JPH01309091A - Half-brightness or gradational brightness display system and control circuit for crt display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To diversify a data display, to reduce the fatigue of a user and to improve the operation efficiency by using half-brightness display dots which are obtained by shortening the illumination time of one dot. CONSTITUTION:When one dot is displayed on the screen of a CRT 9, data which indicates the attribute showing whether or not the dot needs to be displayed with half-brightness is referred to at all times and when the half- brightness display needs to be made, the pulse width of a video output signal is decreased. The illumination time of the dot on the screen of the CRT 9 is shortened and the dot is displayed with the half brightness. Thus, data is displayed on the screen and the pulse time of each dot signal displayed on the CRT 9 is shortened for a half-brightness display pattern, so the brightness decreases as compared with a normal display and the data is displayed with the half brightness while the number of normal display pattern constituent picture elements is held.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is applicable to, for example, a document editing device (word processor).
Regarding display methods and control circuits for CRT display devices equipped with etc., in particular raster scan methods,
When displaying data on the screen of a CRT display device where the input cover turn data has only two signal levels, ``0'' and ``1'', it is necessary to distinguish and emphasize some data from other data. The present invention relates to a display method of a CRT display device suitable for displaying a portion of data at half brightness or multi-gradation brightness when desired to be displayed.

[Conventional technology]

When displaying data using a conventional CRT display device of this type, in order to display only a portion of the data with emphasis,
Since there is a restriction that the pixel brightness can only be switched in two ways depending on the signal, ``0'' or ``1'', half-brightness display is not possible, and inverted display is used where the display color of the data you want to emphasize and the background color are reversed. Emphasis display methods such as backblink display, which alternates between normal display and reversed display, are employed.

However, these highlighting methods are limited to one display device user (
Although it is suitable for calling the attention of users (users, operators),
When displaying data that requires the user's attention at all times, such as when displaying newly entered data that has not yet been finalized to distinguish it from data that has already been finalized, the brightness on the CRT screen should be adjusted. This is undesirable because the change in color is large, causing eye fatigue to the user.

Furthermore, the pseudo half-brightness display pattern obtained by the method described in JP-A-58-112758 is a logical product of data and a hatching pattern in which dots are arranged diagonally. For data with a large number of dots, there is a problem in that a large amount of data is erased by logical product processing, and the sharpness of the data decreases, making the data unclear.

In addition, in the brightness adjustment display method described in JP-A-62-244097, since the brightness adjustment display method is for each display unit configured in a matrix with a plurality of lighting elements, only a portion of a certain display unit is displayed. It is impossible to control the brightness adjustment of the data, and if a full bitmap method is adopted, such as in a word processor, and brightness adjustment display is required at any arbitrary display position, this method cannot be used.

Additionally, it has recently been requested as a feature in word processors. There is no consideration given to reverse display, etc., and half-brightness data cannot be displayed on a full-brightness screen, nor can full-brightness data be displayed on a half-brightness screen.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In consideration of the above points, the present invention provides a CRT that uses a raster scan method and has only two input signal levels.
When displaying data using only a display device, some data that should be highlighted cannot be displayed using the conventional highlighting method, which reduces work efficiency due to unclear data patterns for the user. Instead, the object of the present invention is to provide a display method capable of displaying at half brightness or multiple gradations, in which the brightness can be adjusted dot by dot, similar to a display device capable of displaying multiple gradations.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, to use a raster scan method, and to have only two input signal levels.
Among the data displayed on the CRT screen, data that should be displayed with emphasis can be displayed in multi-gradation brightness instead of using the conventional highlighting method, which reduces the user's work efficiency due to unclear data patterns. The object of the present invention is to provide a display method and a control circuit that can variably adjust the brightness in units of dots, similar to a typical display device.

[Means to solve the problem]

In the present invention, instead of displaying using the conventional highlighting method, which reduces work efficiency due to unclear data patterns, the brightness is adjusted in units of one dot, similar to display devices that display multiple gradations. To provide a half-brightness (or multi-gradation brightness) display method that can be adjusted with.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between input pulse width and output brightness level. That is, as shown in this figure, when the input pulse width is set to a, the output brightness level is at the saturation level, but when the input pulse width is reduced to a, the input brightness level decreases to a half-brightness level. be able to. That is, the output brightness level can be variably adjusted to a half-brightness level by variably controlling the input pulse width.

In a raster scan type CRT, by taking advantage of the characteristics of the output brightness with respect to the input pulse width, an input pulse width corresponding to, for example, about half the brightness level at which the output brightness level is saturated is formed, and the CRT is By transmitting the light, half-brightness display can be performed in units of one dot, and half-brightness pattern display can be realized. For this purpose,
It has a memory that stores the attribute of whether the display dot is half-brightness or not, and determines whether it is half-brightness or full-brightness based on the signal generated based on this attribute information, and thereby determines whether it is a half-brightness pulse or a full-brightness pulse. A circuit for selecting and outputting it as a video signal is provided.

(Function) When displaying one dot on a CRT screen, the present invention always refers to data indicating the attribute of whether or not the dot is displayed at half brightness, and when displaying at half brightness, the pulse width of the video output signal is As a result, the lighting time of the dot on the CRT screen is shortened, and the dot is displayed at half brightness.

Therefore, half-brightness display can be obtained for each dot at any display position without reducing the number of dots.

In this case, the video output pulse width is varied according to the combination of the contents of a plurality of reference data corresponding to the dots representing a part of the data, and the multi-gradation brightness display is performed.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of a document editing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 200 is a main body equipped with a temporary storage section and a control section, 201 is a flexible disk device (hereinafter referred to as FDD) installed on the front of the main body 200, 203 is a keyboard which is an input section, and 204 is a CRT which is a display section.
A display device 202 indicates a printer which is a printing unit. Note that the printer 202, keyboard 203, and display device 204 are each connected to the main body 200 through cables or signal lines, and exchange control signals or information signals (see FIG. 4).

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the document editing device of this embodiment. 101 is a program storage type computer unit (hereinafter referred to as host CPU), 102 is a boot ROM
, 103 is a program memory, 104 is a display.
interface, 105 is a flexible disk control unit (FDC), 106 is a printer controller, 1
07 is the key human controller, 110 is the internal wiring, 12
0 is the control unit in the main body (200), 201 is FDC1
202 is a printer, 203 is a keyboard, 210° 22
0 is a cable, 15 is a signal line, and 204 is a CRT display device.

That is, in the main body 200 (FIG. 3), a control section 120 in a control circuit indicated by a broken line is installed. Each element constituting the control unit 120 will be explained in more detail. The boot ROM 102 consists of non-volatile memory,
It has a program that runs when the power is turned on. Program memory 103 can be read and written at any time in order to perform the functions of a single document editing device. The display interface 104 is connected to the host cputo.
Commands and data are sent to the display device 204 according to the command of t. The FDC 105 controls the FDD 201 according to instructions from the host CPU I0I. The printer controller 10G sends signals for controlling the printer 202 and print signals to the printer 202 according to commands from the host cpulot.
02, receives a signal representing the status of the printer 202 from the printer 202, and sends it to the host CPU I0I. The key human controller 107 is the host cPU 10
The keyboard 203 is controlled according to the command 1, and input signals from the keyboard 203 are sent to the host cputot. The internal wiring 110 is 101, 102° loa, to
4,105,106,107,201 are connected.

The FD0201 drives a flexible disk, which is a magnetic storage medium, records information on the flexible disk, and reads information from the flexible disk.

Next, the overall operation of this document editing device will be explained.

That is, when the power is turned on by the user.

This device operates according to the program in the boot ROM 102.

A program having an operation flow as shown in FIG. 5 for operating the document editing device, which is stored in the flexible disk in the FDD 201, is transferred to the program memory 103, and then the document editing device is operated according to the flow of this program. Start working.

In FIG. 5, the auxiliary functions include, for example, a function to copy a document stored in a flexible disk to another flexible disk, a function to erase a document in a flexible disk, and a function that allows the user to create a unique character pattern. This is a general term for a function that aggregates various functions such as a function to create, but since it is not directly related to the present invention, its explanation will be omitted.

When single character input processing is selected by work selection input,
A character input processing program having an operation flow as shown in FIG. 6 is executed. The input characters are displayed on the display interface 10 according to the program as shown in FIG. 6 in the program memory (103 in FIG. 4).
By sending commands and data to the display device 204 via the signal line 15 and the signal line 15, the data is displayed on the CRT screen of the display device 204. Processing instructions associated with data input are
It is input from the keyboard 203 and detected by the host cputot via the keyboard controller 107. The host CPυ 101 displays the pattern code of the input data, undefined commands, etc. on the display device 20 according to the input data.
Send to 4. Thereby, data input from the keyboard 203 is displayed at half brightness on the screen of the display device 204 as undefined data.

Thereafter, when a data confirmation command is input from the keyboard 203, the host cputot detects this and sends the data pattern code, confirmation command, etc. to the display device 204. As a result, the data that was displayed at half brightness as unconfirmed data on the screen of display bag r11204 is normally displayed on the screen as confirmed data, that is, displayed at full brightness.

Thereafter, by repeating this operation until the data input is completed, the input data is displayed on the screen of the display bag@204. When a command to manually terminate the data is input from the keyboard 203, the host CPU I0I detects this and executes the termination process, as shown in the flowchart of FIG.
The input process is completed and preparations are made for the next process as shown in FIG.

The termination process in FIG. 6 is a process for writing and storing input data on a flexible disk.

Next, a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 is CPU, 2 is character generator, 3 is CRT
Controller (hereinafter referred to as CRTC).

4 is a host interface, 5 is a program ROM,
6 is RAM, 7 is bus controller, 8 is video memory,
9 is a CRT, 10 is a CPU bus 14 video video line, 17 is a brightness switching signal line, 18 is a video clock signal line, 11,1
2.13,15°20 is other signal line, 16 is data attribute memory.

Reference numeral 19 indicates a brightness discrimination switching circuit.

To explain each component in more detail, the character generator 2 is a CRTC3 which stores patterns representing characters and symbols as index data using a dot matrix.
reads the dot data and attribute data from the video memory 8 and the data attribute memory 16 through the bus controller 7 and the signal lines 11 and 12 in accordance with the instructions from the CPU, and outputs the video signal and the data through the signal lines 14, 17 and 18.
The signal is then converted into a brightness switching signal and sent to the brightness discrimination switching circuit 19, and a synchronizing signal is sent via the signal line 13 to the CRT 9 that displays data. The brightness discrimination switching circuit 19
Receives the video signal, brightness switching signal, and video clock sent from T3.

Controls the pulse width sent to the CRT9. The host interface 4 communicates with an external device (not shown) through a signal line 15 according to instructions from the CPUI. Program RO
M5 is a non-volatile memory and stores a program to be executed to operate one display device. R.A.
M6 is a memory that can be read and written at any time to store information used when the present display device operates and information about data to be displayed. bus controller 7
is the CP to the video memory 8 and data attribute memory 16.
Adjust access from UI and CRT3. The video memory 8 stores patterns of data to be displayed on the CRT 9. The data attribute memory 16 stores attributes for half-brightness attribute display.

Next, the luminance discrimination switching circuit 19 according to the present invention will be explained in more detail. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing this circuit.

31 is a full brightness control circuit that generates a full brightness pulse width;
2 is a half-brightness control circuit that generates a half-brightness pulse width; 33
indicates an OR circuit, and the luminance discrimination switching circuit is constituted by these circuits. That is, when the video signal is rlJ, one of the full brightness control circuit 31 and the half brightness control circuit 32 is activated by the video signal, brightness switching signal, and video clock generated and sent by the CRTC 3. Become.

FIG. 10(a) is a logic circuit diagram embodying the brightness discrimination switching circuit 19. FIG. 10 (,) is composed of each control circuit 31, 32 and an OR processing unit 33 within the broken line. When the brightness switching signal is "1", the full brightness display circuit 31 is selected and the full brightness display is performed. If the brightness switching signal is "0", the half-brightness display circuit 32 is selected, and both the video signal and the delayed clock are "1". A half-brightness display pulse is output only in this case. Although it is possible to generate half-brightness pulses by simply ANDing the video clock and the video signal, when displaying half-brightness immediately after displaying full-brightness, the dots that should be displayed at half-brightness may not match the pulses for full-brightness display. As a result, normal half-brightness display cannot be obtained. Therefore, by using a delayed video clock and a video signal as a half-brightness display pulse, a normal half-brightness display pulse can be generated even in the above case. .

The operation timing of the circuit is shown in FIG. 10(b). From this timing chart, it can be seen that the pulse width, which is the display time of one dot, can be shortened in half-brightness display compared to full-brightness display.

When this short pulse for half-brightness display is input to the CRT 9, it is displayed as a dot with low brightness on the CRTQ due to the input pulse width and output brightness level characteristics of the CRT shown in FIG. In this way, by using the above circuit,
Half-brightness display was made possible by simply configuring the circuits up to CRT9 with digital circuits.

Next, the display screen displayed on the CRTQ using the above display method, the video memory 8, and the data attribute memory 16
The brightness level of the 0 display dot will be explained using FIG. 11 regarding the relationship between 1: full brightness, 0.5: half brightness, and 0:
Assuming that the light is turned off and 1 or O is written in each memory, the types of displayed characters are as shown in Figure 11.
Full brightness.

A total of nine combinations of half-brightness and off are possible.

From FIG. 11, it can be confirmed that by using the half-brightness display method of the present invention, it is possible to highlight the area to be highlighted in several types of display simply by writing to the video memory 8 and data attribute memory 16. In this embodiment, the settings are such that half-brightness display is performed when "1" is written to both memories. For example, pattern &
1 is when data such as characters is displayed as bright spots on the screen (that is, full brightness display), and "1" is written as data such as characters to the bit corresponding to the dot address to be displayed in the video memory 8. Pattern N+12 indicates the process of writing roj into an area corresponding to data such as characters among all memories in the data attribute memory 16. Pattern N+12 is for displaying data such as characters on the screen at half brightness; "1" as character data to the desired dot address
At the same time, write "1" as data such as characters to the dot address to be displayed in the data attribute memory 16, or write "1" in the data attribute memory 16 as data such as characters.

It shows the process of writing "1" into an area corresponding to data such as characters.

Hereinafter, patterns Nα3 to Nα9 will also be described in the 11th
The respective displays are performed by writing to both memories as shown in the figure.

Next, the overall operation including half-brightness display according to the present invention in the display device configured as described above will be explained.

First, when the power is turned on, it starts operating as a display device according to a program in the program ROM (5 in FIG. 1) having a flow as shown in FIG. 7.

It waits until a command is input from an external device, and when the command is input, it determines whether the command instructs to change the brightness attribute of the data, and if the command includes a change in the brightness attribute, the eighth Execute the brightness attribute change process with the flow shown in the figure.

First, a dot address for half-brightness display is calculated, and "1j" or "0" is written to the dot address in the data attribute memory 16. To perform half-brightness display according to the attributes of the data attribute memory 16, the brightness switching signal shown in FIG. It can be performed. In other words, the brightness can be adjusted and displayed at any position on the CRT screen. Thereafter, the flow shown in FIG. 7 performs the following processing.

The data display process is a process of displaying data by writing the data pattern read from the character generator (2) as it is into the video memory. The inverted display process is to invert the data display by writing "1" or "0" into both memories as shown in Batashi list 4 in FIG.

This is because data is displayed on the screen as described above, and the time of each dot signal pulse displayed on the CRT 9 is shortened in the half-brightness display pattern.

The brightness is lower than normal display, and it is possible to display at half brightness while maintaining the number of pixels constituting the normal display pattern.

As described above in detail, highlighting of display data, which was previously possible only by highlighting methods such as reverse display or backblink display, can be performed by determining whether the signal level of input data is "0" or "1". Even if the CRT has only two types, by using the half-brightness display method according to the present invention, it is possible to display data at half-brightness without reducing the number of dots. It is possible to display half-brightness data on a full-brightness screen, or display full-brightness data on a half-brightness screen, making it possible to diversify data displays, reduce user fatigue, and improve work efficiency.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, conventional CRTs use the raster scan method and have only two structures in which the signal level of human data is "0" or rlJ, and the emphasis such as inverted display or back blink display is A half-brightness display method that enables display data to be displayed in a single-brightness display in a single-brightness display in which highlighted display data was only possible through display methods, and in a half-brightness display that could only be displayed using a display device capable of displaying multiple gradations. can be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between input pulse width and output luminance level, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a block diaphragm of the document editing device according to the embodiment; FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a program for operating the document editing device; FIG.
A flowchart showing a character input processing program having an operation flow as shown in the figure, FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation program of a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8 shows a brightness attribute changing process of one display device. flowchart,
FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a brightness discrimination switching circuit according to the present invention, FIG. 1O(a) is a logic circuit diagram embodying the brightness discrimination switching circuit, and FIG. 10(b) is an operation of the logic circuit. FIG. 11, which is a diagram showing timing, is an explanatory diagram showing a display screen based on a combination of the contents of the display memory and data attribute memory in the luminance discrimination method of one embodiment of the present invention. 1...CPU, 2...Character generator, 3
...CRTC18...Video memory, 9...CRT
, 14... Video signal line, 16... Data attribute memory, 17... Brightness switching signal line, 18... Video clock signal line, 19... Brightness discrimination switching circuit, 31... Total brightness Display circuit, 32... Half-brightness display circuit, 33... Logic processing unit, 101... Host CPU, 102... Boot ROM, 103... Program memory, 104...
...Display interface, 107... Key human controller, 110... Internal wiring, 120...
・Control unit, 203... Kine 1 @ 1111 Person Ka80 Rusu 6 Ne Thousand Eyes 5 Drawing 6 Ru Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9! 1 Kubun

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In order to display a part of data displayed on the screen of the CRT display device in a manner that distinguishes it from other data, the CRT display device corresponds to the display dots representing the part of the data. A half-brightness display method for a CRT display device, characterized in that half-brightness display dots obtained by reducing the digital input pulse width and reducing the lighting time of at least one dot are used. 2. In a control circuit for displaying data on the screen of a CRT display device, a program storage type calculator unit, a program ROM, a character generator, a video memory, and a synchronization signal for the CRT display device are generated. A control circuit for a CRT display device, comprising a CRTC, at least one reference memory, and a brightness discrimination switching circuit. 3. In the control circuit for a CRT display device according to claim 2, the video signal, the brightness switching signal, and the video clock signal are used as serial input signals, and the pulse width is variably generated according to the display brightness by the serial input signal. , a control circuit for a CRT display device comprising a digital/pulse converter for converting a video serial output signal into a pulse signal. 4. In order to display part of the data displayed on the screen of the CRT display device to distinguish it from other data, according to the combination of the contents of a plurality of reference data corresponding to the display dots representing the part of the data, A CR characterized by using display dots with multi-gradation brightness obtained by varying the video output pulse width and varying the lighting time of at least one dot.
Multi-gradation brightness display method for T display device.