfer time for one screen's worth of image data is within a few tenths of a second. It ends with. The display device 110 has the function of continuously displaying the contents of the VRAM 111 on the display panel 112 (in 1/60th of a second). Therefore, the time from when the image is captured by the 101 until it is displayed on the 112 is It is fast, within a few tens of seconds.

On the other hand, FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of means for continuously reading images and displaying a moving image on 112 in the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and shows the flow of processing. The CPU (107) (partly the image data controller 104) in FIG. 1 performs processing according to the flow shown in FIG. Sends a processing start signal (202).The image data controller monitors the vertical synchronization signal output from 102 and waits until the vertical synchronization signal is input (203).When the vertical synchronization signal is input, The image data controller performs the operations described above and stores the halftone image data in the memory 106 (204);
When the image capture for one field is completed (205)
, 104 sends an end signal to the CPU at the same time as finishing the image capturing process.
(206), the CPU sends the halftone processed image data in 106 to 11 through the image data controller.
A signal to be transferred to VRAM 1 is sent to the image data controller and DMAC 108 (207), DMAC
executes the transfer (208), unless there is a manual signal from the keyboard 113 to stop the process at the end of the transfer (208).
09) The CPU sends an image capture start command signal to the image data controller again, and repeats the above-mentioned processing operation. As a result, as mentioned above, it takes several tenths of a second from the start of image capture in 202 to the end of image data transfer in 208. Therefore, through repeated processing, dozens of images can be processed per second.
Display on 2. As a result, the N730 image data 113 is displayed in 112 as a moving image.

FIG. 2 shows one example of the processing. When using a dual port RAM that can access 106 memories in parallel, 104 repeats the processing from 202 to 205, while 100 (108) repeats the processing from 106 to 104. through 11
There is also a method of repeating the process of transferring the image digital data in parallel (208) and executing both processes in parallel. To achieve this, the 104 data controllers are 105
It has the function of writing the image digital data generated by 106 into the memory of 106, and the function of reading it into the same poem.

In addition, as an example of a device having a function of simply displaying a captured image as a moving image, in FIG.
A system in which image data is written directly to AM can also be considered.

FIG. 3 shows a dither matrix in the dither method, which is one method of halftone processing.

This dither pattern is generated using position information based on the horizontal synchronizing signal (main scanning signal, X direction) and fs (sub scanning signal, X direction) outputted from 102. Specifically, X
Since the direction and the X direction are each 4, it can be expressed with 2 bits.
IXo” (00,01,10,11), Y, Y0=
(00, 01, 10, 11), and the value of each matrix can be expressed with 4 bits, and if these are Q, Q2Q, and Qo, the matrix data in Fig. 3 is Q m = X o
*X1*YIQ2=Xo*X
t * Y o * Y engineering Q 1 = X t * Y
o*Y5QO=XO*X1 (where * indicates exclusive OR).

This can be achieved with simple logic gates.

By digitally comparing the matrix data thus generated and the video digital data converted in step 103 at each position, the data (1
bit) is determined, and image data that can be displayed in halftones on two display devices is generated.

FIG. 4 shows 9 applied inventions of the present invention, 405 is an image capture adapter, 406 is an information device such as a word processor or a personal computer, and 407 is connected to a printer as a display device 408. Here, 405 corresponds to 101. 40
5, 401 video camera, 402 television, 40
3 VTRs and the like are connected with 404 cables, and one image data is serially transmitted as an NTSC video signal.

In 405, the video is processed as described above, and the 9 image data is 4
09 to 406 and 407 in high-speed parallel transmission.

Reference numeral 401 is a type of video camera that forms an image of optical image information on a flat sensor through a lens, and the sensor converts the image data into an electrical signal, which is then further converted into an NTSC video signal. 401 lenses usually have a movable part to adjust the focus, and this is adjusted to adjust the focus.If the lens is out of focus, the blurred image will be
404. 4 in real time through 405°406
07, the operator can check the blur level of the 9 images even if there is no monitor viewfinder inside the 401 or a monitor TV etc.
You can check the focus and adjust the focus.

Also, 401.402. If 403 transmits a color image, provide RGB separation function in 405.

Similar processing is performed by having three A/D converters.
Color halftone images can be displayed on the GB digital monitor4
It becomes possible to print halftone images on 08 printers.

Other application examples include a videophone using a two-display device (a display device that can only express two states, such as white or black), and many other application examples are possible.

[Effects of the present invention]

As described above, the present invention has the effect that it is possible to display natural moving images by halftone display on a binary display device or a digital monitor.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, showing the flow of the process shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a dither matrix when a dither method is used in halftone processing. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an applied embodiment of the present invention. Applicant: Seiko Epson Co., Ltd. Representative Patent Attorney Kizobe Suzuki and 1 other person Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] A means for converting an analog video signal into discrete data, a means for performing halftone processing on the converted data, a means for transferring the processing results in parallel to a bitmap memory, and a means for transmitting the data in the bitmap memory to a binary display device. An electronic device characterized by displaying a halftone moving image by means of transfer.