JPH044626B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] With the advancement of VLSI technology, the digitalization of broadcasting technology has progressed, and it has become possible to store and process images with high quality and stability at high speed, and to also transmit images digitally. Now I can do it. However, it is difficult to execute moving images by rewriting all cells in the frame memory in real time at frames per second, which is comparable to broadcast television. Therefore, the number of pixels in one frame is reduced, the number of pixels in each frame of the video is reduced, and the digital information corresponding to each frame of the video is transmitted with a small number of bits and stored in multiple display memories in the display device. There is a loop movie image processing system that enlarges and displays stored continuous images. An image system using such special effects is used, for example, in a weather forecast television broadcast in which continuous images of clouds taken from an artificial satellite are displayed on a fixed geographic map.

The present invention transfers continuous images from an image control device having such an image memory to an image display device, and instructs information such as the display memory address and enlargement rate of the image display device using the main control section, and displays a finite number of frames. The present invention relates to a continuous image display system that efficiently displays continuous images consisting of numbers.

Conventionally, in this type of continuous image processing system, the contents of the image memory of the image control device correspond one-to-one with the display memory of the image display device, all bits representing each pixel are transferred simultaneously, and this process is repeated to perform continuous processing. It was based on a simple control.

Furthermore, in the conventional method, when reading each frame from the display memory of the image display device, all the bits representing each pixel were accessed at the same time, which not only took time, but also had the disadvantage that the transfer process was displayed. It was hot.

The present invention eliminates the drawbacks of the conventional technology, transfers the image to one of the two divisions in the depth direction of the display memory of the selected image display device, and adjusts the magnification ratio and lookup table. Provided is a continuous image processing system that makes it possible to display continuous images by specifying them.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention is directed to an image control device having an image memory, in which a continuous wide range of image frames is transferred to an image display device in the upper bit side and lower bit side, and the upper bit side and lower bit side are stored in the display memory of the image display device. It relates to the configuration of a continuous image processing system that displays continuous images by instructing information such as bit side switching and enlargement ratio, and in particular displays either the upper bit side or the lower bit side of each frame from one display memory element. The present invention relates to the configuration of a continuous image processing system that executes a loop movie at high speed by continuously transferring either the upper bit side or the lower bit side of a frame from a control device to the display memory element while the frame is being displayed.

[Prior art]

With the development of integrated technology, digital image processing technology has advanced since conventional analog image technology has problems in terms of quality, stability, and processing performance.

Image processing includes gradation processing, correction, spatial filtering, image movement and contour extraction, and processing to compress the image transmission band. In particular, in order to process moving images such as television broadcasts in real time, many attempts have been made to compress the transmission bandwidth by utilizing the redundancy of television signals. Many band compression algorithms have already been proposed, including the intra-frame method that compresses the number of bits per picture within the same television frame, and the intra-frame method that takes advantage of the high correlation between adjacent frames in temporally consecutive frames. There are two types of interframe compression methods:

Along with such moving image compression techniques, attempts have been made in television broadcasting to improve the quality of programs by utilizing digital special effects that could not be achieved using analog techniques.

For example, there is a freeze frame effect that freezes the movement of an image for a certain moment by utilizing the function of a frame memory that digitally stores each frame of a moving image. Alternatively, there is a reduction effect in which the size of the image is reduced once and the image is placed in an arbitrary position on the screen, and conversely, there is an enlargement effect in which an image captured by a camera is reduced, transmitted, and then enlarged and displayed on a display device. This method is a process that cannot be efficiently performed using analog or optical methods.
This special effect can now be done digitally. This type of special technology is based on a random access memory (RAM) that stores digital binary information, and is achieved by freely controlling the write address and read address of the RAM.

Address control for writing and reading RAM can be performed using software using a microcomputer, but with the advancement of VLSI technology, it has become possible to perform high-speed processing using a dedicated microprocessor. It became. It is expected that high-speed image processing systems will be developed that process a wide variety of special effects using methods such as parallel processing.

In an image processing system for loop movies, which is one of the special effects for moving images, conventionally, a finite number of image frames are transferred from an image memory in an image control device connected to a host computer to multiple display memory elements on the image display device side. There is a method of compressing and transmitting the image and performing enlargement processing within the image display device.
Such an image system is used, for example, in a weather forecast program on television, in which moving images of clouds are continuously shown on a still image showing the surrounding area of a map of Japan. However, in the conventional technology, the contents of the image memory of the image control device are directly matched with the display memory of the image display device in a one-to-one manner, and all the bits representing each pixel of each frame are simultaneously transferred and enlarged for display. I was simply going.

For example, as shown in Figure 2, the conventional technology
An image frame consisting of 512 x 512 8-bit pixels
The data is transferred from the image memory with a capacity of 1024 x 1024 x 8 bits to the display memory of the image display device with a capacity of 1024 x 1080 x 8 bits and stored therein. Then said 512×512
The image frame consisting of pixels is enlarged by instructing the enlargement rate to be twice. After enlarging, the display memory is instructed and the image frame consisting of 1024×1024 pixels is displayed on the display unit.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

This method has the disadvantage that it takes a long time to transfer, and also has the disadvantage that unrequired images are displayed during the transfer process.

The present invention eliminates these drawbacks of the prior art,
Transferring the image to one of two divisions in the depth direction of the display memory of the image display device that has selected a wide range of image memory, and displaying continuous images by instructing the enlargement ratio and lookup table;
To provide a continuous image display system that enables high-speed processing of loop movies.

[Means for solving problems]

According to the present invention, the above object is to divide the address space of an image memory into a plurality of image frame areas and store them, and to divide each frame into upper bit side and lower bit side from the image memory and read and transfer them in a time-division manner. an image control device that executes control, a display memory that stores the upper bit side and the lower bit side of each of the transferred frames in a time-sharing manner, and the upper bit side of each frame from the display memory. readout selection means for time-divisionally selecting and outputting the lower bit side of the frame; enlargement processing means for expanding the upper bit side or the lower bit side of each frame read from the selected display memory; It has a display means for displaying the upper bit side or the lower bit side of each frame, and a control means for controlling the reading selection, enlargement and display processing of the display memory, and the image control means controls the image control means to display a continuous wide range of images. While one of the upper bit side or the lower bit side of each frame is being transferred from the image memory of the device to the display memory, the other one of the upper bit side or the lower bit side of the frame is read out from the display memory and enlarged and displayed. This is achieved by providing a continuous image processing system characterized by displaying continuous images.

[Effect]

After transferring the lower bit side of the image frame to the display memory element, the enlargement ratio and display instruction are given. While displaying the contents of the lower bit side of the display memory element, the upper bit side of the image frame is transferred from the image control device to the image display device and stored in the upper bit side area of the display memory element. . By performing this process continuously, loop movie processing can be executed efficiently.

〔Example〕

Next, an embodiment of a continuous image processing system for loop movies according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1st
The figure is a block diagram of a continuous image processing system according to the present invention.

This device is composed of an image control device 1, an image display device 2, and a host computer 3.

The image control device 1 is a random access memory (RAM) that stores a finite number of image frames of moving images.
That is, a microprocessor unit includes an image memory 10 divided into two in the memory depth direction, and controls data transfer between the host computer 3 and the image display device 2, and controls reading and writing of the image memory 10. (MPU) including 11,
Furthermore, a memory transfer processing unit 12, a timer processing unit 13, and two lookup tables 1, 2, which perform processing for transferring each frame in the image memory 10 in the image control device 1 to the image display device 2, are provided.
(LUT1, 2) 14-1, 14-2 and a LUT switching circuit 15.

The image memory 10 is divided into 16 memory spaces to store, for example, 16 frames, but each frame is divided into upper bits and lower bits, so it is divided into a total of 32 areas. ing. In FIG. 1, the lower bit side and the upper 4 bit side of the whole frame are divided and expressed as an image memory 10. It is assumed that this image memory 10 is connected to the host computer 3 via a data bus, and is also connected to an address bus. Therefore, the internal memory area can be accessed by the host computer 3, making it possible to process any pixel of any frame using the software of the host computer 3. Further, the MPU 11 included in the image control device 1 similarly controls the address of the image memory 10 and
A gray value signal corresponding to any pixel value of any frame within the frame is transferred to the host computer 3 or image display device 2, or a gray value signal sent from the host computer 3 or other input/output device is transmitted to the host computer 3 or the image display device 2. Controls writing to addresses in the image memory 10. For example, control is performed to write a digital image signal input from an image input device (not shown) without going through the host computer 3 into the image memory 10 using DMA. Therefore, the MPU 11 generates signals necessary for reliably transmitting and receiving data to and from the host computer 3, the image input device, or the image display device 2. For example, when performing the DMA transfer, the MPU 11 generates a DMA request signal to the host computer 3, and when receiving a DMA approval signal from the host computer 3, the MPU 11 generates a DMA request signal from the image input device. Address counter control or memory chip enable control is executed to store incoming digital signals in an appropriate area of image memory 10. Furthermore, MPU11
DMA transfers the image information of the image memory 10, which is divided into two in the depth direction of the memory, to the corresponding display memory 20 of the image display device 2, which is also divided into two in the depth direction of the memory, via the memory transfer processing unit 12. For this purpose, a control signal for transmission and reception is generated to the microprocessor unit (MPU) 21 of the image display device 2. For example, an initial address for DMA transfer is generated, and when the memory contents specified by the address are latched in the memory transfer processing unit 12 and ready for transfer, the image display device 2
Acknowledgment signal corresponding to request signal from MPU21
Executes control such as that given to the MPU 21. After that, the MPU 11 executes address counter control or chip enable control (memory switching control) from the initial address, and sends the image signal through the memory transfer processing unit 12, dividing each frame into the upper bit side or the lower bit side, and time-divisionally transfers the image signal. Transfer to. In this case, also on the image display device 2 side.
The MPU 21 performs transfer control and address control so that the image information transferred from the image control device 1 can be stored separately in the upper bit side and the lower bit side in the corresponding areas of the display memory 20.
Furthermore, each image frame transmitted from the image memory 10 which is divided into two in the depth direction of the memory of the image control device 1 is stored in the memory element of the display memory 20 which is divided into two in the memory depth direction in the image display device 2. In order to do this, the MPU 21 simultaneously performs address counter control and switching control for reading the upper bit side and the lower bit side of data from one display memory element.

In the image display device 2, each frame is stored in the display memory 20, which stores each frame of the moving image transferred from the MPU 21 and the image control device 1 in the corresponding areas on the upper 4 bit side and the lower 4 bit side. It includes a memory read selection circuit 22 for selecting which of the upper 4 bits and lower 4 bits of the memory is to be read. That is, the selection circuit 22
is connected to the output of the display memory 20, and the MPU
It is controlled by a control signal for selection of 21. The output of the selection circuit 22 is connected to an enlargement processing circuit 23. The image memory 1 of the image control device 1
0 to the corresponding area on the upper bit side or lower bit side of the display memory 20 of the image display device 2 via the memory transfer processing section 12, the size of each image frame is set to It's made smaller. Therefore, the enlargement processing circuit 23
is a circuit that performs processing to enable enlarged display on the display device 241 of the display unit 24, which is larger than the size of the frame at the time of transfer. A display section 24 is connected to the output of the enlargement processing circuit 23, and the display section 24
includes a display processing circuit 240 and a display device 241 that perform display control. Furthermore, the image display device 2 includes a lookup table (LUT) 25 for display.

The enlargement rate required in the enlargement processing circuit 23 and instructions for switching between the upper and lower memory of the display memory 20 are given to the MPU 11 from the host computer 3, and information indicating the enlargement rate is sent from the MPU 11.
The MPU 21 supplies information indicating the enlargement rate to the enlargement processing circuit 23. Further, a timer processing unit 13 is connected to the MPU 11 for asynchronously measuring the waiting time until an image frame is read from the image memory 20, transferred to the display memory 20 of the image display device 2, and can be displayed.

In the present invention, each frame area of the image memory 10 has a depth of 4 bits,
Each image frame is contained in two overlapping frames.
First, the image of the upper or lower bits of each frame is transferred from the image memory 10 to the display memory 20, and instructions for the enlargement ratio and LUT are given. While the front side image of the half is being displayed, the back side image of the other half of the display memory 10 is transferred. Once the transfer is complete, switch to the LUT for displaying the back side and the image will be displayed. If this is repeated for all image frames, a loop movie of 32 half-image frames in total will be created.

Using the continuous image processing system for loop movies described above, the image memory 1 in the image control device 1 is
A method for displaying continuous images by transferring continuous images from 0 to the display memory 20 of the image display device 2 and controlling reading of the memory elements will be described below.

FIG. 3a is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the present invention, and FIG. 3b is a flowchart of the operation. When the gray level value of each pixel of an image is expressed in 8 bits, the image memory 10 of the image control device 1 is assumed to have a large capacity of 2048×2048×4×4 bits as shown in the upper part of FIG. 3a. In this case, each frame of the continuous image consists of 16 images, and each frame is 512×
512 x 512 image memory corresponding to 512 x 8 pixels
It is assumed that the data is stored in each area of ×8 bits. Here, in the present invention, each frame is further divided into a half frame on the upper 4 bit side and a half frame on the lower 4 bit side, so the image consists of 32 bits from 1 to 32.
It becomes one piece.

On the other hand, it is assumed that the display memory 20 of the image display device 2 is composed of one display memory element. The display memory element has a capacity of 1024 x 1280 x 4 x 4 bits, corresponding to 1024 x 1280 pixels. And the display section 24 of the image display device 2
In this case, an image of the upper bit side or lower bit side half frame indicated by the capacity of 512 x 512 x 4 bits in the display memory 20 is transferred from the display memory element to the upper half frame or lower bit side according to the enlargement ratio. Depending on the frame reading switching instruction, the image of either half frame is enlarged to a 1024×1024 image and displayed. The arrows in the figure indicate the method of transferring from the image memory 10 of the image control device 1 to the display memory 20 of the image display device 2, and the method of reading from the display memory 20 to the display unit 24. According to the transfer arrow in FIG. 3a and the arrow indicating the readout order, the method of the present invention is to transfer half frame 1 of the image memory 10 to the upper bit side area of the display memory, and to transfer half frame 2 of the image memory 10 to the display memory. The data is transferred to the lower bit side area of the element, and then the memory contents are displayed in the order of half frames 1 and 2 according to the enlargement ratio and an instruction to switch between upper and lower display memory. At this time, for example, while half frame 2 is being displayed, the next half frame 3 is transferred to the display memory element. By performing this process continuously, a loop movie is created.

For example, when transferring 32 half-frames, 32 half-frames are transferred successively, but first half-frames 1 and 2 are transferred to display memory elements 1 and 2, respectively. After that, the contents are displayed in the order of half frames 1 and 2 according to the enlargement ratio and the upper and lower switching instructions. While the content of half frame 1 has already been displayed and half frame 2 is being displayed, readout control is not performed on the lower bit side of the display memory element, so the display memory element does not contain the image memory 10 of image control device 1.
Transmit half frame 3 of . and half frame 2
When the contents of the image memory 10 have been displayed, the half frame 3 which has already been transferred to the display memory is displayed, and during the display, the half frame 4 of the image memory 10 is transferred to the display memory element. This process continues.

The operation described above will be explained in more detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 3b.

When the operation starts, half frame 1 of the image memory 10 of the image control device 1 is transferred to the lower bit side of the display memory. Next, the enlargement rate is transferred and enlargement processing is performed. Then, it is judged whether or not it has finished, and NO
If so, LUT1 is transferred and enlarged according to the enlargement ratio, and the image of half frame 1 is enlarged and enlarged and displayed on the display unit 24. While such processing is being performed, the next even-numbered half frame, 2, is transferred to the upper bit side of the display memory 20.
When the transfer of half frame 2 is completed, MPU1
1 waits for an instruction from the image display device 2. That is, the timing is processed by the timer processing unit 13 to control the transfer. When half frame 2 is transferred to the display memory and the contents of the display memory are ready to be displayed.
The LUT1/2 switching circuit 15 is operated to transfer LUT2, the image of half frame 2 is enlarged by the enlargement processing circuit 23, and processed by the display processing circuit 240 of the display unit 24 for enlarged display. During this time, frame 3, which is the next odd-numbered half, is transferred to the lower bit side of the display memory 20. After the transfer, the MPU 11 performs timer processing and waits for an instruction from the image display device 2.
In other words, the odd numbered half frame 3 that has just been transferred
Wait until it can be displayed. Next, return according to route A, and when the enlargement process is not completed and the state is ready for display, the MPU 11 transfers the LUT 1 again and specifies the display memory 20 to display half frame 3 of the display memory 20. The image is enlarged and displayed. During this time, half frame 4, which is the next even-numbered half frame, is transferred to the upper bits of the display memory, and timer processing is performed to make it ready for display. MPU 11 transfers LUT 2 and specifies display in the display memory. Enlarge the display.
During this time, the next odd-numbered half frame, 5, is transferred to the lower bits of the display memory 20.

The loop of the flowchart in FIG. 3b is repeated by continuously performing the following operations, and the process ends when half frame 32 is displayed, and the flow comes to an end.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention transfers an image to one of the two divisions in the depth direction of the display memory of a selected image display device from a wide range of image memory, and instructs the enlargement ratio and lookup table. , provides a continuous image processing system that allows continuous images to be displayed.The size of the image memory can be freely changed by the magnification instruction from the image control device, and the display memory can be changed in the depth direction. By dividing the image into two, smooth continuous display is achieved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the configuration of the continuous image display system of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a display method in a conventional continuous image display system, and Fig. 3a explains the operation of the continuous image display system of the present invention. Embodiment Figure, Part 3b is a flowchart explaining the operation of the continuous image display system of the present invention. 1... Image control device, 2... Image display device, 3
... host computer, 10 ... image memory divided into two in the depth direction, 11 ... microprocessor unit (MPU), 12 ... memory transfer processing unit,
13...Timer processing unit, 20...2 in the depth direction
Divided display memory, 21...Microprocessor unit (MPU), 22...Reading selection circuit, 23...Enlargement processing circuit, 24...Display section, 2
40...display processing circuit, 241...display device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Control for dividing and storing the address space of an image memory into a plurality of image frame areas, and reading and transferring each frame from the image memory in a time-division manner, dividing the frame into an upper bit side and a lower bit side. an image control device that executes the image control; a display memory that stores the upper bit side and the lower bit side of each frame transferred in a time-sharing manner; and a display memory that stores the upper bit side and the lower bit side of each frame from the display memory. readout selection means for time-divisionally selecting and outputting the bit side; enlargement processing means for enlarging the upper bit side or lower bit side of each frame read from the selected display memory; and each enlarged frame. a display means for displaying the upper bit side or the lower bit side of the image; and a control means for controlling the processing of reading selection, enlargement and display of the display memory, and displaying a continuous wide range of images as an image of the image control device. While either the upper bit side or the lower bit side of each frame is being transferred from the memory to the display memory, the other one of the upper bit side or the lower bit side of the frame is read out from the display memory and enlarged and displayed to create a continuous image. A continuous image processing system characterized by displaying.