JPH06238063A - Game cartridge and game device using this - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a game cartridge capable of expressing a fine and high quality image at real time with hardly changing a game machine body, and a game device using this. CONSTITUTION:A game cartridge 1 is formed in such a manner as to be attachable to and detachable from a game machine body 800. In a first memory part 780, the image constitution data for constituting a game space and a determined program data are stored. An auxiliary arithmetic processing part 710 reads the image constitution data and operates texture coordinate and luminance information, which are then stored in a field buffer part in a second memory part 790. Thereafter, this is read to form a pseudo three-dimensional image constitution data through a texture information memory part in the second memory part 790. This pseudo three-dimensional image constitution data is outputted to the game machine body 800, whereby a pseudo three-dimensional image subjected to texture mapping can be formed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a game cartridge used in a home video game machine, and a game machine using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a game device such as a home video game machine or a game personal computer, FIG.
A game device having a configuration as shown in 8 is used. As shown in the figure, this game device is used for a game cartridge 500 that stores a program or the like that configures a game space and outputs image information, and a display device 518 such as a television or a CRT that actually uses this image information. The game machine main body 510 synthesizes and outputs the image to be displayed. Then, in order for the player to actually play the game, this game cartridge 500 is used by being inserted and connected to the game machine main body 510 by the connector 506.

Here, the game cartridge 500 contains a program ROM 502 and a character generator 504.

The program ROM 502 stores a game program for forming a game screen to be displayed.

The character generator 504 also stores image information of the character to be displayed. Specifically, for example, actual image information of a game character, an object constituting a background screen, a racing car in a racing game, etc. is stored. However, a large object such as a racing car is stored as an object divided into, for example, a tire, a steering wheel, and a wing.

The game console body 510 includes a CPU 512 for controlling the entire game console, and a display device 51 such as a television actually.
A video processing unit 514 that forms video data to be output to
A video RAM 516 that stores image information to be displayed on the display device 518 in dot units, an operation unit 520 such as a controller used by the player, a sound generator (not shown) that synthesizes voice, and a work area for securing a work area. It is configured to include a work RAM (not shown) and the like.

Now, this game device operates as follows with the above configuration.

First, when the power is turned on, the CPU 512
Causes the game program to be loaded from the program ROM 502.

The CPU 512, in accordance with the loaded program and the operation signal from the player input from the operation unit 520, displays a game screen, that is, (1/6).
An image to be displayed on the display device 518 is formed every 0) seconds.

Specifically, the video processing unit 514 is a CPU.
Based on a command from 512, data for forming a display image on the display device 518, for example, a character number,
Data such as a palette number is formed on the video RAM 516. The image processing unit 514 sends this data to the video RAM.
After being formed on 516, this data is read for each dot of the display image.

Next, based on the data read from the video RAM 516, for example, the character number, the image information to be actually displayed, that is, the image information of the game character, the background, the racing car, etc. is read from the character generator 504. . Then, using this image information and data such as a palette number, RGB data corresponding to each dot of the display image is combined, and this is combined with the display device 51.
Display on 8. By doing this every (1/60) seconds,
It is possible to form a predetermined game screen.

[0012]

By the way, in the above conventional game device, for example, a home video game machine, only two-dimensional images can be synthesized. For example, in the case of realizing a shooting game, a driving game, or the like with this home-use video game machine, as shown in FIG. It will be synthesized. As a result, since the Myship 530 and the enemy aircraft 532 can only move in the two-dimensional space, it was not possible to produce a game space full of realism. That is, in this type of shooting game and driving game, in order to realize a more realistic and tense game, it is desirable to represent the formed game space, myship 530, enemy aircraft 532, etc. in three dimensions. .

In particular, in a shooting game, a driving game, etc., a virtual three-dimensional space as shown in FIG. 29B is formed, and a myship 530, an enemy aircraft 532, etc. are arranged at arbitrary positions in this virtual three-dimensional space. Therefore, it is desirable to form a game space. That is, by forming such a virtual three-dimensional space, the player can see the display image at an arbitrary viewpoint position and viewpoint by an operation signal to the operation unit 520, and enjoy a very realistic game. Because you can

Now, as a method of forming such a virtual three-dimensional space to obtain a pseudo three-dimensional image, for example, myship 530 and enemy aircraft 532 are represented as data divided into polygons, which are arranged in the virtual three-dimensional space. Then, a method of obtaining a pseudo three-dimensional image by performing a predetermined three-dimensional calculation such as a viewpoint coordinate conversion on this is conceivable.

However, this method has the following problems.

In FIG. 30, the player 302 has an operation unit 30.
4, an image synthesizing device for manipulating a three-dimensional object 332 by using 4 and performing perspective transformation on the screen 306 to obtain a pseudo three-dimensional image is shown. Then, as shown in the figure, each surface of the three-dimensional object 332 is provided with a texture such as a lattice pattern or a striped pattern. When synthesizing an image of a three-dimensional object whose surfaces are textured as described above, polygons are defined by, for example, (1)
Divide into (80) ((41) to (80) are not shown), rotate, translate, perspective transform, calculate contour line of each polygon, color crush inside polygon etc. Must be processed. Therefore, it becomes necessary to process a very large number of polygons. However, in a device such as a game device that needs to perform image composition in real time, for example, all polygons must be processed for each field (1/60 seconds) and the drawing of the display screen must be completed. Therefore, in order to draw the textured three-dimensional object 332, the processing speed of the hardware configuring the device is significantly improved, or the hardware of the device is enlarged and processed by parallel arithmetic processing. I couldn't get it.

Further, when the three-dimensional object 332 is expressed as a cluster of three-dimensional polygons as shown in FIG. 30, continuity of luminance information at the boundary of each three-dimensional polygon becomes a problem. For example, in the case of expressing a sphere using a plurality of 3D polygons, if all dots in the 3D polygon are all set to have the same brightness, the "roundness" is actually expressed, but the boundary of each 3D polygon is expressed. There was also a situation where was not expressed as "roundness."

By the way, normally, in a home video game machine, when a player wants to enjoy different games, the expensive game machine main body 510 is not replaced and only the inexpensive game cartridge 500 is used for another game. It is usual to replace with a cartridge and play. However, the game machine body 510 itself is not configured to form a fine and high-quality three-dimensional image in which the boundaries of the three-dimensional polygons are expressed as “rounded” by being textured as described above. Therefore, in the home video game machine having such a configuration, such a delicate and high-quality three-dimensional game cannot be enjoyed unless the game machine body is newly replaced.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a game in which a delicate and high-quality image can be expressed in real time without changing the main body of the game machine. A cartridge for game and a game device using the same.

[0020]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a game cartridge which is detachably mounted on a game machine main body and which forms a game device integrally with the game machine main body. A first storage unit in which image configuration data to be configured and predetermined program data are stored, and image configuration data is read from the first storage unit, and a predetermined three-dimensional arithmetic processing is performed on the image configuration data to perform a predetermined projection A rewritable second that forms a perspective-transformed data on a surface and outputs it, and stores the data output from the auxiliary computation processing unit and thereby forms pseudo three-dimensional image configuration data. The image configuration data includes vertex coordinates of a three-dimensional polygon, and vertex texture coordinates set for texture information supply corresponding to each vertex of the three-dimensional polygon. Expressed as a set of vertex image information, the auxiliary calculation processing unit perspective-transforms each vertex coordinate of the three-dimensional polygon on the projection surface to obtain a perspective-transformation vertex coordinate, and a polygon formed by the perspective-transformation vertex coordinate. Display coordinate calculation means for calculating the perspective transformation display coordinates of the respective dots constituting the above, and first texture coordinate calculation means for obtaining the read-out texture coordinates for the respective dots forming the polygon formed by the vertex texture coordinates. The second storage unit stores texture information storage means in which predetermined texture information for texture mapping read by the read texture coordinates is stored, and the perspective information display coordinates in the second storage unit. Image information forming means for synthesizing image information by associating the generated texture information Characterized in that it is formed including the, the.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, instead of the first texture coordinate calculating means, the vertex texture coordinates are perspective-transformed into perspective transformation vertex texture coordinates that are linear with respect to the perspective transformation vertex coordinates, and the perspective transformation is performed. Second texture coordinate calculation means for linearly interpolating the perspective transformation texture coordinates of each dot forming the polygon formed by the vertex texture coordinates, and performing inverse perspective transformation on the calculated perspective transformation texture coordinates to obtain read texture coordinates. It is characterized by including.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the display coordinate calculating means linearly interpolates the perspective transformation vertex coordinates,
By calculating the perspective transformation display coordinates of the left and right contour points, which are the points where the contour line of the polygon formed by the perspective transformation vertex coordinates and each scanning line, and by linearly interpolating the perspective transformation display coordinates of the left and right contour points. , The perspective transformation display coordinates of each dot on the scanning line connecting the left and right contour points are linearly interpolated, and the texture coordinate computing means linearly interpolates the perspective transformation vertex texture coordinates to obtain the perspective transformation vertex coordinates. By calculating the perspective transformation texture coordinates of the left and right contour points, which are the points where the contour line of the polygon formed by and each scanning line intersect, and linearly interpolating the perspective transformation texture coordinates of the left and right contour points, the left and right contour points It is characterized in that it is formed so that the perspective transformation texture coordinates of each dot on the scanning line connecting the lines are calculated by linear interpolation.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the image information forming means has a field buffer portion for storing the read texture coordinates of the texture information storage means at the perspective transformation display coordinate position. It is characterized in that the texture coordinates are read out, the texture information stored in the texture information storage means is read out by the texture coordinates, and the image information is combined.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the display coordinate calculation means includes thinning-out calculation means for thinning out the perspective transformation display coordinates of each dot, and the texture coordinate calculation means comprises thinning-out calculation means for thinning out the texture coordinates of each dot. Including, the image information forming means includes an interpolation calculating means for interpolating the thinned texture coordinates from the read-out texture coordinates stored at the adjacent perspective transformation display coordinate positions of the field buffer section. Characterize.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a game cartridge which is detachably mounted on the game machine main body and which forms a game device integrally with the game machine main body. A first storage unit in which predetermined program data is stored, and image configuration data is read from the first storage unit, and the image configuration data is subjected to predetermined three-dimensional arithmetic processing and perspective-transformed to a predetermined projection plane. An auxiliary arithmetic processing unit that forms and outputs data, and a rewritable second that stores the data output from the auxiliary arithmetic processing unit and thereby forms pseudo three-dimensional image constituent data.
The image forming data is expressed as a set of vertex image information including vertex brightness information set corresponding to the vertex coordinates of the three-dimensional polygon and each vertex of the three-dimensional polygon. The processing unit perspective-transforms each vertex coordinate of the three-dimensional polygon on the projection surface to obtain perspective-transformation vertex coordinates, and calculates perspective-transformation display coordinates of each dot forming a polygon formed by the perspective transformation vertex coordinates. And a first brightness information calculation unit that obtains brightness information of each dot forming a polygon formed by the vertex brightness information, and the second storage unit includes:
An image information forming unit that combines image information by associating the brightness information calculated by the brightness information calculating unit with the perspective conversion display coordinates is formed.

According to a seventh aspect of the invention, instead of the first luminance information calculating means, the vertex luminance information is perspective-transformed into perspective transformation vertex luminance information which is linear with respect to the perspective transformation vertex coordinates, and this perspective transformation is performed. A second brightness information calculating unit is provided which linearly interpolates the perspective conversion brightness information of each dot forming the polygon formed by the vertex brightness information, and inversely perspective-converts the calculated perspective conversion brightness information to obtain the brightness information. It is characterized by

According to the invention of claim 8, the display coordinate calculation means linearly interpolates the perspective transformation vertex coordinates,
By calculating the perspective transformation display coordinates of the left and right contour points, which are the points where the contour line of the polygon formed by the perspective transformation vertex coordinates and each scanning line, and by linearly interpolating the perspective transformation display coordinates of the left and right contour points. , The perspective transformation display coordinates of each dot on the scanning line connecting the left and right contour points are linearly interpolated, and the luminance information computing means linearly interpolates the perspective transformation vertex luminance information to obtain the perspective transformation vertex coordinates. Calculate the perspective conversion luminance information of the left and right contour points, which are the points where the contour line of the polygon formed by and each scanning line intersect,
The perspective conversion brightness information of the left and right contour points is linearly interpolated, and the perspective conversion brightness information of each dot on the scanning line connecting the left and right contour points is linearly interpolated.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, the image information forming means has a field buffer section for storing the brightness information at the perspective conversion display coordinate position, and reads the brightness information from the field buffer section. A game cartridge characterized by synthesizing image information by means of.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, the display coordinate calculation means includes thinning-out calculation means for thinning out perspective conversion display coordinates of each dot, and the luminance information calculation means is thinning-out calculation means for thinning out the luminance information of each dot. In addition, the image information forming means includes an interpolation calculating means for interpolating the thinned luminance information from the luminance information stored at the adjacent perspective transformation display coordinate positions of the field buffer section. To do.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, a polygon identification number for identifying a polygon is further stored at the perspective conversion display coordinate position of the field buffer section, and the thinning-out calculation means determines that each dot is a polygon. If it is a dot on the contour line, or if it is a dot on the boundary with another polygon, the thinning calculation is not performed, and the interpolation calculation means is stored at the adjacent perspective conversion display coordinate positions. When the polygon identification numbers are the same, the interpolation calculation is performed, and when the polygon identification numbers are different, the interpolation calculation is not performed.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, the interpolation calculation means interpolates the thinned information by linearly interpolating the image information stored in the perspective conversion display coordinate positions on both sides thereof. .

A thirteenth aspect of the present invention is a game machine including the game cartridge according to any one of the first to twelfth aspects and a game machine main body to which the game cartridge is detachably mounted. The main body has a central portion which is activated by an operation unit to which an operation signal from the player used in the three-dimensional arithmetic processing in the auxiliary arithmetic processing unit is input and program data from the first storage unit or the second storage unit. It is characterized by including a processing section and a video processing section for forming a display image from the image configuration data or the calculated pseudo three-dimensional image configuration data.

[0033]

According to the game cartridge of the present invention, the auxiliary processing operation unit performs a predetermined operation process on the image configuration data stored in the first storage unit, and the rewritable second operation is possible. The pseudo three-dimensional image can be composited and output by storing it in the storage unit. In this case, the auxiliary calculation processing unit and the second storage unit can perform a predetermined texture mapping process on the polygon based on the vertex texture coordinates given to each vertex of the three-dimensional polygon. Therefore, it is possible to perform delicate and high-quality image composition, which could not be performed conventionally, without changing the configuration of the game machine body.

In this case, if the second texture information calculating means is provided in place of the first texture information calculating means, not only the coordinate system relating to the position coordinates of the polygon but also the coordinate system of the texture coordinates corresponding thereto is provided. Perspective-transformed. Therefore, since the relationship between the coordinate systems is kept linear, texture mapping for polygons that does not impair perspective and linearity can be realized without increasing the hardware burden.

If a field buffer unit is provided in the image information forming means and the read texture coordinates are stored in the field buffer unit, a thinning / interpolation method capable of reducing the load on the hardware can be realized without deteriorating the image quality so much. it can.

Further, according to the game cartridge of the present invention, in the auxiliary arithmetic processing section and the second storage section,
The brightness information in the polygon is obtained from the vertex brightness information given to each vertex of the three-dimensional polygon, and thus the continuity of the brightness information at the polygon boundary is secured. Therefore, similar to the above, it is possible to perform delicate and high-quality image composition, which could not be performed conventionally, without changing the configuration of the game machine body.

In this case, if the second brightness information calculating means is provided in place of the first brightness information calculating means, the relationship between the coordinate systems is kept linear. Therefore, it is possible to realize the calculation of the luminance information that does not impair the image reality even when the three-dimensional object rotates such that there is a sense of perspective in the change in luminance without increasing the burden on the hardware.

If a field buffer unit is provided in the image information forming means and the brightness information is stored in the field buffer unit, a thinning / interpolation method capable of reducing the load on the hardware can be realized without deteriorating the image quality.

[0039]

【Example】

(Table of Contents of Examples) A. Method 1. Method 1 2. Method 2 3. Method 3 4. Method 4 B. First Embodiment 1. Outline of Examples 2. Specific example (1) Processor section (2) Field buffer section (3) Attribute RAM section (4) Texture information storage section C. Second embodiment 1. Outline of Examples (1) Outline (2) Outline of Configuration and Operation 2. Specific example (1) Thinning calculation means (2) Configuration of interpolation calculation means (3) Operation of interpolation calculation means A. Method FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show a preferred embodiment of a game cartridge according to the present invention and a game device using the same. Hereinafter, regarding the image synthesizing method in this embodiment,
First of all, 1. Method 1 As described above, the present invention provides a game cartridge that can combine a delicate and high-quality image without changing the configuration of the expensive game machine body 800 as much as possible, and a game device using the same. Has an aim. In order to achieve this object, the game cartridge 1 in the present embodiment is configured to include a first storage unit 780, an auxiliary calculation processing unit 710, and a second storage unit 790, as shown in FIG. There is. Then, the image composition data stored in the first storage unit 780 is subjected to image composition processing by the auxiliary calculation processing unit 710, and this is stored in the second storage unit 790, and is stored as pseudo three-dimensional image composition data in the game. A method is used in which the image is output to the machine body 800, the image is processed and the image is output to the display device.

By adopting such a method, it is possible to synthesize a delicate and high-quality three-dimensional image with almost no change in the configuration of the game machine main body 800. The image forming unit 740 and the second storage unit 7 in the auxiliary calculation processing unit 710.
The configuration of 90 is shown in FIG.

Hereinafter, the method of delicate and high-quality three-dimensional image composition performed by the auxiliary calculation processing unit 710 and the second storage unit 790 will be described separately for Method 2 and Method 3. 2. Method 2 First, in the present embodiment, a method is used in which the texture information stored in the texture information storage unit 42 is texture-mapped to the polygons forming the three-dimensional image.
According to this texture mapping method, the pattern, color, etc. of an image can be made finer without increasing the number of polygons to be processed. That is, it is possible to obtain a more delicate and high-quality image without increasing the load on the hardware only by making the texture information stored in the texture information storage unit 42 more delicate and detailed. is there. Therefore, in this embodiment, each vertex of the three-dimensional polygon stored in the first storage unit 780 is
The vertex texture coordinates are given in advance. And
In the image supply unit 712, after performing a predetermined three-dimensional calculation process on the vertex texture coordinates, the image forming unit 7
At 40, the texture coordinates forming each dot of the polygon are calculated. Then, using the texture coordinates, the corresponding texture information is called from the texture information storage unit 42 provided in the second storage unit 790 and attached to the polygon.

FIG. 26 shows an example of a display image on which a texture is attached by this texture mapping. This figure shows an example in which the present embodiment is applied to a driving game. As shown in the figure, the road 820 has a tile-like texture, the side road 822 has a grass-like texture, and the house 824 has a brick-like texture. In this case, for example, when image-synthesizing the road 820, the tiled texture information is stored in the texture information storage unit 42. Then, by attaching the tiled texture information to the polygons forming the road 820, an image as shown in FIG. 26 is synthesized.

The inventor of the present invention has found that the following problems occur when image synthesis of pseudo three-dimensional images is performed using this texture mapping method. That is, it is a problem regarding perspective and linearity of the mapped texture pattern.

FIG. 3 shows the problem of perspective in this texture mapping.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the texture 13
If 36 is simply attached to the polygon 1340 by linear interpolation, the texture in the polyhedron 1334 becomes
On the screen, it looks as shown in FIG. However, in reality, the texture in the polyhedron 1334 should look as shown in FIG. That is, it can be seen that when the texture is pasted as shown in FIG. 9A, the perspective of the texture on the polyhedron 1334 is lost. This can be understood, for example, from the fact that the intervals d0 to d3 of the texture pattern are linearly interpolated as they are in FIG.

Further, when the texture is simply pasted by the linear interpolation, there occurs a phenomenon that the linearity of the pattern forming the texture is impaired. That is, a straight line in three dimensions does not become a straight line on the screen and appears to be bent, for example. This is shown in FIG. That is, an image that should actually look like the one shown in FIG. 4A on the screen looks like the one shown in FIG. Thus, if the texture is simply pasted by the linear interpolation, the linearity of the pattern forming the texture is significantly impaired, and the image quality is significantly deteriorated.

The perspective and linearity problems are caused by the fact that the texture on the screen is non-linear, but linearly interpolated.

As a solution to the above-mentioned problems of perspective and linearity, for example, a method of subdividing a surface to be textured and performing texture mapping can be considered. According to this method, the depth (Z
Since the knowledge of (value) is not required, the problem of perspective and linearity described above can be solved by making this subdivision finer.

However, according to this method, there is a problem that the amount of calculation increases as the degree of subdivision increases to improve the image quality.

Further, it is also possible to consider a method in which the interpolation in the case of attaching the texture is not linear but, for example, a quadratic function. According to this method, the burden on the hardware is reduced and the perspective is resolved to some extent, but this problem is not completely resolved, and a new problem arises that the pasted texture is distorted.

As described above, according to the conventional method, it is possible to realize a device in which perspective and linearity are not impaired in order to improve the image quality, and at the same time, the burden on the hardware is not so large. It was very difficult.

The present inventor does not mean that the factor that causes such difficulty is that only the X and Y coordinates are perspective-transformed, and the Z coordinates and the texture coordinates TX and TY are not perspective-transformed. I thought. That is, X, Y
Since only the coordinates are perspective-transformed and Z, TX and TY are not perspective-transformed, these five coordinates have a non-linear relationship, which causes the above-mentioned difficulties.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, not only the X and Y coordinate systems but also the Z, TX and TY coordinate systems are perspective-transformed so that the five coordinate systems have a linear relationship, and then this coordinate system is used. Texture mapping is performed by the above linear interpolation method. Then, in order to realize this method on hardware, perspective transformation of the five coordinate systems is performed by perspective transformation of each vertex of the polygon. Then, the image information of each dot on the display screen is obtained by linearly interpolating the perspective-transformed vertex coordinates.

Therefore, according to this method, the perspective transformation, which is a heavy-duty operation, may be performed on each vertex of the polygon, and the number of heavy-duty operations can be reduced.
Further, the number of calculations, that is, the calculation of the image information of each dot on the display screen having the largest amount of data to be calculated can be performed by linear interpolation calculation. As a result, the burden on the hardware can be significantly reduced as compared with the conventional texture mapping means, and at the same time, it is possible to form high-quality image information that does not impair perspective and linearity.

Here, the perspective transformation means projecting and transforming a three-dimensional image on a two-dimensional screen 306, where X ^* = X × (h / Z) Y ^* = Y × (h / Z). The X coordinate and the Y coordinate are converted by the conversion formula.

Here, h is the distance between the viewpoint and the screen, and a coordinate system having the viewpoint as the origin is used.

X and Y are linear, and X ^* and Y ^* are also linear.

The concept of perspective transformation is generalized and considered as follows. Assuming a new coordinate W, W and X,
Alternatively, assume that W and Y are linear. The transformation from W to W ^* such that W ^* and X ^* or W ^* and Y ^* are also linear is considered as the perspective transformation of W. Then, the general formula W ^* = pW / Z + q / Z + r is derived. Here, p, q, and r are arbitrary constants.

By applying texture coordinates, Z coordinates and luminance information to this W, linearization of all coordinates is realized.
In the case of texture coordinates Tx and Ty, and brightness information BRI, p = h and q = r = 0, and Tx ^* = Tx * (h / z) Ty ^* = Ty * (h / z) BRI ^* = BRI * If (h / z) is defined, the perspective transformation of X and Y and the multiplier can be made common. However, regarding the perspective transformation of Z, if Z ^* is the same as the above, Z ^* becomes equal to the constant h.
When p = r = 0 and q = h and Z ^* = h / Z is defined, this is a multiplier itself of the perspective transformation of another coordinate system, which is convenient in design. In other words, Z may be first perspective-transformed, and the other coordinate system may be perspective-transformed by using Z as a multiplier. 3. Method 3 In this embodiment, the brightness information is calculated by the Gouraud shading method or the like so as not to impair the continuity of the brightness information at the boundary of each three-dimensional polygon forming the three-dimensional object.

That is, normally, in this kind of image synthesizing device, the luminance information at each dot of the pseudo three-dimensional image is also calculated, and when it is finally displayed on a television or the like, the color code calculated separately is used. This is being output while synthesizing. At this time, a particular problem is a problem regarding continuity of luminance information. That is, there are many cases in which "roundness" is desired to be expressed even though the pseudo curved surface, that is, the surface of the object is composed of polygons. For example, in a conventional image synthesizing apparatus that applies brightness information to each polygon, unless the brightness between the polygons is continuous, the boundary line between the polygons appears on the image and the above-mentioned " I can't get roundness.

Therefore, in order to maintain the continuity of the brightness information, this is solved by the glow shading method or the like in this embodiment. In this method, the brightness information is given to each vertex of the polygon. Then, a method of calculating the brightness information at each dot on the display screen by interpolating the brightness information given to each vertex is adopted.
Therefore, the problem of discontinuity of brightness information between polygons as described above does not occur. Thus, for example, a plurality of 3
When a sphere is represented by using a three-dimensional polygon, it is possible to form an image of a sphere whose boundary is represented as “roundness” and which is close to reality.

In order to calculate the luminance information by this Gouraud shading method or the like, in this embodiment, predetermined vertex luminance information is given to each vertex of the three-dimensional polygon stored in the first storage unit 780 in advance. Keep it. Then, after the image supply unit 712 performs a predetermined three-dimensional calculation process on the vertex luminance information, the image forming unit 740 calculates the luminance information of each dot in the polygon from the vertex luminance information by interpolation calculation. There is. As a result, the continuity of the brightness information at the boundary of each three-dimensional polygon is maintained, and it becomes possible to express the “roundness” at the boundary.

The inventor of the present invention has found that the following problems occur when image synthesis of pseudo three-dimensional images is performed by using the Gouraud shading method or the like. That is, it has been found that the same problem as the problem caused by the perspective transformation in the texture mapping described above also occurs in the linear interpolation calculation of the luminance information. This point will be described with reference to FIG.

For example, in FIG. 3A, consider the case where the luminance information is given at the points A, B, C and D which are the vertices of the polygon. In this case, if the brightness at the point M is simply calculated by linear interpolation, the average value of the brightness at the point C and the brightness at the point D is calculated, and the average value is calculated.
And the brightness. However, when the three-dimensional image is perspective-transformed into a pseudo three-dimensional image, the dot that should actually have the above-mentioned brightness on the screen is not the point E in FIG.
It must be the point F in FIG. That is, when the brightness information is simply obtained by linear interpolation, brightness information different from the image formed by the brightness information to be actually displayed will be formed. Therefore, for example, the brightness at the point E in FIG.
Even if the depth information (Z value) changes due to rotation of the 334 or the like, the depth information (Z value) is fixed at the position of the point E on the two-dimensional screen, and it becomes difficult to feel that the polyhedron is rotating. Problems also arise.

The reason why such a problem occurs is the same as that described in the above (1). That is, if the linear interpolation is simply performed, the X and Y coordinates are perspective-transformed, but the luminance information is not perspective-transformed, and a linear relationship cannot be maintained between these coordinate systems. Because there is. Therefore, in this embodiment, also in the calculation of this brightness information, the brightness information at each vertex of the polygon is first perspective-transformed, and the brightness information at each dot is linearly interpolated based on the vertex coordinates that have been perspective-transformed. As a result, even with respect to the brightness information of the object, it is possible to faithfully reproduce the brightness that should be seen in the actual three-dimensional object,
Combined with the improved perspective and linearity in the texture method described in (1) above, it is possible to reproduce images with higher fidelity and increased reality.

Moreover, this method has an advantage that the burden on the hardware can be reduced although the image quality can be improved as described above. That is, first, the brightness information calculation by this method can be realized by the hardware having exactly the same configuration as the above-described calculation of the TX and TY coordinates. Therefore, the hardware control circuit and the control signal can be shared, and it is not necessary to newly provide the hardware control circuit and the control signal. Therefore, the burden on the hardware can be reduced. Moreover, according to this method, the calculation of the luminance information and the calculation of the TX and TY coordinates can be performed in parallel. As a result, this brightness information calculation can be realized without affecting the drawing speed of all image information, and the burden on the hardware can be reduced. 4. Method 4 The present embodiment is mainly applied to a home video game machine. Moreover, almost all of the advanced image processing such as the texture mapping method and the Gouraud shading method must be performed by the auxiliary calculation processing unit 710 and the second storage unit 790 in the game cartridge 1. Therefore, in view of the cost and area problems required for the home video game machine, the auxiliary arithmetic processing unit 7
10. How to reduce the load of the arithmetic processing in the second storage unit 790 is a major technical issue.

In order to reduce the load of such arithmetic processing, the arithmetic processing of the largest number of data in the auxiliary arithmetic processing unit 710, that is, the position coordinates at each dot of the display screen, texture information, brightness information, etc. It suffices to reduce the number of interpolation calculations of. For this purpose, one effective means is to thin out these data, calculate, and interpolate this when outputting.

However, in the conventional bit map type image synthesizing device, the color information itself is stored in the so-called field buffer. Due to the configuration in which the color information itself is stored in the field buffer, the following problems occur when the calculation of the thinning / interpolation method is performed. That is, first, when the color information stored in the field buffer is a color code, that is, encoded color information, interpolation itself is impossible, and in this case, it is completely out of the question.
Next, when the stored color information is color information such as RGB output, a situation occurs in which the quality of the combined image is extremely deteriorated. The reason for this is as follows.

The texture information is given arbitrarily according to the image to be displayed. Therefore, there is no mathematical regularity, let alone linearity, in the data sequence.
As a result, thinning out this means that the image information itself is missing. Then, it is impossible to recover this missing image information by interpolation. Therefore,
The combined image quality will be extremely deteriorated, such as data loss.

In the second embodiment, not the color information itself but the read texture coordinates TX and TY for the texture information storage means are stored in the field buffer section. The read texture coordinates are thinned out and calculated in the processor units of all stages. Then, at the time of reading, the texture coordinates are linearly interpolated to obtain the texture coordinates of the points between them, and the texture information is read from the texture storage means. In this case, the texture coordinates on the screen are non-linear data, but even if the linear interpolation is performed in such a small portion, the image quality is hardly deteriorated and a high-quality image can be obtained.

As described above, in the second embodiment, the number of operations with the largest amount of data can be reduced to ½ or less each time one data is thinned out while keeping the image quality good. It is possible to significantly reduce the load of hardware, and it is possible to provide an optimal hardware configuration for a home video game machine. B. First Embodiment 1. Outline of Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the game cartridge 1 according to the present embodiment is formed so as to be attachable to and detachable from the game machine main body 800 via a connector 798, and has an auxiliary arithmetic processing section 710 and a first memory. Unit 780, second storage unit 79
It is configured to include 0.

Here, the game machine body 800 includes a central processing unit 802, a video processing unit 804, a video RAM 806, and an operation unit 808.
Since the configuration and the operation of are substantially the same as those of the conventional example described above, the description thereof will be omitted here.

The first storage section 780 is formed of a non-volatile memory such as a ROM and stores program data and image configuration data. Here, as the program data, a program for starting the central processing unit 802, the processing unit 714 and the like and a program for forming a predetermined game space are stored.

Therefore, by rewriting the contents of the program data stored in the first storage unit 780, various games such as shooting games, racing games, martial arts games, RPG games, sports games, battle simulation games, etc. It becomes possible to form a game space such as. That is, even when another game space is formed, it is not necessary to change the game machine main body 800 itself, and it is only necessary to change the program data and the image configuration data, specifically, the ROM mask of the first storage unit 780. , Will be able to offer another game. Therefore, the player can enjoy another game only by replacing the game cartridge 1.

Here, the image configuration data is formed by image data that configures the game space, and is stored as a three-dimensional object represented as a set of polygons in this embodiment. FIG. 27 shows a specific example of this three-dimensional object. That is, as shown in the figure, the three-dimensional object 300 representing myship is
It is represented as a set of polygons 362, 364, 366, etc. representing the wings, polygon 368, etc. representing the main body, polygons 370, etc. representing the engine, and stored in the first storage unit 780. In this case, the actual data stored is the vertex image information, that is, the vertex coordinates of each polygon, the vertex texture coordinates,
It is the vertex brightness information and various accompanying data, and the auxiliary computation processing unit 710 performs various three-dimensional coordinate computations on these vertex image information.

In the first storage unit 780, in addition to the three-dimensional object 300 representing such a myship, three-dimensional objects representing backgrounds such as clouds and mountains, enemy planes, and missiles, all of the game space is constructed. The auxiliary arithmetic processing unit 710 in which the image information is stored as image configuration data is newly provided in the game cartridge 1 to assist the image processing that the game machine main body 800 has conventionally performed. The supply unit 712 and the image forming unit 740 are included.

Here, the image supply unit 712 is a processing unit 714 that performs overall control and various processes, a coordinate conversion unit 716 that performs coordinate conversion in a three-dimensional space, and a clipping processing unit 7.
18, a perspective conversion unit 720, and a sorting processing unit 722.

The image forming section 740, as shown in FIG. 2, includes a processor section 30 and a paint RAM 36.

The second storage unit 790 is the auxiliary arithmetic processing unit 7.
The result of arithmetic processing in 10 is stored, and it is formed including a rewritable memory. Specifically, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the rewritable memory includes a field buffer unit 40, a texture information storage unit 42, and an attribute RAM unit 38.

The second storage section 790 can store not only image information but also program data and image configuration data changed by the auxiliary arithmetic processing section 710.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the second storage unit 790, which was conventionally only the non-rewritable character generator 504, is modified to include a rewritable memory. And this second
In the storage unit 790, the auxiliary arithmetic processing unit 7
The data processed in 10 is sequentially written. Therefore,
Image information such as character information, program data, etc., which could not be changed conventionally, can be changed while the game is in progress, and a game space can be formed using this data. As a result, three-dimensionalization of the game space, which has been impossible until now without changing the game machine body 800 itself,
It is possible to perform setting of a virtual three-dimensional space, calculation processing of brightness information such as texture mapping, Gouraud shading, change of set game program itself, change of image configuration data to be used, and the like. Then, these processes are mainly performed by the auxiliary arithmetic processing unit 71, as described below.
0 and the second storage unit 790, it is possible to perform these processes without imposing a heavy load on the central processing unit 802 of the game machine body 800.

Below, an outline of the configuration and operation of the auxiliary operation processing section 710 and the second storage section 790 will be explained using FIG. 5, FIG. 6 and the like.

The image information about the three-dimensional object 300 is represented as a polyhedron divided into polygons as described above, and the vertex coordinates, vertex texture coordinates, vertex brightness information, and associated data are stored in the first storage unit 780. Remembered Then, each vertex coordinate and the associated data are read by the processing unit 714 and converted into a predetermined data format, for example, the data format shown in FIG.

FIG. 6A shows an overall view of this data format. As shown in the figure, the data to be processed is configured such that the frame data is at the head and the object data of all three-dimensional objects displayed in this frame are continuous. Then, after this object data, polygon data of polygons forming the three-dimensional object is further arranged.

Here, the frame data refers to data formed by parameters that change for each frame, and is information common to all three-dimensional objects in one frame, which is the viewpoint position / angle / viewing angle information of the player. ,
It consists of data such as monitor angle / size information and light source information. These data are set for each frame. For example, when a window or the like is formed on the display screen, different frame data is set for each window. As a result, it is possible to form a rearview mirror in a racing game, a screen of a racing car viewed from above, or the like on the display screen.

The object data refers to data formed by parameters that change for each three-dimensional object, and position information in units of three-dimensional objects,
It is composed of data such as rotation information.

Further, the polygon data means data formed by image information of polygons and the like, and as shown in FIG. 6B, a header, vertex luminance information I0 to I3, vertex texture coordinates TX0, TY0 to TX3, TY3, vertex coordinates X0, Y
0, Z0 to X3, Y3, Z3, etc., and other auxiliary data.

The coordinate calculation unit 16 reads out the data in the above format, and the operation unit 808 to the central processing unit 802 reads it.
Various arithmetic processes are performed on the respective vertex coordinates and the like in accordance with the operation signal input via the. Hereinafter, this arithmetic processing will be described in detail.

Taking a shooting game as an example, as shown in FIG. 5, three-dimensional objects 300, 332, 334 representing myships, enemy planes, buildings, mountains, etc. read from the first storage unit 780 are displayed. , Are arranged in a virtual three-dimensional space represented by the world coordinate system (XW, YW, ZW). After that, the image information representing these three-dimensional objects is coordinate-converted into a viewpoint coordinate system (Xv, Yv, Zv) with the viewpoint of the player 302 as a reference. Here, the coordinate Zv in the viewpoint coordinate system represents the depth, and the larger the value of Zv, the deeper it is located in the pseudo three-dimensional image.

Next, the clipping processing section 718 performs image processing called so-called clipping processing. Here, the clipping processing is image information outside the field of view of the player 302 (or outside the field of view of the window opened in the three-dimensional space), that is, the front / rear / right / down / left / up clipping planes 340 and 342. 344, 3
This is image processing for removing image information outside an area (hereinafter referred to as display area 2) surrounded by 46, 348, and 350. That is, the image information required by the present apparatus for the subsequent processing is only the image information within the visual field of the player 302. Therefore, if the other information is removed in advance by the clipping process, the load of the subsequent process can be significantly reduced.

Next, in the perspective conversion unit 720, the display area 2
Only for objects inside is the screen coordinate system (XS,
YS) is perspective-converted, and the data is output to the sorting processing unit 722 at the next stage.

In the sorting processing section 722, the priority order is set for each polygon, and the subsequent processing of the polygons will be carried out in accordance with this priority order.

Next, the sorting processing section 722 outputs the sorted data to the image forming section 740.
In this case, the sorting processing unit 722 outputs the vertex coordinates VX ^* , VY ^* , VZ ^* of the perspective-transformed polygon, the vertex texture coordinates VTX corresponding to the respective vertices of the polygon,
VTY and vertex brightness information VBRI are output. Also,
Attribute data, that is, image information common to all dots in the polygon is also output.

Here, the vertex texture coordinates VTX,
VTY designates an address of texture information to be attached to a polygon. Specifically, the address of the texture information storage unit 42 of FIG. 1 is designated. The texture storage plane configured by the texture information storage unit 42 has a structure shown in FIG. 16 as described later. Texture information to be attached to polygons is stored in advance in this texture storage plane. Here, the texture information is a tiled texture to be attached to the road 820 of FIG.
House 824, grassy texture sticking to the side road 822
Image information that represents a brick-like texture or the like to be attached to. However, the texture storage plane can store texture information of any shape, not limited to these tile-shaped, asphalt-shaped, and brick-shaped textures.

In the first embodiment, this texture information is read by the texture coordinates, and the read texture information is associated with each dot of the polygon to perform texture mapping. Then, in the first embodiment, the correspondence of this texture information to each dot of the polygon is performed by designating only the texture coordinates corresponding to each vertex of the polygon, that is, the texture vertex coordinates. This is because associating with dots other than the vertex can be performed by interpolating texture vertex coordinates to obtain texture coordinates that should be associated with other dots, and reading texture information from the interpolated texture coordinates.

In the image forming section 740, the perspective transformation vertex coordinates VX ^* and VY ^* are first input to the main processor 32 according to the priority order. Further, the perspective transformation vertex coordinates VZ ^* , vertex texture coordinates VTX, VTY, and vertex brightness information VBRI are input to the coprocessor 32. In addition, attribute data common to each polygon is input to the attribute RAM unit 38 in the second storage unit 790.

In the main processor 32, the perspective transformation display coordinates X ^* , Y ^{* of} all the dots forming the polygon are calculated by linearly interpolating the perspective transformation vertex coordinates VX ^* , VY ^* , and the processor unit 30 is operated. Is output.

In the coprocessor 34, the perspective transformation vertex coordinates VZ ^* are linearly interpolated to obtain vertex texture coordinates VTX, VTX.
The TY and the vertex luminance information VBRI are perspective-transformed, and then linearly interpolated to obtain the perspective transformation display coordinates Z ^* , the perspective transformation texture coordinates TX ^* , and TY ^* , respectively ^.
And the perspective conversion luminance information BRI ^* are calculated. The calculation in this case is performed using the calculation result in the main processor 32.

In the present embodiment, the coprocessor unit 34
, The vertex texture coordinates and the vertex luminance information that have not been perspective-transformed are input. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and, for example, the vertex texture coordinates and vertex luminance information are perspective-transformed by the perspective transformation unit 720. The coprocessor unit 34
It may be configured to input to.

Next, perspective transformation texture coordinates TX ^* , T
The Y ^* and perspective transformation luminance information BRI ^* are inverse perspective transformed into texture coordinates TX, TY and luminance information BRI using the perspective transformation display coordinates Z ^*, and output from the processor unit 30. The inverse perspective transformation is performed in this manner because texture coordinates that have not been perspective transformed are required to read the texture information from the texture information storage unit 42.

A paint RAM 36 is connected to the main processor 32. This paint RAM3
6 is used to omit the calculation processing of dots that have already been filled after the calculation processing has been completed. That is, in the first embodiment, the image drawing is performed for each polygon, and this drawing process is performed for the polygon in front. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform the calculation process for the dots which have already been drawn and are filled until the drawing of the next field. Therefore, by omitting this calculation process, the number of calculations can be significantly reduced and the burden on the hardware can be reduced.

The storage plane formed by the paint RAM 36 corresponds to the dots on the display screen one to one, and for each dot, for example, data called an end flag is stored in 1-bit units. There is. This end flag is a flag used to display whether or not the calculation processing of each dot is completed. That is, for the dot for which the arithmetic processing has been completed, for example, 1 is written by the main processor 32. Then, the main processor 32 constantly monitors this end flag, and does not perform the arithmetic processing for the dot whose end flag is 1. As a result, it is not necessary to subsequently perform the calculation processing of the polygons in the already filled area, and the processing speed can be significantly increased.

The second storage section 790 stores the field buffer section 40 and the texture information storage section 4 as shown in FIG.
2. The attribute data section 38 is included.

The field buffer section 40 has a built-in video RAM composed of a storage area in which each dot on the display screen of a display device such as a television corresponds to each dot. The texture coordinates TX and TY and the brightness information BRI calculated by the coprocessor 34 are stored in the respective storage areas of the video RAM with the display coordinates X ^* and Y ^* calculated by the main processor 32 as addresses.

In the field buffer section 40,
A polygon identification number generator is built in, and the polygon identification number PN output from this generator is also stored in each bit of the above video RAM. The polygon identification number PN is also output to the attribute RAM unit 38 in synchronization with the output of TX, TY, and BRI from the field buffer unit 40. Attribute RAM section 3
8 outputs the attribute data common to each polygon according to this polygon identification number PN.

However, according to the present invention, it is not always necessary to specify the attribute data on the game cartridge 1 side as in the first embodiment, and the attribute data such as the palette number on the game machine main body 800 side. May be specified.

A storage unit is built in the texture information storage unit 42, and texture information such as a color code is stored in advance in each bit of this storage unit.
The texture information is read out using the texture coordinates TX and TY input from the field buffer unit 40 as addresses, and the color code is output.

Finally, these output data are output to the image processing unit 804 and output to the display device as an image.

In the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the color data is read from the texture information storage unit 42 by the texture coordinates read from the field buffer unit 40, but the present invention is not limited to this. Alternatively, for example, the texture information may be directly read from the texture information storage unit 42 using the texture coordinates calculated by the processor unit 30, and the texture information may be stored in the field buffer unit 40.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the operation of the first embodiment, and FIG. 7 is a visual representation of the calculation method executed in the flows 1100, 1200 and 1300 of this flow chart. There is. The image forming unit 740 and the second storage unit 7 will be mainly described below with reference to FIGS. 8 and 7.
The outline of the arithmetic processing performed at 90 will be described.

In the embodiment, in the image supply unit 712,
The operation shown in the flow 1000 shown in FIG. 8 is executed. Then, the sorting processing unit 722 outputs polygon data for each polygon. At this time, the respective polygons are given priorities in advance, and the sorting processing unit 722 outputs the data of the respective polygons in accordance with the priorities. The polygon data of each polygon output at this time includes perspective transformation vertex coordinates of each polygon and vertex texture coordinates corresponding to each vertex.

At this time, the perspective transformation vertex coordinates VX ^* , VY ^{* of} each polygon output from the sorting processing section 722 ^.
Is input to the main processor 32, where flow 11
The calculation according to 00 is executed. That is, the left and right contour points are calculated, the perspective transformation display coordinates X ^* , Y ^* of each dot on the scanning line surrounded by the left and right contour points are calculated, and the calculation is performed until all the dots forming the polygon are finished. The calculation is repeated. Then, the perspective transformation display coordinates X ^* , Y ^* of each dot calculated in this way are output as a write address to the field buffer 40. Then, the polygon identification number PN is written as one of the data in the field buffer unit 40 designated by this write address.

Further, in parallel with the operation shown in the flow 1100, the coprocessor 34 causes the flows 1200, 1
The operation shown at 300 is performed.

That is, the vertex texture coordinates VTX corresponding to each vertex of the polygon from the sorting processing unit 722.
, VTY, perspective transformation vertex coordinates VZ ^*, and brightness information described later.

Then, in the coprocessor 34, the flow 1
In accordance with 200, perspective transformation vertex texture coordinates VTX ^* , VTY ^* are obtained from the vertex texture coordinates VTX, VTY. Next, this perspective transformation vertex texture coordinate VT
The left and right contour points are calculated from X ^* , VTY ^*, and the perspective transformation texture coordinates TX ^* , TY ^* for each dot on the scanning line sandwiched between these left and right contour points are calculated, and all the dots that form the polygon are calculated. The above calculation is repeated until the calculation is completed.

In parallel with the above operation, the coprocessor 34 performs the operation of flow 1300, and the operation of the polygon perspective conversion display coordinates Z ^* is performed for each corresponding dot.

Then, in step 34 of the flow 1200, the perspective transformation texture coordinate T obtained for each dot is calculated.
X ^* and TY ^* are inverse perspective transformed using perspective transformation display coordinates Z ^* and output as texture coordinates TX and TY. The texture coordinates TX and TY thus output are written in the write address position of the field buffer unit 40 output in step 23 of the flow 1100.

In this way, the field buffer unit 4
At 0, at the address position specified in the flow 1100, that is, the address position of each dot forming the polygon,
The texture coordinates TX and TY and the polygon identification number PN corresponding to the address are written.

In parallel with such a write operation, the attribute RA
Attribute data of each polygon output from the sorting processing unit 722 is sequentially stored in the M unit 38.

The series of operations as described above is repeated every time polygon data of each polygon is output from the sorting processing section 722, and the data is repeatedly written to the field buffer 40 and the attribute RAM 38.

When the writing of the data for one screen is completed in this way, the reading of the data from the field buffer section 40 and the attribute RAM section 38 is started next. However, in the first embodiment, the storage space of the image information in the field buffer unit 40 and the attribute RAM unit 38 is configured to store two screens. Therefore, in reality, this writing and reading are performed at the same time, which improves the efficiency of the calculation processing time.

First, from the field buffer section 40,
For example, in synchronization with the horizontal scanning of the display, the texture coordinates TX and TY written for each dot are output to the texture information storage unit 42 as read addresses. Along with this, the polygon identification number PN is output as a read address to the attribute RAM section 38.

As a result, the texture information storage section 42 outputs the color code designated at the address, and the attribute RAM section 38 outputs the attribute data corresponding to the polygon identification number PN. As a result, these data are output to the game machine body 800. The attribute data does not necessarily have to be specified on the game cartridge 1 side as described above.

FIG. 7 shows a flow 1100, 1200 and 130 of the flow chart of FIG.
The arithmetic processing executed at 0 is shown visually.

In FIG. 7A, the texture coordinates VTa, VTa, for vertices A, B, C, D of the polyhedron 48, for example,
VTb, VTc, and VTd are associated with each other. The vertex texture coordinates VTa to VTd designate addresses of texture information to be attached to the polygon formed by the vertices A to D. That is, specifically, the texture coordinates specify an address for reading the texture information stored in the texture information storage unit 42.

In FIGS. 7B and 7F, the vertex coordinates A to D and the vertex texture coordinates VTa to VTd are converted into perspective transformation vertex coordinates A ^{* to} D ^* and perspective transformation vertex texture coordinates VTa ^{* to} VTd ^* . Perspective-transformed. This gives X
Not only the Y coordinate system but also the Tx and TY coordinate systems are perspective-transformed, and the linearity between the coordinate systems is maintained.

In this embodiment, the perspective transformation of the vertex coordinates is performed by the perspective transformation unit 720, and the perspective transformation of the vertex texture coordinates and the vertex luminance information is performed by the coprocessor unit 34. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the perspective conversion unit 720 may perform the perspective conversion of vertex texture coordinates and vertex luminance information, for example.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 7C and 7G,
The contour points of the polygon formed by the perspective transformation vertex coordinates A ^{* to} D ^* and the perspective transformation vertex texture coordinates VTa ^{* to} VTd ^* are linearly interpolated. That is, FIG. 7 (d),
The linear interpolation calculation of the left and right contour point coordinates L ^* , R ^* and the left and right contour point texture coordinates Tl ^* , Tr ^* in (h) is performed.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 7D and 7H,
The coordinates of each dot on the scanning line connecting these left and right contour points are linearly interpolated by the left and right contour point coordinates L ^* , R ^* and the left and right contour point texture coordinates Tl ^* , Tr ^* .

The above-mentioned arithmetic processing of FIGS. 7C, 7G, 7D, and 7H is sequentially repeated, and finally, as shown in FIGS. 7E and 7I, Linear interpolation calculation is performed on the perspective transformation display coordinates X ^* , Y ^* and the perspective transformation texture coordinates Tx ^* , TY ^* of all the dots forming the polygon.

Next, as shown in FIG. 7 (j), the perspective transformation texture coordinates TX ^* and TY ^* are converted into texture coordinates TX ^.
, TY by inverse perspective transformation, and the texture coordinates TX, TY
Is used to read the color code from the texture information storage unit 42.

As described above, the read color code is made to correspond to the perspective conversion display coordinates X ^* , Y ^* . As a result, as shown in FIG. 7K, the images are combined on the screen, and the texture mapping that does not impair the perspective and the linearity can be performed.

Although the calculation method of the perspective transformation display coordinates Z * coordinates and the brightness information BRI is not shown in FIG. 7, the calculation of both is almost the same as the calculation method of TX and TY in FIG. The calculation method is used. As described above, by performing the interpolation calculation of the brightness information by the same method as TX and TY, as described above, the relationship between these coordinate systems can be kept linear, and a more realistic image can be obtained. It becomes possible to synthesize.

In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the texture coordinates TX and TY are written in the field buffer section 40 instead of the texture information, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the texture information storage unit 42 may be provided between the coprocessor 34 and the field buffer unit 40, and the color information output from the texture information storage unit 42, such as a color code, may be directly written in the field buffer unit 40. . Even in this case, good image composition can be performed in the same manner as the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. 2. Specific Example Next, the image forming section 740 and the second
The specific configuration and operation of the storage unit 790 will be described. Although the polygons are limited to quadrangles for the sake of hardware simplification, any polygonal shape can be used. (1) Processor Unit First, the processor unit 30 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in the figure, the processor unit 30 includes a main processor 32 and a coprocessor 34. Here, the main processor 32 includes a control circuit 70 and a divider 72, and mainly performs the calculation of the perspective transformation display coordinates X ^* , Y ^* and controls the entire processor unit 30. Also,
The coprocessor 34 uses the product-sum calculators 74, 76, 78, 8
0 and dividers 82, 84 and 86, and mainly calculates perspective transformation display coordinates Z ^* , read texture coordinates TX and TY, and brightness information BRI according to an instruction from the control circuit 70.

Details of the arithmetic processing in the processor section 30 will be described below with reference to FIGS. Here, the flow of each calculation process is shown in FIG. 10, the calculation process for the contour and the contour point is shown in FIG. 11, and the calculation process for the scanning line and each dot is shown in FIG. It

Since the arithmetic processing for the brightness information BRI is almost the same as the arithmetic processing for the texture coordinates TX and TY, it is omitted in FIGS. Calculation of Vertices (FIG. 10) First, polygon data is input to the control circuit 70 from the sorting processing unit 722 according to the priority order. The control circuit 70 controls the perspective transformation vertex coordinates VX of the polygon data.
Only ^* and VY ^* are read, and an instruction to read other data is given to the coprocessor 34 and the attribute RAM unit 38. That is, the vertex texture coordinate VT
X, VTY, vertex brightness information VBRI, and perspective transformation vertex coordinates Z ^* are read by the coprocessor 34, and attribute data such as the palette number PAL and the color Z value CZ are read by the attribute RAM unit 38 and stored in the internal storage means. Remembered.

In the control circuit 70, from the read perspective transformation vertex coordinates VX ^* , VY ^* , the coordinates at the top on the screen (the coordinates of the point A ^* in FIG. 11A) are based on the Y coordinate. Detected and stored in internal register.

In addition, in the product-sum calculators 76, 78, 80,
The vertex texture coordinates VTX, VTY, and VBRI are perspective-transformed and stored in an internal register. In this case, this perspective transformation is calculated as follows by multiplying the perspective transformation vertex coordinates VZ ^* (= h / VZ) as shown in FIG.

VTX ^* = VTX * VZ ^* VTY ^* = VTY * VZ ^* VBRI ^* = VBRI * VZ ^* Then, when a space is created in the internal register, the next polygon data is immediately input from the sorting processing unit 722, and the vertex The operation of is repeated. This way the first book
In this embodiment, the data before and after the operation is temporarily stored in the internal register, which enables the pipeline operation.

Unlike the perspective transformation for the X and Y coordinates, the perspective transformation of the Z coordinate does not multiply the Z coordinate by the (h / Z) factor, but the perspective transformation of the (h / Z) factor itself. This is obtained as the coordinate value later. This is because the linear relationship between the X, Y, and Z coordinates after perspective projection conversion can be maintained even with such calculation. Calculation of Contour Line (FIG. 10) In the control circuit 70, first, the difference between the two coordinate values is obtained with the vertex A ^* as the start point and the vertex B ^* as the end point. That is, the following calculation is performed as shown in FIG.

.DELTA.X ^* = Xb ^* -Xa ^* .DELTA.Y ^* = Yb ^* -Ya ^{* The} control circuit 70 performs the above-mentioned calculation and, at the same time, sends the sum-of-products calculators 74 to 80 to FIGS. As shown in, an instruction is given to perform the following arithmetic processing.

ΔZ ^* = Zb ^* -Za ^* ΔTX ^* = TXb ^* -TXa ^* ΔTY ^* = TYb ^* -TYa ^* ΔBRI ^* = BRIb ^* -BRia ^{* When the} above operations are completed, the control circuit 70 and the product-sum operator 7
In 4 to 80, the start point and the end point are updated, and the sides B ^* C ^* , C
The same calculation processing as described above is performed on ^* D ^* and D ^* A ^* , and the calculation of all contour lines is completed.

All the above calculation results are stored in the internal register and will be used for the calculation of the contour points described below. Calculation of Contour Point (FIG. 10) First, the first side A ^* B ^* of the left contour is selected, and the left contour point P
m ^* (Xm ^* , Ym ^* , Zm ^* ), Tm ^* (TXm ^* , TY)
m ^* ) and BRIm ^* are calculated. The calculation of the left contour point is performed on the basis of Ym ^* . That is, the coordinate value of Ym ^* is sequentially changed from Ya ^* , and the other coordinate values are obtained by linear interpolation.

First, in the control circuit 70 and the divider 72,
The coefficient M of the left contour point is calculated as follows.

M = (Ym ^* -Ya ^* ) / ΔY ^* This coefficient M is a triangle A ^* B ^* O in FIG. 11 (b).
^* A are those striking similarity ratio of triangles A ^* P ^* Q ^*, it is computed based on the Y coordinate. Also, this coefficient M is
It is output from the control circuit 70 to the product-sum calculators 74 to 80.

Next, the X coordinate Xm ^* of the left contour point is calculated by the coefficient M as follows using the similarity relationship of the triangle in FIG. 11 (b).

Xm ^* = Xa ^* + M × ΔX ^{* The} sum of products calculators 74 to 80 which have received the coefficient M have Z coordinate Zm ^* , texture coordinate TXm ^* corresponding to the left contour point,
TYm ^* and luminance information BRIm ^* are calculated by the coefficient M as shown in FIG.
It is calculated as follows using the similarity relation of the triangles in 1 (b) and (c).

Zm ^* = Za ^* + M × ΔZ ^* TXm ^* = TXa ^* + M × ΔTX ^* TYm ^* = TYa ^* + M × ΔTY ^* BRIm ^* = BRIA ^* + M × ΔBRI ^{* The} above calculation is based on Ym ^*. Because it is done, Ym
^{For *} , the above calculation is not performed and the coordinates of the left contour point are used as they are.

When the calculation of the left contour point is completed, the calculation of the right contour point is then performed by the same method as above.

The above calculation results are stored in the internal register as the data of the pair of left and right contour points. If the internal register has a vacancy, the next contour point pair is calculated. That is, Y ^* is increased by the scanning line interval and the above calculation is repeated.

If Y ^* coincides with the coordinate of Y ^* (= Yb ^* ) at the end point, the side A ^* B ^* of interest is, for example, side B ^* C ^*.
And the process is continued. However, if ΔY ^* = 0, the edge is immediately re-updated.

If the left and right sides of interest touch each other, that point becomes the lowermost edge (C ^* ) of the polygon. Then, when the left and right contour points reach the bottom end, the processing of one polygon is completed. Scan Line Calculation (FIG. 10) Next, the difference between the scan lines, that is, the left and right contour points, is obtained from the left and right contour points obtained as described above.

Here, in order to simplify the explanation, the perspective transformation display coordinates of the left contour point are set to L ^* (Xl ^* , Yl ^* , Zl ⁾ .
^* ), And the perspective transformation texture coordinates and perspective transformation luminance information corresponding to the left contour point are Tl ^* (TXl ^* , TYl ^* ) and BRIl ^* . Further, the perspective transformation display coordinates of the right contour point are set to R ^* (Xr ^* , Yr ^* , Zr ^* ), and the perspective transformation texture coordinates and perspective transformation luminance information corresponding to the right contour point are set to Tr ^* (TXr ^* , TYr ^* ). And BRIr ^* .

In the control circuit 70, the following calculation is performed as shown in FIG.

The ΔX ^* = Xr ^* -Xl ^* control circuit 70 performs the above-mentioned calculation and, at the same time, performs the following calculation on the product-sum calculators 74 to 80 as shown in FIGS. Instruct to perform processing.

ΔZ ^* = Zr ^* -Zl ^* ΔTX ^* = TXr ^* -TXl ^* ΔTY ^* = TYr ^* -TYl ^* ΔBRI ^* = BRIr ^* -BRIl ^* Dot calculation (FIG. 10) Finally, each dot on the scanning line Of Pn ^* (Xn ^* , Yn ^* , Zn ^* ), the perspective conversion texture coordinates Tn ^* (TXn ^* , TYn ^* ), and the perspective conversion luminance information BRIn ^* are calculated. The calculation of each dot on this scanning line is performed with reference to Xn ^* . That is, Xn ^*
The coordinate value of is sequentially changed from Xl ^* , and the other coordinate values are obtained by linear interpolation.

First, in the control circuit 70 and the divider 72,
The coefficient N is calculated as follows.

N = (Xn ^* -Xl ^* ) / ΔX ^* This coefficient N corresponds to the line segment ratio between the line segment L ^* R ^* and the line segment L ^* Pn ^* in FIG. It is calculated based on the coordinates. The coefficient N is determined by the control circuit 70.
It is output to the product-sum calculators 74-80.

Received the coefficient N, the product-sum calculators 74 to 8
At 0, the Z coordinate Zn ^* of each dot on the scanning line, the texture coordinates TXn ^* , TYn ^* corresponding to each dot on the scanning line, and the brightness information BRIn ^* are calculated by the coefficient N as shown in FIG.
It is calculated as follows using the line segment ratio in (b).

Zn ^* = Zl ^* + N × ΔZ ^* TXn ^* = TXl ^* + N × ΔTX ^* TYn ^* = TYl ^* + N × ΔTY ^* BRIn ^* = BRIL ^* + N × ΔBRI ^* Then, the value of Xn ^* increases, The above calculation is repeated. Then, finally, the processing is continued until the calculation is completed for all the dots between the left and right contour points on the scanning line.

[0162] The above operation is for performed based on the Xn ^*, In addition, since the Yn ^* is constant at scanning line, Xn ^*, for Yn ^* is not performed the operation, Xn ^*, Yn ^* Indicates the display coordinates of each dot on the scanning line as it is. Inverse perspective transformation (FIG. 10) The inverse perspective transformation of texture coordinates and luminance information is performed by the divider 8
2, 84, 86. This inverse perspective transformation is
Using Z n ^* obtained in step 1, the following calculation is performed.

TXn = TXn ^* / Zn ^* TYn = TYn ^* / Zn ^* BRIn = BRIn ^* / Zn ^{* As described} above, the operations (1) to (4) are performed by pipeline processing. Then, when all the polygon data from the sorting processing unit 722 is input and all the processes of to are completed, the processing for one screen of the processor unit 30 is completed.

The interpolation calculation performed in and is DD
It is also possible to use the method according to A. For example, in the calculation of Zn ^{* in} the example, the difference dZ ^* = ΔZ ^* / ΔX ^* is obtained with Z0 ^* = Zl ^* as an initial value, and the addition of Zn + 1 ^* = Zn ^* + dZ ^* is repeated. This is a method of performing interpolation calculation.

The display coordinates Xn ^* , Yn ^* of each dot calculated as described above are output to the field buffer section 40, and the video R stored in the field buffer section 40 is output.
It is used as an AM address.

Further, the texture coordinates Tx, TY and the brightness information BRI are also output to the field buffer section 40 and written and stored in the above-mentioned address position on the video RAM.

If necessary, Zn ^* is also Zn = h
Inverse perspective conversion is possible with / Zn ^* . This, Zn,
Zn ^* can be used for composition with other images such as a character display, or can be used as an application to a Z buffer algorithm.

By the way, in the present embodiment, since the dot calculation in the above is performed by using the end flag storage means, it is possible to further increase the speed. The end flag storage means will be described below. Note that, here, it is a premise for enabling this speedup that the polygons are processed in order from the one before the screen.

The end flag storage means is constituted by using a RAM, that is, a paint RAM 36 in this embodiment. FIG. 25 shows a block diagram of a paint RAM circuit composed of the paint RAM 36 and peripheral circuits included in the control circuit 70.

The paint RAM 36 is constructed so as to be able to store, for example, two screens of "end flag". Here, the end flag is a flag for displaying whether or not the calculation processing of the dot of interest is completed,
Paint RAM3 so that 1 bit corresponds to 1 dot
6 is stored. This end flag is cleared to 0 for one screen at the beginning of the processing for one screen. And
When the arithmetic processing is completed, the value is set to 1, which indicates that the arithmetic processing of the dot of interest has been completed.

The paint RAM 36 has a data bus of a plurality of bits, for example 16 bits, and can simultaneously access data of 16 bits, for example. And
When calculating dots, the paint RAM 36 is always used.
Is referred to. Therefore, this will set the end flag to 16
It is possible to refer to each dot. Then, for a dot whose end flag is 1, that dot is not calculated, and the dot is skipped at high speed, that is, for a maximum of 16 dots. Therefore, when the dots on the polygon to be calculated are hidden behind other polygons, for example, about 16 times faster processing can be expected compared to the case where the calculation is performed by simply incrementing the X coordinate.

In this embodiment, the paint RAM
36 has a two-screen configuration so that access to the paint RAM 36 accompanying dot calculation and clearing for one screen can be performed in parallel.

An outline of the structure and operation of the paint RAM circuit shown in FIG. 25 will be described below.

First, in the paint RAM circuit, the X ^* coordinate of the left contour point and the X ^* of the right contour point generated by the calculation of the contour point ^.
The coordinates are entered. Here, it is assumed that each coordinate is composed of 10-bit data. X ^* coordinate of this right contour point, register for the right outline point X ^* coordinate 25
Stored in 0. Further, of the left contour point X ^* coordinates, the lower 4 bits are stored in the left contour point X ^* coordinate lower register 252, and the upper 6 bits are an initial value for counting by the X ^* coordinate upper counter 254. Becomes The output of the counter 254 is the address A0 of the paint RAM 36 together with the contour point Y ^* coordinate and the bank switching signal.
Is input to A14 and the address of the paint RAM 36 is designated. That is, the counter 254 counts up the address every 4 bits, that is, every 16 dots. As a result, the paint RAM 36
From this, data, that is, the end flag group corresponding to 16 dots of interest is read out every 16 dots and stored in the read register 264 via the bidirectional buffer 262.

On the other hand, the mask pattern generation circuit 256
Of the 16 dots of interest, those inside the left and right contour points are set to 1, and those outside are set to 0, and a mask pattern is generated for every 16 dots. Then, the write OR gate 258 takes the logical sum of the data stored in the read register 264 and this mask pattern. As a result, "empty dots", that is, write data in which the end flag of the dot to be newly processed is updated to 1 is generated. The write data is stored in the write register 260 and then written back to the paint RAM 36 via the bidirectional buffer 262. As a result, of the end flag data stored in the paint RAM 36, the 16-dot data of interest is updated.

On the other hand, this mask pattern is used in the inverting circuit 2
The data is inverted at 66 and is ORed with the data stored in the read register 264 at the read OR gate 270. As a result, the dots outside the left and right contour points are 1
Therefore, data in which only empty dots are 0 is generated. Here, suppose this is "empty dot data".
Will be called. This empty dot data is input to the empty dot detection loop 282.

In the empty dot detection loop 282, the multiplexer 292 uses the fill register 274.
Only when initializing, import the empty dot data,
At other times, it is configured to capture the data from the feedback loop. As a result, a self loop is formed. The empty dot data stored in the filling register 274 is stored in the priority encoder 27.
6 is input. This priority encoder 276
Detects the dot with the smallest X ^* coordinate value among the empty dots and outputs it as 4-bit data.
Then, the X ^* coordinate of the empty dot, that is, the X ^* coordinate of the dot to be subjected to the arithmetic processing is formed by adding 6-bit data from the X ^* coordinate upper counter 254 to the upper part of this 4-bit data. Becomes

The output of the priority encoder 276 is input to the decoder 280, and in this decoder 280, "data in which only the dot of interest is 1" is generated. This data and the register 274 for filling
Is ORed with the output of the OR gate 278,
“Of the empty dot data, only the dot of interest is updated to 1” is generated. This update data is
Fill register 27 via multiplexer 272
It is written back to 4. The series of operations in the empty dot detection loop 282 is continued until the content of the fill register 274 becomes all 1s.

When the operation in the empty dot detection loop 282 is completed, the counter 254 counts up,
The next 16-dot data is read from the paint RAM, and the above processing is repeated.

Then, it is detected whether or not the right contour point is included in the 16-dot data, and if it is included, the X ^* coordinate of the new left and right contour points is input from the next processing. The process is repeated. (2) Field Buffer Unit The field buffer unit 40 incorporated in the second storage unit 790 is, as shown in FIG.
2, 104, 106 and field buffer controllers 90, 9 for controlling these video RAMs
2, 94, 96 are included.

Data corresponding to each dot on a display screen of a display device such as a television is stored in the field buffer space constituted by the video RAMs 100 to 106 in a one-to-one correspondence. In the first embodiment, the data stored in this field buffer space are the texture coordinates TX, TY calculated by the coprocessor 34, the brightness information BRI and the polygon identification number PN, and the address to be written is the main processor. It is determined by the display coordinates X ^* and Y ^* calculated in 32.

The video RAM is a multiport RA.
It has an M configuration and is divided into a random port (RAM) and a serial port (SAM). In this embodiment,
Writing of data to the field buffer space is performed by random access, and reading is performed serially in synchronization with the dot clock. The field buffer space is divided into two banks, a writing bank and a reading bank, and is divided into 1 field (1/60
The bank is switched every second).

FIG. 13 shows the field buffer unit 4
0 shows the peripheral circuits and the details of the connection with the peripheral circuits, and FIG. 14 shows an example of the internal circuits of the field buffer controllers 90 to 96 that form the field buffer unit 40. Further, FIG. 15 shows a data write sequence for the field buffer unit 40.

The following signals are input to the field buffer unit 40 as shown in FIG. That is, from the control circuit 70, the perspective conversion display coordinates X ^* , Y ^* are set as the addresses AI0-9, and XPFIR, XVW, XHW.
Is input as a control signal of the field buffer controllers 90 to 96. Also, from the dividers 82-86,
The texture coordinates TX, TY and BRI are input as the respective input data DI0-11 of the field buffer controllers 92-96. In addition, the program signal of the program register, the clock, the synchronizing signal, and the like are input to the field buffer unit 40.

Further, as shown in FIG. 13, the following signals are output from the field buffer section 40. That is, the XWAIT signal for instructing prohibition of data writing is output to the processor unit 30 including the control circuit 70 and the like. Further, the texture information storage unit 42 outputs the texture coordinates TX and TY which are read data. Further, the attribute RAM unit 38 has
The polygon identification number PN is output.

Field buffer controllers 90-9
The internal circuit of 6 has the configuration shown in FIG.

Here, the field buffer controller in the first embodiment has three modes of the master mode, the slave mode, and the extension mode. In the first embodiment, the field handling the polygon identification number PN is used. The buffer controller 90 is in the master mode, the field buffer controllers 92 to 94 which handle texture coordinates TX and TY are in the slave mode,
The field buffer controller 96 that handles the brightness information BRI is used as the extended mode. As a result, the field buffer controllers 92 to 96 used in the slave / expansion mode are controlled in synchronization under the control of the field buffer controller 90 used in the master mode, and a large field buffer space is used for fields of the same circuit configuration. Buffer controller 90-
96 allows simultaneous control. In this case, as shown in FIG. 14, the master, the slave, and the extension are switched using the selector 11 by using the XMASTER signal.
6 is performed. That is, in master mode, PN
Polygon identification number PN generated by counter 118
Is selected by the selector 116, and data Que
It is input to ue124. On the contrary, in the slave / extended mode, DI0 to 11 are selected and the data Queue is selected.
It is input to e124.

Field buffer controllers 90-9
The clock signal and the external synchronization signal input to 6 are input to the internal clock & synchronization signal generation circuit 134, in which the internal clock and a group of synchronization signals are generated and used as control signals in the field buffer controllers 90 to 96. Used. In addition, the program signal is input to the programmable register 132, so that
The internal parameter group in the controller is determined.

Address signals AI0-9, input data DI
0 to 11 and the control signals XPFIR, XVW, and XHW are temporarily latched by the latches 110, 112, and 114.

XPFIR is used to count up the PN counter 118.
With the count-up value of 8, the polygon identification number PN
Is determined. That is, XPFIR is, as shown in FIG. 15, XPFIR = every time processing of a new polygon is started.
The control circuit 70 of the main processor 32 so that it becomes L.
Output, and when XPFIR = L, PN counter 1
18 counts up. When the processing of all polygons in one field is completed, the PN counter 11
8 is reset. As a result, the polygon identification number PN is set for each polygon, such as 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, ...

As described above, in the first embodiment, the polygon identification number PN can be generated internally, that is, in the field buffer controller 90 without inputting the polygon identification number PN from the outside. By using this polygon identification number PN, it becomes possible to separately process data common to each dot forming the polygon and non-common data among the data for displaying the polygon on the image. It is possible to significantly reduce the burden of.

Address signals AI0-9, input data DI
0 to 11 are coordinates Queue12 of the 8-stage FIFO 120
2 and data Queue 124, and then stored in the video RAM. In this case, the address signal A
Whether the I0 to 9 are recognized as the X address or the Y address is selected by the control signals XVW and XHW input to the Queue controller 126.
That is, as shown in FIG. 15, when XVW = L and XHW = H, AI0-9 are recognized as Y addresses, and XV
When W = H and XHW = L, AI0-9 are recognized as X addresses. Furthermore, XVW and XHW also serve as identification signals as to whether the input data DI0 to DI11 are valid data.

The sequencer 130 includes an 8-stage FIFO 120.
The data stored in the monitor is monitored, so that the XWAIT signal can be sent to the outside and the 8-stage FIFO1
A read control signal is output to 20 to control data. A sequence signal for controlling the video RAM is also generated by this sequencer 130.

The X and Y data stored in the 8-stage FIFO 120 is sent to the RAM address generation circuit 136, where Tx, TY,
The BRI data is output to the register 138 via the delay circuit 128, respectively. And register 13
The data stored in 8 is stored in the RAM address generation circuit 13
According to the RAM address generated from 6, the data is written in the video RAM.

Further, the sequence signal from the sequencer 130 is also output to the RAM control signal generation circuit 140 and the SAM control circuit 142 via the delay circuit 128, and the control signal and the read operation of the RAM, which is a write port, are performed in each circuit. A control signal for the SAM, which is the port for use, is generated.

The terminal 146 is a bidirectional data bus whose input and output can be switched. And the serial port S
When the AM is initialized, the output terminal is switched to SA
The clear code generated by the M clear code generation circuit 144 is output, and the memory is initialized. Also, S
When reading data from the AM, the data is stored in the SAM after being switched to the input terminal. The input data will be output from the field buffer controllers 90 to 96 as serial outputs D0 to D11. That is, the field buffer controller 9
The polygon identification number PN, which is an output of 0, is sent to the attribute RAM unit 38 by the field buffer controller 9
The texture information TX and TY which are the outputs of 2, 94 are respectively output to the texture information storage unit 42.

In the second embodiment described later,
An interpolation circuit is inserted between the terminal 146 and the serial data outputs of DO0 to 11, and the output data is interpolated.

FIG. 15 shows a data write sequence for the field buffer section 40. Figure 15
As shown in, the image data is written for each polygon every time XPFIR = L. Further, the addresses AI0 to 9 are controlled by using the XVW signal and the XHW signal so that the data of one polygon is written line by line. (3) Attribute RAM Unit The attribute RAM unit 38 has an attribute RAM unit 152 and an attribute data control unit 150, as shown in FIG.

Attribute data such as the palette number PAL and the color Z value CZ input from the sorting processing unit 722 is input to the attribute data control unit 150, and stored in the attribute RAM 152 by the attribute data control unit 150. Then, the reading from the attribute RAM 152 is performed by the polygon identification number P input from the field buffer unit 40.
It is performed according to N and is output as data for each polygon.

The block number BN for designating the block of the storage space in the texture information storage unit 42 is also
It is generated from the attribute control circuit 150 and output to the texture storage unit 42.

In addition, these attribute data are
When the game machine main body 800 is configured to specify, the attribute RAM unit 152 becomes unnecessary. (4) Texture Information Storage Unit The texture information storage unit 42 built in the second storage unit 790, as shown in FIG.
60 and a character generator 164. In the texture information storage unit 42, the field buffer unit 4
For example, a color code for displaying an actual screen with the texture coordinates Tx and TY from 0 is stored,
It has a two-stage structure to compensate for the speed of the storage unit.
A mask ROM, an EEPROM, an SRAM, a DRAM, or the like can be used as a component of these storage units. In particular, by using a RAM and rewriting the contents stored in this RAM, for example, every one field (1/60 second), it is possible to obtain a unique image effect such as feeding back an image of itself and monitoring it with a texture. It will be possible.

FIG. 16 shows the texture information storage unit 4
An example of a texture storage plane constituted by 2 is shown.

This texture storage plane is, for example, as shown in FIG.
The hierarchical structure as shown in FIG. 4 allows a wide texture storage plane to be represented by a storage unit having a small capacity. That is, the texture storage plane is, for example, 1
It is divided into 6 blocks, and each block is 256 × 25.
It is divided into 6 characters. Then, this character is divided into 16 × 16 dots, and a pattern for forming a texture storage plane is stored in each character. Then, this texture is used to fill the entire texture memory plane.

As shown in FIG. 16, the texturing to the polygon is performed by designating the vertex coordinates of the texture to be attached to the polygon. However, it is not possible to specify polygons that span blocks.

FIG. 17 shows an example of the data flow in the texture information storage section 42.

In the first embodiment, the texture information storage unit 42 stores 12-bit texture X coordinates TX0 to TX11 and 16-bit texture Y coordinates TY0, respectively.
~ TY15 is input as a total of 28-bit data.

Here, the lower bits TX0 to
TX3 and TY0 to TY3 are character generators 164.
Used to specify the address of the character in, the high order bits TY12 to TY15 of the texture Y coordinate are
It is used to specify the block number BN in the texture storage plane. That is, the upper bits TY12 to TY15
Specifies a block in the texture memory plane, and TX4
.About.TX11 and TY4 to TY11 specify the addresses of the characters in the block. As a result, the character codes CC0 to CC12 are read from the character code storage section 160. On the other hand, the lower bits TX0 to T
X3 and TY0 to TY3 bypass the character storage unit 160, are combined with the character codes CC0 to CC12, and are input to the character generator 164. Then, the final output of, for example, an 8-bit color code is output from the character generator 164 to the game machine body 800. (5) Final Output FIG. 18 shows a signal flow after the data is written in the field buffer unit 40 and the attribute RAM unit 38 and before the pseudo three-dimensional image configuration data is output to the game machine body 800.

That is, the final pseudo three-dimensional image constituent data is output according to the following signal flow. Data (PN, TX, TY, BRI) for each dot is output from the field buffer unit 40. The attribute data RAM unit 38 outputs the polygon attribute data (BN, PAL, CZ) corresponding to the polygon identification number PN.

[0209] Here, the pallet number PAL is
It is a number for specifying the palette table. The color Z value CZ is used to cope with a color change due to a depth change. TX, TY, and BN are input to the texture information storage unit 42, and the corresponding color data COL is output. In this case, TX and TY are set to the delay circuit 1 in order to match the timing with the BN passing through the attribute RAM section 38.
It is input to the texture information storage unit 42 via 68. COL, PAL, BRI, and CZ are delay circuits 17
The timing is adjusted by 0, 172, 174,
At the same time, it is output to the game machine body 800.

In this embodiment, the attribute data such as PAL and CZ is also stored in the second storage section 790. However, in the present invention, it is not always necessary to store these attribute data. Absent.
In this case, these data are determined by the game machine body 800 side. C. Second embodiment 1. Outline of Embodiment (1) Outline In the present second embodiment, when the position coordinates X and Y of each dot, the texture coordinates Tx and TY, and the brightness information BRI are calculated, the calculation is performed by thinning out to a predetermined thinning rate. However, this is interpolated when outputting. This makes it possible to reduce the number of calculations for the largest number of data.

Further, in the second embodiment, the data stored in the field buffer is not the color data COL but the texture coordinates TX and TY. Therefore, the thinning / interpolation processing can be performed. That is, since these can be regarded as linear in a minute section, interpolation processing can be performed by simple linear interpolation such as obtaining an average value, and the burden on hardware can be significantly reduced. (2) Outline of Configuration and Operation FIG. 19 shows a schematic diagram of the second embodiment. Figure 1
As shown in FIG. 9, the second embodiment has almost the same structure as that of the first embodiment. The difference from the first embodiment is that the second embodiment includes thinning calculation means and interpolation calculation means.

The thinning-out calculation means in the second embodiment is included in the processor section 30. Specifically, this is realized by thinning out the calculation when calculating each dot on the scanning line in the processor unit 30. This decimation calculation operation is performed according to the following rules, for example, as shown in FIG.

First, the data is thinned out by, for example, dot by dot in the horizontal direction (X direction) (for example, dots in which X is an even number). However, the thinning processing is not performed in the following cases.

20. Dots on the outline of a polygon Dots on the boundary with another polygon Dots on the left and right points of the screen An image of the data on the field buffer thinned out according to the above rules is shown in FIG. As shown in this figure, the thinning processing is not performed on the dots corresponding to the above items, and the other dots are thinned out every one dot.

Here, the empty dot means a thinned dot and a portion where the polygon is not drawn, that is, a background portion according to the above rule, for example, TX = T.
Y = FFFh is set. In this field buffer, all dots are cleared (all bits are 1) at the start of writing data for one screen, and the above-mentioned value of FFFh is set to all dots.

The interpolation calculation means in the second embodiment is
As shown in FIG. 19, it is realized by connecting interpolation circuits 180, 182, 184 to the output of the field buffer unit 40. Here, the interpolation circuit 180 determines that the brightness information BR
The interpolation circuit 182 interpolates the texture coordinates TX and TY. The interpolation circuit 184 is for interpolating the polygon identification number PN. Specifically, these interpolation circuits 180, 18
The interpolation operation by 2,184 is performed according to the following rules, for example, as shown in FIG. That is, the interpolation process is performed on the following dots.

Empty dot, that is, TX = TY = FFFh
In addition, in the dot interpolation processing in which the right and left adjacent dots have the same polygon identification number, the following interpolation processing is performed on the above-described empty dot.

The polygon identification number PN is set to the same value as the PN on both sides.

The texture coordinates TX, TY and the brightness information BRI are set to the average value of TX, TY and BRI on both sides.

FIG. 21 shows an example in which the interpolation processing is performed according to the above rule. As shown in FIG.
The interpolation process is performed on empty dots surrounded by dots having the same polygon identification number PN. That is, FIG.
In, the interpolation processing is performed on the dots that are empty dots and the polygon identification numbers PN of the left and right dots are both 0. On the other hand, interpolation processing is not performed on dots having different polygon identification numbers PN of the left and right dots even if they are empty dots. This is because such dots are not thinned dots but gaps between polygons.

For dots to be interpolated, the following interpolating process is performed as shown in FIG. First, in the interpolation circuit 184, the same value as the polygon identification number PN of the left and right dots is set as the polygon identification number of the empty dot. That is, in this example, PN = 0 is set.

Further, the interpolation circuit 182 obtains, for example, an average value of the texture coordinates TX and TY of the left and right dots, and sets the values as the texture coordinates TX and TY of the empty dot. In this example, TX = 150, TY = 3
A value of 0 will be set.

Similarly, the interpolation circuit 180 obtains, for example, the average value of the brightness information BRI of the left and right dots, and sets this value as the brightness information BRI of the empty dot.
In this example, the value of BRI = 48 is set. 2. Specific Example Hereinafter, a specific example of the second embodiment will be described. The description of the same parts as those of the first embodiment will be omitted below. (1) Thinning-out calculation means The thinning-out calculation means in the second embodiment is included in the processor unit 30. However, in the second embodiment,
This thinning-out operation means can be included in the processor unit 30 while keeping the configuration of the processor unit 30 substantially the same as the configuration of the processor unit 30 in the first embodiment.

That is, the thinning-out process in the second embodiment is performed when the calculation of each dot on the scanning line in FIG. 10 is performed. Then, this is performed by changing the count-up value of the calculation counter used when calculating each dot on the scanning line. For example, when the thinning rate is set to 1/2, this count-up value is set to 2
And Further, when the thinning rate is 1/3, this count-up value may be 3. As a result, the dots on the scanning line are calculated every two dots and every three dots, and the thinning calculation process can be performed. That is,
In the second embodiment, this thinning-out operation means can be realized without changing the hardware configuration.

In the second embodiment, the thinning is performed when the calculation of each dot on the scanning line is performed, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, this thinning-out process may be performed when the contour points in FIG. 10 are calculated.
In this case, the thinning-out rate can be changed by changing the count-up value of the calculation counter used when calculating the contour points. (2) Configuration of Interpolation Computation Means In the outline of the second embodiment shown in FIG. 19, the interpolation circuits 180, 182, 184 constituting the interpolation computation means are
The configuration provided outside the field buffer unit 40 has been described. On the other hand, in the specific example of the second embodiment,
The interpolation circuits 180, 182, 184 are provided inside the field buffer unit 40. Specifically, the interpolation circuits are provided inside the field buffer controllers 90 to 96 in FIG. 9, respectively. Figure 2
Reference numeral 2 shows the internal circuit of the field buffer controllers 90 to 96 in which this interpolation circuit is incorporated. FIG. 22
As shown in FIG. 5, in the present specific example, the interpolation circuits 180, 182, 184 described above are each replaced by an interpolation circuit 190 formed of the same circuit configuration. That is, the interpolation circuit 190 in this example is configured so that the interpolation of the texture coordinates TX, TY, the brightness information BRI, and the polygon identification number PN can all be processed by the same circuit configuration.

The internal circuit of the field buffer controller shown in FIG. 22 is the same as the internal circuit of the field buffer controller in the first embodiment and the interpolation circuit 190.
It is configured by the same circuit except that is added.

From the video RAMs 100 to 106, the terminal 14
The data of DS0 to 11 read out via 6, that is, the texture information TX, TY, the brightness information BRI, and the polygon identification number PN are input to the interpolation circuit 190. And
After a predetermined interpolation process is performed in the interpolation circuit 190, serial data outputs D00 to 11 are output from the field buffer controllers 90 to 96.
At this time, the interpolation circuit 190 is controlled by the interpolation control signal XEQ,
It is carried out by XNULI and XNULL.

FIG. 23 shows an example of the internal circuit of the interpolation circuit 190. In FIG. 23, reference numerals 192 to 2
Reference numeral 14 indicates a device having a data shift function, such as a D-flip flop. Reference numerals 220, 222, and 224 denote inverters, and reference numeral 226,
Reference numeral 228 indicates a logical operation circuit such as NOR. The empty dot determination circuit 230 is a circuit for determining whether or not the texture coordinates TX and TY are empty dots, and the polygon number coincidence determination circuit 232 is a polygon identification number P of the adjacent dots.
It is a circuit that determines whether or not N matches. Further, the average value calculation circuit 234, when performing the linear interpolation processing, has texture coordinates TX and TY of adjacent dots and brightness information BRI.
This is a circuit for obtaining the average value of. In addition, the multiplexer 236 outputs the interpolated data,
This is a circuit for selecting whether to output the original data.

In the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the field buffer controller 90 which handles the polygon identification number PN is set in the master mode and the field buffer controller 92 which handles the texture coordinate TX and TY data. 9 to 94 are used in the slave mode, and the field buffer controller 96 that handles the brightness information BRI is used in the extended mode. In this case, in order to perform the interpolation processing, it is necessary to refer to the values of PN, TX, TY, and BRI of the dots before and after the dot to be interpolated, and the four field buffer controllers 90 to 96 of master, slave, and expansion. It is necessary to communicate data between them. Interpolation control signals XNULL, XNULL, and XEQ play this role, and are connected to the field buffer controllers 90 to 96 at terminals 216, 217, and 218, respectively.

Here, the XEQ terminal 218 is a bidirectional buffer. Then, from the master mode field buffer controller (PN) 90, a signal indicating whether or not the polygon identification numbers PN of adjacent dots are the same is output as an XEQ signal. Further, in the slave / extended mode field buffer controllers 92 to 96, this XEQ signal is input and used for interpolation processing in the interpolation circuit.

The XNULL terminal 216 is also a bidirectional buffer. Then, from the slave mode field buffer controller 92, the value of TX of each dot is X.
It is output as a NULL (X) signal. Also, the TY value of each dot is output as the XNULLB (Y) signal from the field buffer controller 94 in the slave mode. In the master / extended mode field buffer controllers 90 and 96, for example, the X
The NULLB (X) signal is input and used to determine whether or not it is an empty dot. Furthermore, XN
The ULI terminal 217 serves as an input terminal in all the field buffer controllers 90 to 96, and receives the XNUMB (Y) signal, for example.

Whether or not each dot is an empty dot is determined by the XNULL terminal 216 and the XNULL terminal 21.
XNULB (X) signal and XNU input from
It is determined from both LB (Y) signals. That is, XNUL
When the values of the B (X) signal and the XNUKB (Y) signal are both FFFh, it is determined that the dot is an empty dot, and the logic circuits 226 and 228 output the interpolation data selection command to the multiplexer 236. The data interpolated by the average value calculation circuit 234 will be selected and output. (3) Operation of Interpolation Calculation Means FIG. 24 shows a video RAM in the field buffer 40.
It is shown that the data read from is subjected to interpolation processing in the field buffer controller and is output.

As shown in FIG. 24, in the second embodiment, the interpolation processing is performed by the pipeline processing by the following seven phases (# 0 to # 6). # 0 SAM Read Phase At the rising edge of the SAM read clock SC, the corresponding dot data is output from the multiport video RAM. # 1 SAM data fetching phase Data arriving at the terminals DS0-11 are fetched in the field buffer controllers 90-96 in synchronization with SC. # 2 Empty dot determination phase Slave mode field buffer controller 9
2 and 94 are blank codes with TX and TY values, that is, FFF
It is checked whether it is h, and the XNULLB signal is output. # 3 thinning dot determination phase Master mode field buffer controller 90
Compares the polygon identification numbers PN of the dots on both sides, and outputs whether they match or not as an XEQ signal. # 4, # 5 Interpolation processing phase Polygon identification number PN, texture coordinates TX, TY, and brightness information BRI are interpolated by obtaining average values of both sides. However, for dots that do not undergo interpolation processing,
The multiplexer 236 passes the data as it is without performing any processing. # 6 Data output phase Data is output in synchronization with the rising edge of the dot clock DCK. Note that, in FIG. 24, ~ indicates the following. Data is read from the video RAM at the rising edge of SC (phase # 0). Data is taken into the field buffer controllers 90 to 96 (phase # 1). XNULB corresponding to data (C) is output (phase # 2). ) XEQ output corresponding to data (C) is performed (phase # 3) Data subjected to interpolation processing is output Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment,
Various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention.

For example, the linear interpolation calculation according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described one, and the linear interpolation calculation may be performed using DDA, for example.

Further, the storage device constituting the texture information storage means is not limited to the EEPROM, but SRAM,
Various storage devices such as DRAM and mask ROM can be used. Alternatively, it is also possible to replace the texture information with a function generator that stores it in the form of an equation or procedure.

The decimation rate in the decimation calculation means is not limited to 1/2, but may be, for example, 1 / so long as the image quality permits.
Various thinning rates such as 3 and 1/4 can be adopted.
Then, as the thinning-out interpolation means in this case, for example, linear interpolation or the like can be used.

The shape of the texture that is texture-mapped to the polygon according to the present invention is not limited to the same shape or a similar shape to this polygon, and a texture of any shape can be mapped. For example, by mapping a texture having a shape that is completely different from the shape of the polygon, it is possible to obtain a special image effect such as distorting the texture.

In the above embodiment, the "scan line" and the "CRT scan line" in the calculation are not particularly distinguished. However, depending on the hardware restrictions such as the SAM capacity of the video RAM, both of them may be used. It is also conceivable that the scan lines are separate, for example orthogonal.

Further, the connection relationship among the first storage section, the auxiliary arithmetic processing section, the second storage section, and the game machine main body in the present invention is not limited to the connection relationship of the above-described embodiment, but various connection relationships may be used. You can For example, a bus line for connection with the first storage unit and the second storage unit may be shared by the auxiliary processing calculation unit and the game machine body. With such a configuration, by changing the control right of the bus line between the auxiliary processing calculation unit and the game machine main body,
The storage unit and the second storage unit can be shared, processing can be shared, and processing efficiency can be significantly improved.

Further, the method of making the game space three-dimensional by the auxiliary arithmetic processing unit in the present invention is not limited to the method of forming a complete virtual three-dimensional space, and for example, a virtual image in a limited direction (for example, only forward) It includes all of the method of forming a three-dimensional space and the method of three-dimensionalizing only polygons.

Further, in the present invention, it is not necessary for all of the various image processings and program data changing processings performed by the auxiliary arithmetic processing unit to be performed by the auxiliary arithmetic processing unit, and a part of them may be performed by the central processing unit. include.

Further, the configurations of the image supply unit and the image forming unit according to the present invention are not limited to the configurations of the above-described embodiments, and various modifications such as a change in the order of processing are possible.

The first storage section and the second storage section in the present invention
The storage unit does not necessarily have to be built in the game cartridge, and a part or all of the storage unit may be an external device type. For example, a part or all of the first storage unit may be a CDROM device which is an external storage device.

The structure of the game machine main body to which the game cartridge according to the present invention is connected is not limited to the structure of the above embodiment.

Furthermore, the game cartridge according to the present invention may be of any shape as long as it is connected to at least the main body of the game machine and can perform a predetermined image synthesizing process. For example, a so-called memory card is also included in the game cartridge of the present invention.

[0246]

According to the game cartridge of the present invention, the delicate and high-quality image synthesis using the texture mapping method, which cannot be performed by the conventional video game machine, can be performed by the delicate texture mapping method. With this, high-quality image composition can be performed without changing the configuration of the game console body.

In this case, if the second texture information calculating means is provided in place of the first texture information calculating means, the hardware burden on texture mapping for polygons that does not impair perspective and linearity is increased. Can be realized without.

Further, thinning-out which can reduce the burden on the hardware
The interpolation method can be realized without degrading the image quality so much.

Further, according to the game cartridge of the present invention, the conventional home video game machine cannot be used.
It is possible to perform image composition in which the continuity of the brightness information is guaranteed without changing the configuration of the game machine body.

In this case, if the second brightness information calculating means is provided instead of the first brightness information calculating means, the brightness information is calculated without damaging the image reality even when the three-dimensional object is rotated. Can be realized without increasing the burden of hardware.

Further, the method of thinning / interpolating the luminance information calculation which can reduce the load on the hardware can be realized without deteriorating the image quality so much.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a preferred example of a game cartridge according to the present invention and a game device using the same.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an image forming unit and a second storage unit.

FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing a perspective problem in texture mapping.

FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing a problem of linearity in texture mapping.

FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory diagram for explaining a method of three-dimensional arithmetic processing.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a data format handled by this embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing an outline of image processing calculation of the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an outline of image processing calculation of this embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a specific example of the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing details of image processing calculation according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a schematic explanatory diagram for explaining a calculation process of a contour line and a contour point.

FIG. 12 is a schematic explanatory diagram for explaining a scanning line and a calculation process of each dot on the scanning line.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a peripheral circuit of the field buffer unit and a connection with the peripheral circuit.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing an internal circuit of a field buffer controller.

FIG. 15 is a timing chart showing a write sequence for the field buffer section.

FIG. 16 is a schematic explanatory diagram for explaining a structure of a texture storage plane.

FIG. 17 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing a data flow in a texture information storage unit.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram for explaining a data flow after writing data in the field buffer unit and before outputting an image.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing an outline of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a schematic explanatory diagram illustrating an example of thinned data on a field buffer.

FIG. 21 is a schematic explanatory diagram illustrating an example of an interpolation processing method.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing an internal circuit of a field buffer controller including an interpolation circuit.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing an internal circuit of an interpolation circuit.

FIG. 24 is a timing chart diagram for explaining the operation of the interpolation circuit.

FIG. 25 is a block diagram showing an internal circuit of a paint RAM circuit.

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating an image on which texture mapping is performed.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a three-dimensional object representing myship.

FIG. 28 is a block diagram showing a conventional home video device.

FIG. 29 is a schematic explanatory diagram for explaining the validity of setting a virtual three-dimensional space.

[Fig. 30] Fig. 30 is a schematic explanatory diagram for explaining an apparatus for synthesizing an image of a textured three-dimensional object.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Game Cartridge 30 Processor Section 32 Main Processor 34 Coprocessor 38 Attribute RAM Section 40 Field Buffer Section 42 Texture Information Storage Section 190 Interpolation Circuit 300 Three-dimensional Object 710 Auxiliary Processing Arithmetic Section 712 Image Supply Section 714 Processing Section 716 Coordinate Conversion Section 718 Clipping processing unit 720 Perspective conversion unit 722 Sorting processing unit 740 Image forming unit 780 First storage unit 790 Second storage unit 800 Game console main body 802 Central processing unit 804 Video processing unit 806 Video RAM unit 808 Operation unit

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A game cartridge, which is detachably mounted on a game machine main body and forms a game device integrally with the game machine main body, wherein image configuration data and predetermined program data constituting a game space are stored. A first storage unit to be stored, and image configuration data is read from the first storage unit, and a predetermined three-dimensional arithmetic processing is performed on the image configuration data to form perspective-transformed data on a predetermined projection plane, An auxiliary calculation processing unit for outputting; and a rewritable second storage unit that stores the data output from the auxiliary calculation processing unit and thereby forms pseudo three-dimensional image constituent data, wherein the image constituent data is Three-dimensional polygon vertex coordinates, 3
Represented as a set of vertex image information including vertex texture coordinates corresponding to each vertex of the three-dimensional polygon and set for texture information supply, the auxiliary operation processing unit sets each vertex coordinate of the three-dimensional polygon on the projection surface. Display coordinate calculation means for calculating the perspective transformation display coordinates of each dot forming the polygon formed by the perspective transformation vertex coordinates by performing perspective transformation on the polygon formed by the vertex texture coordinates. A first texture coordinate calculating means for determining a read texture coordinate of each of the dots constituting the second storage section, and predetermined texture information for texture mapping read by the read texture coordinate is stored in the second storage section. Texture information storage means, and the texture information storage means at the perspective conversion display coordinates. Game cartridge, characterized in that it is formed to include an image information forming means for combining the image information by associating more read texture information. 2. The perspective transformation according to claim 1, wherein the vertex texture coordinates are perspective transformed into perspective transformation vertex texture coordinates that are linear with respect to the perspective transformation vertex coordinates, in place of the first texture coordinate computing means. Second texture coordinate calculating means for linearly interpolating perspective transformation texture coordinates of each dot forming a polygon formed by vertex texture coordinates, and performing inverse perspective transformation on the calculated perspective transformation texture coordinates to obtain read texture coordinates. A game cartridge comprising: 3. The point according to claim 2, wherein the display coordinate calculation means linearly interpolates the perspective transformation vertex coordinates so that a contour line of a polygon formed by the perspective transformation vertex coordinates intersects each scanning line. The perspective transformation display coordinates of the left and right contour points are calculated, and the perspective transformation display coordinates of the left and right contour points are linearly interpolated to linearly interpolate the perspective transformation display coordinates of each dot on the scanning line connecting the left and right contour points. The texture coordinate calculation means linearly interpolates the perspective transformation vertex texture coordinates to form a horizontal contour that is a point where the contour line of the polygon formed by the perspective transformation vertex coordinates intersects with each scanning line. By calculating the perspective transformation texture coordinates of the points and linearly interpolating the perspective transformation texture coordinates of the left and right contour points, each dot on the scanning line connecting the left and right contour points is calculated. Game cartridge being formed bets perspective transformation texture coordinates to linear interpolation. 4. The image information forming unit according to claim 1, further comprising a field buffer unit for storing the read texture coordinates of the texture information storage unit at the perspective transformation display coordinate position. A game cartridge characterized in that the texture coordinates are read from the field buffer section, the texture information stored in the texture information storage means is read by the texture coordinates, and image information is combined. 5. The thinning calculation means according to claim 4, wherein the display coordinate calculation means includes thinning calculation means for thinning out perspective transformation display coordinates of each dot, and the texture coordinate calculation means includes thinning calculation means for thinning out texture coordinates of each dot. Including, the image information forming means, from the read texture coordinates stored in the perspective transformation display coordinate positions adjacent to each other in the field buffer unit, from the read texture coordinates, including interpolation calculation means for interpolating the thinned texture coordinates, Characteristic game cartridge. 6. A game cartridge, which is detachably mounted on a game machine body and integrally forms a game device with the game machine body, wherein image configuration data and predetermined program data forming a game space are stored. A first storage unit to be stored, and image configuration data is read from the first storage unit, and a predetermined three-dimensional arithmetic processing is performed on the image configuration data to form perspective-transformed data on a predetermined projection plane, An auxiliary calculation processing unit for outputting; and a rewritable second storage unit that stores the data output from the auxiliary calculation processing unit and thereby forms pseudo three-dimensional image constituent data, wherein the image constituent data is Three-dimensional polygon vertex coordinates, 3
Expressed as a set of vertex image information including vertex brightness information set corresponding to each vertex of the three-dimensional polygon, the auxiliary calculation processing unit perspectively transforms each vertex coordinate of the three-dimensional polygon onto the projection surface. Display coordinate calculation means for calculating perspective transformation vertex coordinates and computing perspective transformation display coordinates of each dot forming a polygon formed by the perspective transformation vertex coordinates; and each dot forming a polygon formed by the vertex luminance information. And a first storage unit for calculating brightness information, wherein the second storage unit stores the image information by associating the perspective conversion display coordinates with the brightness information calculated by the brightness information calculation unit. A game cartridge comprising: an image information forming unit to be combined. 7. The perspective conversion according to claim 6, wherein the vertex luminance information is perspective-transformed into perspective transformation vertex luminance information that is linear with respect to the perspective transformation vertex coordinates, in place of the first luminance information calculation means. Second, the perspective transformation luminance information of each dot forming a polygon formed by the vertex luminance information is linearly interpolated, and the computed perspective transformation luminance information is inversely perspective-transformed to obtain luminance information.
A game cartridge comprising the brightness information calculating means of. 8. The point according to claim 7, wherein the display coordinate calculation means linearly interpolates the perspective transformation vertex coordinates to intersect a contour line of a polygon formed by the perspective transformation vertex coordinates with each scanning line. By calculating the perspective transformation display coordinates of the left and right contour points and linearly interpolating the perspective transformation display coordinates of the left and right contour points, the perspective transformation display coordinates of each dot on the scanning line connecting the left and right contour points is linearly interpolated. The luminance information calculation means is linearly interpolated by the perspective transformation vertex luminance information.
By calculating the perspective conversion luminance information of the left and right contour points which are the points where the contour line of the polygon formed by the perspective transformation vertex coordinates and each scanning line, and by linearly interpolating the perspective conversion luminance information of the left and right contour points. , A game cartridge formed so as to perform linear interpolation calculation of perspective conversion luminance information of each dot on a scanning line connecting left and right contour points. 9. The image information forming means according to claim 6, further comprising a field buffer section for storing the brightness information at the perspective conversion display coordinate position, wherein the field buffer section stores the brightness information. A game cartridge characterized in that information is read out, and thereby image information is formed and combined. 10. The thinning calculation means for thinning out the perspective information of each dot, the thinning calculation means for thinning out the perspective transformation display coordinates of each dot, according to claim 9. Including, the image information forming means includes an interpolation calculating means for interpolating the thinned luminance information from the luminance information stored in the perspective transformation display coordinate positions adjacent to each other in the field buffer section. A game cartridge to play. 11. The polygon identification number for identifying a polygon is further stored at the perspective transformation display coordinate position of the field buffer unit, and the thinning-out calculation unit sets each dot as follows. If it is a dot on the polygon outline,
Alternatively, if the dot is on the boundary line with another polygon, the thinning calculation is not performed, and the interpolation calculation means has the same polygon identification number stored at the adjacent perspective conversion display coordinate positions. The game cartridge is characterized in that the interpolation calculation is performed in the above, and the interpolation calculation is not performed when the polygon identification numbers are different. 12. The interpolation calculation means according to claim 5, 10 or 11, wherein the thinned information is linearly interpolated with the image information stored in the perspective conversion display coordinate positions on both sides of the thinned information. A game cartridge characterized by interpolation. 13. A game apparatus including the game cartridge according to claim 1, and a game machine body to which the game cartridge is detachably mounted, wherein the game machine body comprises the auxiliary device. An operation unit to which an operation signal from the player used in the three-dimensional arithmetic processing in the arithmetic processing unit is input, a central processing unit activated by program data from the first storage unit or the second storage unit, And a video processing unit for forming a display image from the image configuration data or the calculated pseudo three-dimensional image configuration data.