JPH0137750B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a display method for a dot matrix display, and in particular for displaying characters (including numbers, symbols, and codes) in a flowing manner on a dot matrix display with limited pixels such as an electronic bulletin board. This invention relates to a display method for a dot matrix display device.

Conventionally, in this type of display, information corresponding to characters is input through holes on a paper tape, etc., and then converted into electrical data using a reading device such as an optical coupling method, and inputted into a shift register, etc. The contents of the shift register were displayed. Although this method has a simple and clear mechanism and method, it requires punching the paper tape each time it is used, and once punched, it is difficult to use it for other sentences. Furthermore, whether the reading device is mechanical or optical, maintenance and inspection must be rigorous.

The present invention provides an all-electronic display method to eliminate these drawbacks, and the present invention will be described in detail below based on examples.

The present invention uses characters (numbers, symbols,
(including symbols, etc.), so it is 6 x 7.
As an example, assume that 5×7 (5 columns, 7 rows) characters are displayed on pixels of (6 columns, 7 rows). Indicates the following: Research and development has been carried out on a display system in which three 6x7 displays are lined up and one character is displayed sequentially on each display, but since the character switching is done digitally, etc. It is difficult to read when the number of characters that can be displayed at one time is small. Therefore, if the characters are displayed one by one on an 18 x 7 display in a sequentially shifted manner, the characters will appear flowing, making them easier to read. In the present invention, the display is performed while sequentially shifting one column at a time.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing waveforms of each part in FIG. 3, and FIGS. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the actual display state.

This display method uses a so-called line scanning display method, in which one character more than the number of characters to be displayed is held in a temporary memory, and each character is sequentially displayed in a row (7 rows in this example). It's getting better.

First, the circuit configuration will be explained based on FIG. 1
is 18×7 (18 rows 7
It is a display with 126 rows and 126 pixels, and has 18 column signal terminals and 7 row signal terminals. Reference numeral 2 denotes a row selector, which is constituted by a binary counter or the like, and outputs pulses of a fixed time in sequence among seven outputs depending on the rising edge of a pulse input to one input. 3
is a latch register (abbreviated as LR), and the latch signal i
It accepts input only when there is a latch signal i, and outputs the held contents when there is no latch signal i. 4 is a shift register (abbreviated as R) which has an 18-bit serial input and parallel output. 5 is a temporary memory (abbreviated as SM) which holds character signals for four characters and can serially output character signals of lines common to each character. 6 is a character generator, which is a ROM (Read Only
Memory) or RAM (Random Access
Memory) or magnetic storage (magnetic disk,
Means 7 for storing character information consisting of magnetic tape, etc.)
Temporary memory for extracting character information from (abbreviation M)
This is used to switch character information to a character signal when transferring it to the SM5.

To explain character information and character signals here, character information is represented by two-digit hexadecimal numbers from 00 to FF, for example, and although characters cannot be expressed by this signal itself, it is When input as a bit signal to the character generator 6, it is converted into a signal (character signal) necessary for character display. The correspondence between character information and character signals differs depending on the character generator, but for example (Character generator TMM334 ^P ) character information corresponding to "Mizuhonokuni" is 50, 7D, 5E, 4E, 49, 78,
46, and the character signals corresponding to "mi" are 000000/011100/000000/011100/ in order from the top row.
000000/111100/000010, similarly the character signal corresponding to "s" is 000000/111110/000010/000100/
001000/010100/100010 etc. Character information can be easily stored in electronic memory or magnetic memory, but since character signals require 5 to 7 times the capacity of character information, it is better to utilize the character generator 6. Of course, if the character generator 6 is placed behind the temporary memory 5, the capacity of the temporary memory 5 can be reduced, but for the sake of explanation, in the figure, it is placed between the temporary memory 5 and the means 7 for storing character information. be.

8 is a logic unit (Arithmetic-Logic-Unit)
to count the pulses of the built-in oscillator (not shown) and select the row selector 2, latch register, LR3,
A timing pulse (a,
i, j, k, l). This logical operation unit may be configured by combining counters and various gates, or it may be configured by using a microcomputer to reduce the number of additional parts (hardware) and perform the desired operation by programming (software). Good too.

Next, the operation of the example shown in FIG. 3 will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In any device, so-called initial settings are necessary, but in this embodiment, the display speed (setting of the character to start displaying from) ("mi" in the embodiment, specifically the reading start address), etc. This includes determining the scanning speed and character movement speed, clearing the contents of the shift register (R) and latch register (LR), and resetting the line selector and logical arithmetic unit.

The flow chart has four major loops. In the figure, loop1 is a scanning cycle (repeated for a number of times equal to the number of lines (7 times)) to display one character, and loop2 is a moving cycle (for one character), in which the characters are shifted one column at a time. a number of times equal to the number of columns (6
loop3 is a character cycle in which each new character is added. Loop4 changes the character designation to the beginning of the sentence when the end of the sentence is reached in order to repeat the same sentence (for example, Mizuho no kuni Mizuhono...).It is not always necessary, so it is shown with a dotted line.

When the initial settings are completed, the character information for one character is extracted from the means for storing character information (M) and is stored in the character generator 6 as the last character of the temporary memory (SM) that can store character signals for four characters. The temporary memory (SM) which transfers the converted character signals outputs the character signals of the first line of four characters (including blanks) and transfers them to the shift register (R). When the shift register (R) receives character signals for each first row of four characters, the contents are transferred to the latch register (LR). When the latch register (LR) receives the content, it retains the content and outputs it. The row selector outputs a signal to the first row at the same timing as the output of the latch register (LR), thereby lighting the first row of the display 1. Further, during this lighting period, the temporary memory (SM) sends a character signal for the next second line to the shift register to prepare for the next display. By repeating the scanning cycle of loop1, the entire character can be displayed.

Figure 5 shows this situation.
By repeating the display on the top row for the first time, the display for the second time, and 7 times, the "Mizu" as shown in the top row of Figure 6 is displayed.
is displayed. If the repetition speed is too slow, it becomes unclear what characters are being displayed. This is common in displays based on time-division driving, but when a light emitting diode or the like without afterglow is used as a display, special care must be taken to increase the speed. In this case, it is effective to use the interlaced scanning method used in television and the like.

When a series of characters is displayed by repeating loop1, the position of the character is shifted by one. Since the display is for 3 characters, the shift register (R) and latch register (LR) can also be 18 bits for 3 characters. On the other hand, since the temporary memory (SM) stores signals for 4 characters, each time loop 2 is repeated, 3 characters from the beginning (18 bits) and 3 1/6 characters from the beginning (19 bits) are stored. If we send out 3 2/6 characters (20 bits) from the beginning (bits), 4 characters (24 bits) from the beginning, only 18 bits from the last input signal will be sent to the shift register (R ), and the previous signals are pushed out, so character signals with sequentially shifted positions are sent. The appearance displayed at this time is shown in FIG. One step
Corresponds to one cycle of loop2. When the movement for one character is completed in this way, the information of the new character (in the example of Fig. 6, ``ノ'') is extracted from the means for storing character information (M) by loop 3, and the character signal is stored in the temporary memory. Loop1loop2 stored at the end of (SM)
is repeated.

The display method described above based on the flowchart will be explained with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 3 and its waveform diagram (FIG. 4). First, when a signal such as 9 on signal line l is sent from the logical operator 8 to the means 7 for storing character information, while this signal is present, information for one specified character is sent to the character generator 6. . The character generator 6 converts each signal into a character signal (6 bits x 7 lines, including blank spaces) and transfers it to the temporary memory 5. While signal 9 is being output (or after a short delay), write signal 10 is given to temporary memory 5, and the character signal sent from character generator 6 is input at the end of the four characters. . At this time, the character signals stored at the beginning of the four characters are pushed out, the second character is moved to the beginning, the third character is moved to the second character, and the last character is moved to the third character.
(This can be considered to mean that the memory section of the temporary memory 5 has a circuit configuration equivalent to four 6-bit shift registers connected in series and seven sets of them connected in parallel.)

From the temporary memory 5, the pulses 11, 1 of the signal line k
1... sequentially output character signals for one line and transfer them to the shift register 4. The timing at which the signal is transferred to the shift register 4 is performed while the latch register 3 is outputting, that is, while the signal line i is at a low level. It is also possible to use a format in which data is received, then output, and then data is received after the output is finished, but if you do this, the more characters there are to display, the longer it will take to transfer the character signal. It takes less time. This is because the repetition speed cannot be slowed down as described above, but if the display time is short, it is not preferable because it feels dark and the display looks flickering. Such flickering and display brightness can be improved by transferring data for the next line while the light is on.

A pulse like signal line a is applied to the row selector 2 in synchronization with the output of the latch register 3. Distribute this to 7 output lines in order and signal lines b to h
I get a pulse like .

Comparing these signals with those in FIGS. 5 and 6 is as follows. The output of the latch register 3 and the pulse 12 on the signal line b produce the display shown in the top row of FIG. The display shown in the bottom row of FIG. 5 is obtained using the output of the latch register 3 and the pulse 14 of the signal line h. As a result, a display as shown in the top row of FIG. 6 was obtained at time 15. At this time, the temporary memory 5 continues to output 18-bit signals for the first three characters, but at time 16 following time 15, 19 bits from the first are output. This results in time 1
6, the second stage display in FIG. 6 is obtained. This is repeated a number of lines of letters, and at the sixth time, 17,
23 bits are output and displayed in the second row from the bottom in FIG. Here, characters were drawn in 5 columns and 7 rows on pixels in 6 columns and 7 rows, so one character was completed. Therefore, when a new character is added based on the pulse 18 of the signal line 1 and a new 18-bit signal for three characters is output from the temporary memory 5, the display shown in the bottom row of FIG. 6 is obtained.

New characters are added to the temporary memory 5 not only before the top display and between the sixth and bottom display in FIG. 6, but also between the top and second display and at the bottom. You can do it after the bottom row. At this time, the output of the temporary memory 5 starts from 19 bits and ends at 24 bits.

Although the above has been explained based on the embodiments, the present invention can be applied to anything that is displayed in a dot matrix with m columns and n rows (m and n are natural numbers), and the rows and columns can be interchanged. Therefore, it can be used not only for horizontal displays but also for vertical displays. Furthermore, the size of the display is not limited to 3 or 4 characters, and can be applied to a display panel with an intermediate number, for example, 17 columns and 7 rows, or 13 columns and 7 rows, as shown in the embodiment. Also, any loop in FIG. 2 may be repeated several times.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, m columns and n rows (6 columns and 7 rows) including empty strings were used as character symbols, but characters are used that do not include empty strings, and each time a character signal is called for one character, one to several strings of empty strings are used. A column signal may also be added.

As described above, the present invention provides means for storing a plurality of character information of characters (including numbers, codes, symbols, sketches, etc.) consisting of m columns and n rows (m and n are natural numbers), and a means for storing the character information. A temporary memory device that extracts and stores i pieces of character information (i is a natural number of 2 or more), and a register (latch register LR3 in the embodiment) that sequentially stores common line information among the character information stored in the temporary memory device. and a dot matrix type display for j characters (j is a number smaller than i and an integer multiple of 1/m) for displaying the contents of this register, The operation method of the means for sequentially sending the information of Since the character information stored in the temporary memory is changed by one character when the display position for a character has finished moving, the display on the dot matrix type display is displayed in a flowing manner, resulting in a short display. Easy-to-read display can be obtained even on a device.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of characters displayed on a dot matrix type display, Fig. 2 is a flow chart of the present invention, Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of characters displayed on a dot matrix type display. Waveform diagram of each part in, 5th
This figure and FIG. 6 are diagrams showing the display state. 1... Display unit, 2... Line selector, 3... Latch register (LR), 4... Shift register (R),
5... Temporary memory (SM), 6... Character generator, 7... Means for storing character information (M),
8...Logic operator.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Means for storing character information such as characters consisting of m columns and n lines for multiple characters, and temporary memory for extracting and storing i pieces of character information (i>1) from the means for storing the character information. a means for sequentially sending information of common lines among each character information stored in the temporary memory to a register, and a means for displaying the contents of this register.
(i>j) dot matrix type display for characters, and the means for sequentially sending the information on the common lines to the register sequentially sends the information on the above-mentioned lines for n lines to the register, and then By shifting 1 column and moving n rows again, and repeating this m times, 1
A display method for a dot matrix type display device, characterized in that the character information stored in the temporary storage device is changed by one character when the display position for one character has finished moving.