JPH06250640A - Display controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To rapidly attain displaying a picture even when the rewriting area of a window is wide in a display controller in a multi-window system. CONSTITUTION:The coordinate data in an area to be replotted newly is calculated from the data by the whole pictures in an imaginary whole picture buffer A by a coordinate data calculation part 9 in an application program execution part 7 according to a replotting demand to be sent to a plotting demand part 10. The coordinate data and the plotting demand are sent to a window system 5 by the plotting demand 10. The image data within the range dealing with the coordinate data transferred from the data area of the imaginary whole picture buffer B are transferred to a real picture buffer 11 by a plotting execution part 6 in the window system 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display control device of a multi-window system capable of simultaneously displaying a plurality of windows on one screen.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional multi-window system,
The drawing request from the application is transferred to the drawing execution unit of the window system via the network or the memory bus, and the drawing execution unit writes to the real screen buffer.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of an image redrawing method in a conventional multi-window system. In FIG. 9, the application holds the data of each figure displayed on the real screen 31. Here, for example, if the window 32 on the real screen 31 is expanded in the arrow direction, the application sends drawing data for each figure to the drawing execution unit according to the attributes of each figure included in the area 33 to be newly drawn. I sent it and drew it. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of another conventional image redrawing method. In FIG. 10, a virtual screen buffer 34 having the same size as the displayed window is secured in the memory of the application. When the window 32 on the real screen 31 is expanded in the arrow direction, the application sends the image data of the area 35 to be newly drawn in the virtual screen buffer 34 to the drawing execution unit for drawing.

As a technique relating to such an image redrawing method, for example, a redrawing area display control method proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-136219 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
For example, there is a display device proposed in 102895.

[0005]

However, in the method shown in FIG. 9, the wider the area to be rewritten, the larger the number of times of data communication and the amount of data communication between the application and the drawing execution unit. There was a problem that it was difficult to display various screens. Further, in the method shown in FIG. 10, since only the data of the displayed window is held in the virtual screen buffer, when the window size is expanded, a new memory is newly stored in the memory held by the application. There was a problem that drawing was slowed because a buffer area had to be secured.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a display control device capable of performing a quick screen display regardless of the size of a window rewriting area.

[0007]

A display control device (1) according to the present invention includes a window system having a drawing execution unit for drawing an image in an actual screen buffer, and an application for issuing a drawing request to the window system. In a display control device including a program execution unit, the application program execution unit includes first buffer means for accumulating an image displayed in an application window as data for the entire screen, and the first buffer means. From the accumulated data for all screens,
The window system includes coordinate data calculation means for calculating coordinate data of a range to be redrawn, and drawing request means for transferring the coordinate data calculated by the coordinate data calculation means to a drawing execution unit of the window system. Includes a second buffer means for accumulating data for the same entire screen as the first buffer means of the application program execution section, and image data in a range corresponding to the coordinate data transferred from the drawing request means. And a drawing execution unit for transferring from the data area of the second buffer means to the real screen buffer.

The display control device (2) according to the present invention further comprises a window system having a drawing execution unit for drawing an image in the real screen buffer, and an application program execution unit for issuing a drawing request to the window system. In the display control device including the
Buffer means for accumulating the image displayed in the window as data for the entire screen, and coordinate data calculation for calculating coordinate data of a range to be redrawn from the data for the entire screen accumulated in the buffer means And a drawing requesting unit for transferring the image data in the range corresponding to the coordinate data calculated by the coordinate data calculating unit to the drawing executing unit.

[0009]

In the display control device (1), when the redrawing request is received from the user, the coordinate data calculating means of the application program executing section should newly redraw from the data for the entire screen of the first buffer means. The coordinate data of the area is calculated and passed to the drawing requesting means. The drawing request means sends the drawing request and the coordinate data to the window system. In the window system, the drawing execution unit transfers the image data in the range corresponding to the transferred coordinate data from the data area of the second buffer means to the real screen buffer. As a result, the image of the new area is redrawn on the real screen.

In the display control device (2), when the redrawing request is received from the user, the coordinate data calculation means of the application program execution unit uses the data for the entire screen of the buffer means to newly coordinate the area to be redrawn. Data is calculated and passed to the drawing request means. The drawing requesting means sends the image data in the range corresponding to the calculated coordinate data to the window system. The drawing execution unit of the window system transfers the sent image data to the real screen buffer. As a result, the image of the new area is redrawn on the real screen.

[0011]

Embodiments of a multi-window system to which a display control device according to the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First Embodiment FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a multi-window system according to the first embodiment. In this embodiment, a system in which the application A (program) and the drawing execution unit 6 are operating on different terminals will be described. In FIG. 2, a drawing request from the application A (program) is passed to the drawing execution unit 6 through the network 13, and the drawing execution unit 6 writes the drawing request to the display unit 15 on the real screen 14.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the multi-window system.

The mouse 1 accepts an instruction selection such as an area displayed on the screen or a pictogram, and the keyboard 2 accepts input of various data or commands. User input from the mouse 1 or the keyboard 2 is sent to the window system 5 through the input device controller 3 and the key input buffer / mouse input buffer 4.

The window system 5 is a client
It is a server-based window system that provides a specific user interface. The window system 5 corresponds to the virtual full-screen buffer B that stores the same full-screen data as the virtual full-screen buffer A of the application program execution unit 7 described later, and the coordinate data transferred from the drawing request unit 10. The range image,
The drawing execution unit 6 for transferring from the virtual full screen buffer B to the real screen buffer 11 is provided.

The application program execution unit 7 is
The virtual input buffer 8, which is the part where the application program running on the window system is executed.
The virtual full-screen buffer A, the coordinate data calculation unit 9, and the drawing request unit 10 are included in each functional unit.

The virtual input buffer 8 temporarily stores the user input sent from the window system 5 and transfers it to the coordinate data calculation unit 9. Virtual full-screen buffer A
Stores the image displayed in the application window as data for the entire screen. The coordinate data calculation unit 9 calculates coordinate data (address) of a range to be redrawn from the data of the entire screen accumulated in the virtual full screen buffer A according to the user input. The drawing requesting unit 10 transfers the coordinate data calculated by the coordinate data calculating unit 9 and the drawing request to the drawing executing unit 6 of the window system 5.

The CRT 12 is a display device for displaying various windows and the like, and the drawing execution section 6 of the window system 5 writes data in the real screen buffer 11.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing the relationship between the virtual full-screen buffers A and B of the system and the real screen. In this figure, the application and the drawing execution unit are operating in different terminals A and B, respectively. In addition,
In the following description, updating image data means writing a new line or figure on the real screen, and redrawing means expanding or reducing a window.

A virtual full-screen buffer A (area 16) is created in the memory of the application, and the virtual full-screen buffer A stores image data when the application is displayed over the entire screen. Has been done. When the window of the application running on the terminal A is displayed on the terminal B, a partial area 18 of the application image is displayed on the real screen 17 (width X, height Y). In addition, a virtual full-screen buffer B (area 19) having the same size as the virtual full-screen buffer A of the application is created in the memory of the drawing execution unit that draws the real screen. The area 18 displayed on the real screen 17 corresponds to the data area 20 in the virtual full-screen buffer A of the application and the data area 21 in the virtual full-screen buffer B of the drawing execution unit.

The application of the terminal A monitors whether or not the image data is updated in the range of the entire screen of the application with respect to the user input. If the image data is updated, the image data in the virtual full-screen buffer A is rewritten, and at the same time, the update is transmitted to the virtual full-screen buffer B of the drawing execution unit to rewrite the data. As a result, the same image data is stored in the virtual full screen buffer A and the virtual full screen buffer B.

Now, if the window size of the real screen 17 is expanded in the y-axis direction, a drawing command is generated in the area 22. The application calculates the coordinate data of the area 23 of the virtual full-screen buffer A corresponding to the area 22 and transfers the coordinate data and the drawing request to the drawing execution unit of the terminal B. In the drawing execution unit, the virtual full-screen buffer B
The image data of the area 24 corresponding to the coordinate data of is transferred to the real screen buffer 11.

Next, the flow of processing when a window redraw request or image data update request is received is shown in FIG.
The flowchart will be described. The redrawing request process and the image data update request process are executed in parallel.

First, prior to the processing, a virtual full-screen buffer is created in the memory of the application program execution unit and the drawing execution unit (step 101).

In the redrawing request process, a redrawing request waiting state is entered (step 102), and an arbitrary area A
It waits until it receives a redrawing request for [(x, y), (h, w)] (step 103). When the redrawing request for the area A is received, it is determined whether the drawing executing unit is on the same terminal (step 104). Here, when the drawing execution unit is on a different terminal, it is determined whether the contents of the virtual full-screen buffer B of the drawing execution unit have been updated (by the image data update request process) (step 105). If the virtual full-screen buffer B of the drawing execution unit has not been updated, the virtual full-screen buffer B update request is issued (step 106). Now, the virtual full-screen buffer B has the same contents as the virtual full-screen buffer A. Next, in the virtual full-screen buffer A, coordinate data of the area A ′ corresponding to the area A to be redrawn [(x1, y
1), (h1, w1)] is calculated (step 10
7). Then, a drawing request is issued to the drawing execution unit so that the coordinate data is transferred and the image data of the area corresponding to the area A ′ of the virtual full-screen buffer B is transferred to the real-screen buffer (step 108). . As a result, a new image of the expanded area is drawn on the real screen.

In the image data update request process, when the image data update request is received (step 109), the virtual full screen buffer A of the application is updated (step 110). An update request is issued to the screen buffer B (step 111).

In the multi-window system of the first embodiment, the same image data as that of the virtual full-screen buffer A of the terminal A is held in the virtual full-screen buffer B of the drawing execution unit of the terminal B to redraw the image. The drawing request can be made once, and the number of data communication can be reduced as compared with the conventional case. Moreover, since only the coordinate data of the target area needs to be transferred and the communication amount can be kept constant, high-speed and low-cost drawing can be realized. In this embodiment, the case where the application and the drawing execution unit are running on different terminals has been described, but the application and the drawing execution unit may be running on the same terminal.

Second Embodiment FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a multi-window system according to a second embodiment. In this embodiment, the applications A (program) and B (program) and the drawing execution unit 43.
Describes a system running on the same terminal. In FIG. 5, the drawing request from the application A or the application B is passed to the drawing executing unit 42 through the memory bus 41, and the drawing executing unit 42 displays the display unit 44 on the real screen 43 corresponding to the application for which the drawing request is made. , 45 is written.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the overall structure of the multi-window system. 6, parts equivalent to those of the system shown in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals.

The basic function of the window system 46 is the same as that of the window system 5 of FIG. 1, and the image data transferred from the drawing request unit 10 of the application program execution unit 47, which will be described later, is stored in the real screen buffer 11. The drawing execution unit 42 for transferring is provided.

The basic function of the application program execution unit 47 is the same as that of the application program execution unit 7 of FIG. 1, except that a virtual full screen buffer 48 is provided instead of the virtual full screen buffer A. It is composed.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing the relationship between the virtual full screen buffer and the real screen of the above system. In this figure,
The application and the drawing execution unit are operating on the same terminal, (a) shows the initial state, and (b) shows the state when the window is expanded.

In the initial state (a), a partial area 50 of the application image is displayed on the real screen 49 (width X, height Y). On the other hand, a virtual full-screen buffer 48 is created in the memory of the application, and the virtual full-screen buffer 48 stores image data when the application is displayed on the entire screen. The area 50 actually displayed on the real screen 49 corresponds to the data area 51 in the virtual full-screen buffer 48.

Before the initial state, the application monitors the user input for the update of the image data in the range of the entire screen of the application. If the image data is updated, the data of the virtual full-screen buffer 48 held in the memory of the application is rewritten.

It is assumed that the window size of the real screen 49 is expanded in the y-axis direction in the window expansion (b). At this time, the window system 46 sends a redrawing request for the increased image area to the application. Here, the area 53 of the virtual full-screen buffer 48 corresponds to the area 52 on the real screen to be newly drawn. The application calculates the coordinate data of the area 53 of the virtual full-screen buffer 48, and transfers the image data corresponding to these coordinate data to the drawing execution unit 42.
The drawing execution unit 42 transfers the image data to the real screen buffer 11. The transferred image data includes two figures as shown in the figure.

Next, the flow of processing when a window redraw request or image data update request is received is shown in FIG.
The flowchart will be described. The redrawing request process and the image data update request process are executed in parallel.

First, prior to the processing, a virtual full-screen buffer is created in the memory of the application program execution unit (step 201).

In the process of requesting redrawing, the process waits for a redrawing request (step 202), and an arbitrary area A
It waits until it receives a redrawing request for [(x, y), (h, w)] (step 203). When a redraw request for an arbitrary area A is received, in the virtual full-screen buffer,
The coordinate data [(x ', y'), (h ', w')] of the area A'corresponding to the area A to be redrawn is calculated (step 204). Then, the image data corresponding to the coordinate data and a drawing request are issued to the drawing execution unit (step 205). As a result, a new image of the expanded area is drawn on the real screen.

In the image data update request process, when the image data update request is received (step 206), the virtual full-screen buffer of the application is updated (step 207).

In the multi-window system of the second embodiment, since the image data to be drawn on the real screen is held in the virtual full-screen buffer of the application, it is possible to redraw the image with one drawing request. The number of times of data communication can be reduced as compared with the conventional case. In addition, the application buffer holds the image data when the application is displayed over the entire screen, so by increasing the window size,
It is not necessary to secure a new buffer area, and it is possible to display the screen quickly without lowering the drawing speed. In this embodiment, the case where the application and the drawing execution unit are running on the same terminal has been described, but the application and the drawing execution unit may be running on different terminals.

[0041]

As described above, in the display control device according to the present invention, the same image data as the buffer means on the application side is held in the buffer means of the drawing execution unit, and when redrawing of the window is requested. Since only the coordinate data of the target area is transferred and the actual image data is transferred from the data area of the buffer means of the drawing execution unit to the real screen buffer, redrawing the image is executed with one drawing request. can do. Moreover,
Since only the coordinate data of the target area needs to be transferred, the amount of communication can be kept constant regardless of the size of the area to be drawn, and quick and low-cost screen display can be realized. , By holding the image data for the entire screen displayed in the application window in the buffer means on the application side and transferring the image data of the area to be redrawn from the application to the drawing execution unit all at once, Redrawing can be executed with a single drawing request. In this case, since the application retains the image data when it is displayed on the entire screen, it is not necessary to secure a new buffer area even if the window size increases, so the drawing speed does not decrease and the speed is increased. Various screen displays can be performed.

As described above, according to the display control device of the present invention, it is possible to provide a display control device capable of performing prompt screen display regardless of the size of the area to be rewritten in the window.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a multi-window system according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a multi-window system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing a relationship between virtual full-screen buffers A and B and a real screen.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing when a window redraw request or image data update request is received.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a multi-window system according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a multi-window system according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing a relationship between a virtual full screen buffer and a real screen.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing when a window redrawing request or image data updating request is received.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional image redrawing method.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of another conventional image redrawing method.

[Explanation of symbols]

5 (46) ... Window system, 7 (47) ... Application program execution unit, 9 ... Coordinate data calculation unit,
10 ... Drawing request unit, 6 (42) ... Drawing execution unit, 11 ... Real screen buffer

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A display control device comprising: a window system having a drawing execution unit for drawing an image in an actual screen buffer; and an application program execution unit for issuing a drawing request to the window system. Is to be redrawn from the first buffer means for accumulating the image displayed in the application window as data for the entire screen and the data for the entire screen accumulated in the first buffer means. The window system comprises coordinate data calculation means for calculating coordinate data of the range and drawing request means for transferring the calculated coordinate data to the window system, and the window system is the same as the first buffer means of the application program execution unit. Second buffer hand to store screen data And a drawing execution unit that transfers image data in a range corresponding to the coordinate data transferred from the drawing requesting unit from the data area of the second buffer unit and draws in the real screen buffer. A display control device characterized by the above. 2. A display control device comprising: a window system having a drawing execution unit for drawing an image in an actual screen buffer; and an application program execution unit for issuing a drawing request to the window system. Is buffer means for accumulating the image displayed in the application window as data for the entire screen, and data for the entire screen accumulated in the buffer means,
It is provided with coordinate data calculation means for calculating coordinate data of a range to be redrawn, and drawing request means for transferring image data of a range corresponding to the calculated coordinate data to the drawing execution unit. A display control device characterized by the above.