JPH06348247A - Image controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To utilize a screen without any waste when an image obtained by executing software corresponding to a small number of scanning lines is displayed on a screen consisting of a large number of scanning lines. CONSTITUTION:The image obtained by executing the software S1 corresponding to 400 scanning lines on a personal computer 12 is displayed on the screen of a TFT color liquid crystal display unit 11 which has 480 scanning lines. Software S2 generated for the purpose of drawing of 80 scanning lines is executed on the computer 12 at the same time. An image memory 13 has an address space corresponding to the screen. A switching control part 14 distributes and stores image signals PS of the software programs S1 and S2 in partial address spaces 13a and 13b formed by dividing the address space. Consequently, the image of the software S1 is displayed in an image area of 400 scanning lines on the screen and the image of the software S2 is displayed in the remaining image area. Therefore, all the scanning lines of the screen are effectively used without any waste.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention displays an image based on this software on the screen of an image display device having more scan lines than the software supports, and the remaining image on the screen. The present invention relates to an image control device that simultaneously displays images based on other software in a region.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The standard of image display devices such as color liquid crystal display devices and EL display devices used by connecting to a personal computer is 640 horizontal × 400 vertical dots, that is 400
A method of displaying an image with one scanning line, and a horizontal 640 x vertical 48
There are two types: a method of displaying an image with 0 dots, that is, 480 scanning lines. Correspondingly, two types of software, one that draws with 400 scanning lines and one that draws with 480 scanning lines, are supplied even for software that performs a drawing function by executing on a personal computer. There is. When an image display device having 480 scanning lines is used, both the software corresponding to 400 scanning lines and the software corresponding to 480 scanning lines are executed to display the image. It is possible.

[0003]

However, in the former case, that is, when the software corresponding to 400 scanning lines is executed and the image display is performed using the image display device having 480 scanning lines. Only 400 scan lines of the 480 scan lines on the screen of the image display are used for software-based image display, and the remaining 80 scan lines are blank. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing this as an example. In FIG. 5, in the screen of 480 scanning lines, an image based on software is displayed in an image area of 400 scanning lines located in the central portion, and in the image area of 40 scanning lines for each of the upper end portion and the lower end portion. For example, black is always displayed.

As described above, the conventional technique is not used for displaying an image obtained by executing the software on the screen of the image display device having the number of scanning lines corresponding to that of the software. There is a problem that a useless area exists on the screen.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above existing problems, and is based on the software on the screen of the image display device having the number of scanning lines larger than the number of scanning lines corresponding to the software. When displaying the image,
An object of the present invention is to provide an image control device that enables the image area on the screen to be used without waste.

[0006]

In the image control apparatus according to the present invention, the main image drawn by the first software corresponding to the first scanning line number is larger than the first scanning line number. The main image area for the first number of scanning lines on the screen of the image display having a number, and the second software for the second sub-image area for the second number of scanning lines on the screen. An image control apparatus for simultaneously displaying sub-images for the second number of scanning lines to be drawn, comprising: (a) executing the first and second software, wherein the main software draws by the first software. The first image signal corresponding to the image and the second image signal corresponding to the sub-image drawn by the second software are output, and the output image signals are the first image signal and the second image signal. Which of the second image signals is A computer for outputting the switching signal shown, and (b) first and second addresses, each address of which is determined corresponding to the display position on the screen of the image display, and which respectively correspond to the main and sub-image areas. Storage means having a space, (c) the first image signal and the second image signal
In response to the switching signal, the switching control section for respectively storing the image signal in the first address space and the remaining second address space of the storage means, and (d) the above By sequentially reading the image signals stored in the storage means from the first and second address spaces and supplying them to the image display, the main and sub-images are respectively placed in the main and sub-image areas of the image display. And a display control means for displaying at the same time.

[0007]

In order to use the image control apparatus of the present invention, the first software for displaying the main image in the main image area of the screen of the image display and the second software for displaying the sub image in the sub image area are used. Prepare the software. The computer executes these software and outputs an image signal based on each software. These image signals are stored in the storage means, and the switching control section distributes these two types of image signals to separate address spaces based on the switching signal output from the computer at that time. These address spaces in the storage means respectively correspond to the main and sub image areas on the screen of the image display. Therefore, when the display control means reads out the image signal stored in the storage medium and gives it to the image display, the main image based on the first software is displayed in the main image area on the screen, and based on the second software. The sub-image is displayed in the sub-image area.

[0008]

【Example】

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall arrangement of an image control apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment. The TFT color liquid crystal display 11 is an image display that displays an image on the screen with 640 horizontal pixels × 480 vertical pixels, that is, 480 scanning lines. The personal computer 12 has a horizontal 6
Two pieces of software S1 and S2 having a function of drawing with 40 × vertical 400 dots, that is, 400 scanning lines are supplied. Among these, the software S1 is commercially available software corresponding to 400 scanning lines, for example, and is created with the intention of displaying an image (main image) of 400 scanning lines. On the other hand, software S
Reference numeral 2 is software specially created for the purpose of displaying only an image (sub-image) of 80 scanning lines in the software, which is also software corresponding to 400 scanning lines.

FIG. 2 shows these softwares S1 and S2.
It is a schematic diagram which drew the original image drawn by. That is, FIG. 2A is an example of an image displayed by executing the software S1 and displaying it on the screen SC1 of the image display device of 400 scanning lines corresponding to the software S1. Similarly, FIG.
(B) is the screen SC1 of the image display device of 400 scanning lines corresponding to the software S2 executed by the software S2.
It is an example of the image displayed on. As shown in FIG. 2A, the image based on the software S1 is displayed in the entire image area of the screen SC1 of the image display device having 400 scanning lines. As shown in FIG. 2B, the image based on the software S2 is similarly displayed in all the image areas of the screen SC1. However, the only meaningful image among the images drawn by the software S2 is the image displayed in the image area of each 40 scanning lines at the upper end portion and the lower end portion, and the central portion that is the remaining image area. The image in the image area of 320 scanning lines has no meaning.

Returning to FIG. Personal computer 12
Is an image signal P that executes the software S1 and S2 and expresses an image based on the software S1 and S2.
S is serially output from a so-called RGB terminal in a digital format. The image signal PS is converted into a parallel digital signal by the S / P converter 15 and then input to the image memory 13.

The image memory 13 is a storage element having an address corresponding to a dot on the screen of the TFT color liquid crystal display 11 on a one-to-one basis. That is, the address space of the image memory 13 is composed of 600 × 480 = 288000 addresses. Preferably, the image memory 13 is a semiconductor memory element (R capable of high-speed writing and reading).
AM). The address space of the image memory 13 is conceptually divided into two partial address spaces. The partial address space (first address space) 13a is TF
40 in the central part on the screen of the T color liquid crystal display 11
It corresponds to the image area (main image area) of 0 scan lines,
The partial address space (second address space) 13b corresponds to image areas (sub-image areas) of 40 scanning lines at the upper end and the lower end on the screen. The partial address space 13b is conceptually divided into two partial address spaces, each of which corresponds to the upper end and the lower end on the screen.

For display on the screen of the TFT color liquid crystal display 11, the display controller 11a sequentially scans the address space of the image memory 13 and reads the image signal PS stored at each address to correspond to that address. It is realized by displaying the image represented by the read image signal PS on the dots on the screen. The image signal PS is read from the image memory 13 in a parallel format, while the display control unit 11a inputs the image signal PS in a serial format. Therefore, a P / S conversion unit 16 that converts the parallel format into the serial format is provided between the image memory 13 and the display control unit 11a.

When the personal computer 12 outputs the image signal PS based on the software S1 and S2, the switching signal DS indicating which of the software S1 and S2 the output image signal PS corresponds to.
Are output at the same time. The switching control unit 14 receives the switching signal D
Receive S. The switching control unit 14 receives the received switching signal D
Based on S, the image signal P corresponding to the software S1
The image signal PS corresponding to S and software S2 is distributed to different partial address spaces in the image memory 13. First, the image signal PS corresponding to the software S1,
That is, the image signal PS representing the main image is assigned to the partial address space 13a. On the other hand, software S2
As for the image signal PS corresponding to, after only the image signal PS that represents a meaningful image of 80 scanning lines in the image drawn by the software S2, that is, the sub-image is selected,
It is allocated to the partial address space 13b.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an image based on software S1 and S2 displayed on the screen SC2 of the TFT color liquid crystal display 11 having 480 scanning lines. Image signal PS stored in partial address space 13a
The image represented by is displayed in the main image area of 400 scanning lines at the center of the screen of the TFT color liquid crystal display 11,
The image represented by the image signal PS stored in the partial address space 13b is displayed in the sub-image areas of 40 scanning lines at the upper end and the lower end on the screen. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the main image represented by the software S1 is displayed in the main image area, and the sub-image represented by the software S2 is divided and displayed in the sub-image areas of the upper end portion and the lower end portion.

The sub-image based on the software S2 illustrated in FIG. 3 represents the design of the operation keys. By providing the touch sensor on the sub-image area, each of the patterns of the operation keys can be used as the touch key itself. That is, the image area of 80 scanning lines which should be a blank space is effectively used as a touch key. The use as a touch key is particularly effective when the software S1 is software that executes processing in an interactive manner with the operator.

As described above, according to the image control device 10, the main image obtained by executing the commercially available software S1 corresponding to 400 scanning lines is displayed on the screen of the TFT color liquid crystal display 11 having 480 scanning lines. By separately preparing the software S2 created to display the sub-images for 80 scanning lines when displaying the images, these images can be simultaneously displayed on the screen in parallel. Therefore, the entire area of the screen of 480 scanning lines can be effectively used without waste. The sub-image can be easily changed by the software S2.

<Second Embodiment> FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the overall arrangement of an image control apparatus 20 according to the second embodiment. Here, instead of the TFT color liquid crystal display 11 in the image control device 10 shown in FIG. 1, an EL display 17 is provided. Like the TFT color liquid crystal display 11, the EL display 17 is an image display having 600 × 480 dots, that is, 480 scanning lines. The personal computer 19 is different from the personal computer 12 in the image control apparatus 10 in that it outputs the image signal PS in an analog format. Therefore, an A / D converter that converts an analog signal into a digital signal is provided between the personal computer 19 and the S / P converter 15. Other configurations are similar to those of the image control device 10. Also in the image control device 20, by supplying the software S1 and S2 to the personal computer 19, the image shown in FIG. 3 can be displayed on the screen of the EL display device 17.

<Modification> (1) In the above embodiments, the software S1 is used to
The main image of 00 scanning lines was displayed in the center of the screen of 480 scanning lines, and the sub-image of 80 scanning lines based on the software S2 was divided and displayed in the image regions at the upper and lower ends. However, not limited to this example, it is generally possible to arbitrarily display the main image and the sub-image in the screen of 480 scanning lines. That is, an ideal division corresponding to an arbitrary distribution on the screen is applied to the address space of the image memory 13, and the image signals PS of the software S1 and S2 are distributed to the divided partial address spaces 13a and 13b. Will be realized. For example, the screen is divided into two upper and lower areas, that is, a main image area of 400 scanning lines located in the upper part of the screen and a sub-image area of 80 scanning lines located below the screen, and an image based on the software S1 and S2 is divided. It is also possible to display in these main and sub image areas, respectively. (2) The image memory 13 may form a required address space by combining a plurality of semiconductor elements instead of using one semiconductor memory element having 600 × 480 addresses. (3) The image display is a TFT color liquid crystal display 11, E
An image display other than the L display 17 may be used. (4) In the above embodiments, the number of scanning lines supported by the software S1 and S2 was 400, and the number of scanning lines included in the image display device was 480. However, in the present invention, the latter scanning line number is the former. It is generally applicable when there are more than.

[0019]

According to the image control apparatus of the present invention, the image obtained by executing the software corresponding to the relatively low scanning line number is displayed on the screen of the image display having the relatively high scanning line number. When the image is displayed on the screen, these images can be simultaneously displayed in parallel on the screen by separately preparing software created to display the image in the blank area on the screen. Therefore, the entire area of the screen can be effectively used without waste.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram of an image control apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an image that software S1 and S2 should originally draw.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an image drawn on a screen by the image control device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an overall block diagram of an image control device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an image drawn on a screen using a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

10, 20 Image Control Device 11 TFT Color Liquid Crystal Display (Display) 11a Display Control Unit (Display Control Means) 12, 19 Personal Computer (Computer) 13 Image Memory (Storage Means) 13a, 13b Partial Address Space (First, Second address space) 14 Switching control unit 17 EL display (display) DS switching signal PS image signal

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A main image drawn by a first software corresponding to a first scanning line number is displayed on a screen of an image display device having a scanning line number larger than the first scanning line number. While displaying in the main image area for the number of scanning lines, the sub-images for the second number of scanning lines drawn by the second software in the remaining sub-image area for the second scanning lines on the screen. And (a) executing the first and second software, the first image signal corresponding to the main image drawn by the first software, and And outputting a second image signal corresponding to the sub-image drawn by the second software, and indicating whether these image signals to be output are the first image signal or the second image signal. A computer for outputting a switching signal to ) Each address is defined corresponding to a display position on the screen of the image display, and storage means having first and second address spaces respectively corresponding to the main and sub-image areas, and (c) the storage means The first image signal and the second image signal in response to the switching signal, the first address space of the storage means and the remaining second address space.
A switching control unit for storing the divided image data in each of the address spaces, and (d) sequentially reading out the image signals stored in the storage means from the first and second address spaces and supplying the image signals to the image display device. , A display control means for simultaneously displaying the main and sub-images in the main and sub-image areas of the image display, respectively.