JPH0789269B2 - Hard copy control method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a hard copy control system suitable for making a hard copy of a display image having a size larger than a display screen area.

(Prior Art) A display device such as a graphic display device having a hard copy function has a hard copy buffer for storing a hard copy image in addition to a frame buffer 11 for storing a display image such as a figure as shown in FIG.
Have twelve. The size (size) of (the two-dimensional memory area of) the frame buffer 11 and the hard copy buffer 12 is generally the same as the display screen area (display resolution) of the display monitor 12 such as a CRT monitor.
The length is 1024 dots. The display image (for one screen) stored in the frame buffer 11 is read out at a constant cycle and repeatedly displayed on the display monitor 13.

When trying to make a hard copy of the screen contents displayed on the display monitor 13 as described above, (display monitor 13
The display image read out from the frame buffer 11 at a constant speed (for screen display) is temporarily stored in the hard copy buffer 12 at a high speed as a hard copy image in synchronization with the read speed. The contents of the hard copy buffer 12 are read by the hard copy device 14 in accordance with the movement of the hard copy device 14, which is generally not so fast, and are used for the hard copy operation of the hard copy device 14. Here, the display image stored in the frame buffer 11 after the high-speed transfer to the hard copy buffer 12 may be destroyed before the actual hard copy operation by the hard copy device 14 is completed. Absent. In other words, display the desired display image for hard copy in the hard copy buffer.
After the transfer to 12, the writing of a new display image to the frame buffer 11 can be started according to the instruction of the data input from the host computer (not shown) or the keyboard without the completion of the hard copy operation.

Now, display devices in recent years, particularly display devices for wide area display such as process control and map display, are required to handle large-sized display images that exceed the display screen area of a display monitor. Therefore, conventionally, the third
Instead of the frame buffer 11 in the figure, as shown in FIG. 4, for example, a large screen frame buffer of 2560 horizontal × 2048 vertical dots
That is, the large screen frame buffer 21 having a size twice as large as the display screen area (display resolution) of the display monitor 13 is used. As a matter of course, the entire contents of the large screen frame buffer 21 cannot be displayed on the display monitor 12 at one time. For this reason, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 4, an area having the same size as the display screen area (display resolution) of the display monitor 13 (display of the display monitor 13) is provided in (the two-dimensional memory area of) the large screen frame buffer 21. The display window W for designating the target area) is set, and the display window W is moved to deal with the problem. That is, conventionally, the display window W out of the entire contents of the large screen frame buffer 21 is displayed.
By extracting only the display image in the area designated by and displaying it on the display monitor 13 by moving the display window W up and down and left and right in accordance with the operation of the keyboard or the instruction from the host computer (that is, the large screen frame). The entire contents of the large screen frame buffer 21 are displayed on the screen by scrolling the entire area of the buffer 21).

However, in the above method, only the display image of the area in the large screen frame buffer 21 designated by the display window W is stored in the hard copy buffer 12 as a hard copy image. Therefore, it was not possible to make a hard copy of the contents of the entire area of the large screen frame buffer 21. Of course, a large-screen hard copy buffer of the same size as the large-screen frame buffer 21 is prepared, and the operation of directly transferring the contents of the entire area of the large-screen frame buffer 21 to the large-screen hard copy buffer is read for screen display. If a dedicated transfer circuit to be executed separately is provided, hard copy of the contents of the entire area of the large screen frame buffer 21 is possible. However, this method requires not only a dedicated transfer circuit but also a high-speed read operation for screen display, which requires control of the high-speed read operation, resulting in a complicated hardware configuration.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, a large screen frame buffer is provided to handle a display image larger than the display screen area of the display monitor, and the entire area of this buffer is scrolled to be displayed on the screen. In the conventional method, it is difficult to make a hard copy of the contents of the entire area of the same buffer unless a dedicated transfer circuit for transferring data from the frame buffer to the hard copy buffer is used.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide the contents of the entire area of a large screen frame buffer that stores a display image larger than the display screen area of a display monitor without using dedicated hardware. An object of the present invention is to provide a hard copy control method that can be transferred to a hard copy buffer and thus a large screen hard copy can be realized very easily.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving Problems) The present invention relates to a large-screen frame buffer having a two-dimensional memory area having a size that is a multiple of the display screen area of a display monitor, and a display monitor from this frame buffer. Display window setting means for setting a display window for reading out a display image to be displayed on the display window, and a divided area unit obtained by dividing the display window into a memory area of a frame buffer by the size of the display screen area. Display window switching control means for switching the order by, display image reading means for sequentially reading out the display image of the area in the frame buffer designated by the display window for screen display, and a two-dimensional memory area of the same size as the frame buffer. The same display image in the display window read from the frame buffer. In a region corresponding to the guiding provided a large screen hard copy buffer of the two-dimensional stored as a hard copy image, characterized in that to perform a hard copy using the hard copy buffer.

(Operation) According to the above configuration, the contents of the entire area of the large screen frame buffer are changed by sequentially switching the display windows.
For split screen display on a display monitor that has a display screen area smaller than the same area, it can be read by dividing it in units of the size of the display screen area, and the read data can be read in the corresponding area of the large screen hard copy buffer. By writing to, the contents of the entire area of the large screen frame buffer can be stored in the large screen hard copy buffer without using a special transfer circuit, and a hard copy of the contents of the entire area of the large screen frame buffer is possible. Becomes

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a graphic display device to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 31 is a microprocessor for controlling the entire apparatus, and 32 is a microprocessor.
Is a memory in which a control program necessary for the control operation of the microprocessor 31 is stored. 33 is a communication control unit for transmitting and receiving data to and from a host computer (not shown),
Reference numeral 34 is a keyboard as an input means for data, instruction information and the like, and 35 is a graphic processor for generating a graphic image based on graphic data. 36 is a display monitor such as a CRT monitor having a display screen area (display resolution) of 1280 x 1024 dots (display resolution), and 37 is a large-screen frame buffer for storing display images of, for example, four screens to be displayed on the display monitor 36. Is. The size of (the two-dimensional memory area of) the frame buffer 37 is 2560 horizontal × 2048 vertical dots as in the case of the frame buffer 21 of FIG. The frame buffer 37 (two-dimensional memory area of the frame buffer) is
The blocks B11 to B14 each having a size of 1280 pixels horizontally × 1024 dots vertically (that is, the size of the display area of the display monitor 36) obtained by halving each vertically and horizontally are managed in block units.

Reference numeral 38 is a hard copy device, and 39 is a large screen hard copy buffer for storing the display image read from the large screen frame buffer 37 for displaying on the display monitor 36 as a hard copy image in the corresponding area. The large-screen hard copy buffer 39 (two-dimensional memory area of it) has the same size as the large-screen frame buffer 37.
The blocks B21 to B24 each having a size of horizontal 1280 × vertical 1024 dots (that is, the size of the display area of the display monitor 36) obtained by halving each side are managed in block units.
A display control unit 40 controls the display of the display monitor 36. The display control unit 40 writes the display image read from the frame buffer 37 at the same address in the hard copy buffer 39 when a hard copy is instructed by the microprocessor 31. Display control unit 40
Has a display window setting section 41 for setting a display window W on (the two-dimensional memory area of) the frame buffer 36 for designating an area to be displayed on the display monitor 36.

Next, a large screen hard copy control operation with the configuration of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. First the microprocessor
31 receives graphic data from a host computer (not shown) via the communication control unit 33 according to a control program stored in the memory 32, and passes it to the graphic processor 35. The graphic processor 35 generates a graphic image such as a straight line, a circle, or a filled graphic based on the data passed from the microprocessor 31, and a large screen frame buffer 37 as a display image for display on the display monitor 36. Write to.

By the way, the display image (the display image of horizontal 2560 × vertical 2048 dots) written in the large screen frame buffer 37 cannot be displayed on the display monitor 36 at one time. Therefore, in this embodiment, the display is divided into four times as follows.

First, the microprocessor 31 sets the display window W that designates one block (here, the block B11) of (the two-dimensional memory area of) the large screen frame buffer 37. This setting is performed by setting display window information indicating the position of the display window W in the display window setting unit 41 in the display control unit 40.

The display control unit 40 repeats the operation of sequentially reading the display image of the area (in this case, block B11) in the large screen frame buffer 37 designated by the set display window W at a constant speed. As a result, the display image of the block B11 of the large screen frame buffer 37 is guided to the display monitor 36 and displayed on the screen as shown in FIG. The display image of the block B11 is simultaneously guided to the large screen hard copy buffer 39.

When a large screen hard copy is requested from the host computer, the keyboard 34 or the hard copy device 38, the microprocessor 31 notifies the display control unit 40 to that effect. In this case, the display control unit 40 writes the display image read from the large screen frame buffer 37 for the split display on the display monitor 36 at the same address of the hard copy buffer 39. As a result, when the display image of the block B11 is displayed on the screen, this display image is the block B2 which is the corresponding area of the large screen hard copy buffer 39.
Stored in 1.

Next, the microprocessor 31 updates the display window information in the display window setting section 41 and moves the display window W to the next block (block B12 in this case).

Thereafter, the display window W is moved from the block B11 to the block B12, from the block B12 to the block B13, and from the block B13 to the block B14 by sequentially repeating the above, thereby (the display screen area of the display monitor 36). The screen contents displayed in) are switched to the display image of the block in the order of block B11, block B12, block B13, and block B14. In addition, block B21, block B22, block B23 of the large screen hard copy buffer 39,
Block B24 includes block B11, block B12, block B
13, the corresponding image is written according to the screen display of each display image of block B14. Therefore, when the display image of the block B14 is displayed on the display monitor 36, the display image of the entire area of the large screen frame buffer 37 (width 25
A display image of 60 × vertical 2048 dots) is stored in the large screen hard copy buffer 39 as a hard copy image. Contents of the entire area of the large-screen hard copy buffer 39 (hard copy image of 2560 horizontal by 2048 vertical)
Is a hard copy device 38 asynchronously with the reading of the display image from the frame buffer 37 under the control of the display controller 40.
And is used for the hard copy operation of the device 38.
As a result, a hard copy of the display image of horizontal 2560 × vertical 2048 dots which is divided and displayed in four times on the display monitor 36 is realized.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the display windows to be set on the area of the large screen frame buffer for storing the display image larger than the display screen area of the display monitor are sequentially switched, The contents of the entire area of are read in divided units of the size of the display screen area for display on a display monitor having a display screen area smaller than the buffer. By writing to the corresponding area of the large screen hard copy buffer, the contents of the entire area of the large screen frame buffer can be stored in the large screen hard copy buffer without using a special transfer circuit. A hard copy of the contents of the area can be easily realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a display device to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a hard copy control operation in the device shown in FIG. 1, and FIGS. It is a figure explaining a hard copy control operation. 31 …… Microprocessor, 36 …… Display monitor, 37 ……
Large screen frame buffer, 38 ... Hard copy device, 39
...... Large screen hard copy buffer, 40 ...... Display control unit,
41 …… Display window setting section.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location G06K 15/12 P G09G 5/34 Z 9471-5G 5/36 520 P 9471-5G

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A large-screen frame buffer for storing a display image, which has a two-dimensional memory area having a size which is a multiple of the display screen area of the display monitor, and the display monitor on the memory area of the frame buffer. A display window setting means for setting a display window for designating an area to be displayed, and a display window set by the display window setting means, a memory area of the frame buffer, and a size of the display screen area. Display window switching control means for sequentially switching in units of divided areas obtained by dividing into units, and a display image of the area in the frame buffer designated by the display window set by the display window setting means are sequentially read out for screen display. Two-dimensional display image reading means and the same size as the frame buffer A two-dimensional large-screen hard copy buffer which has a memory area and stores the display image in the display window read from the frame buffer by the display image reading means as a hard copy image in an area corresponding to the display window. Equipped with,
A hard copy control method characterized in that the contents of the frame buffer are transferred to the hard copy buffer by sequentially switching the display windows, and a hard copy is performed using the hard copy buffer.