JPH08194593A - Display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a display device which can give another meaning to the blink display of a character. CONSTITUTION: By giving interruption processing to a VRAM in a time unit, a blink is generated at the timing of making this interruption. At that time, by giving variation to this timing of the interruption, the blink display is given the variation, and this variation of the blink display is given the meaning, and the transmission of information by the blink display is executed. There is a method to vary a period as one example of this method. For instance, the various methods such as to vary the interval of flickering as shown in figures (a) and (b), or to shorten the time of the flickering so as to flicker flash-like as shown in the figure (c), or to light a flash twice in every cycle as shown in the figure (d) and so on can be thought. The specified information is coordinated respectively with the blink display given these variations.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display device for displaying character information and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a display device for displaying character information, such as a monitor of a personal computer or a control panel of the device, in order to get the user's attention, the displayed characters are blinked. Method is used. This blink is often used, for example, for an error display or a wait display indicating that the program is being processed.

[0003]

However, this blink display is uniform, and information other than the displayed character information cannot be obtained. For example, even if the character "Error" is blinked in order to display an error, it is not possible to know what kind of error this is from this display alone. This is especially a problem when the number of characters that can be displayed is limited, such as the control panel of the device.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a display device capable of giving a different meaning to blink display of characters.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is a display device characterized in that information is transmitted by changing the blinking cycle of displayed characters. .

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is a display device characterized in that information is transmitted by changing the color level of displayed characters and blinking them.

[0007]

According to the above construction, by using the present invention, the blink display of characters can be given another meaning.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of a system for realizing this embodiment. It should be noted that in FIG. 1, only the display-related portion related to the present invention is shown, and other operation portions are omitted to avoid complexity.

Reference numeral 1 is a control unit. Two
Is a monitor. Character information such as a menu for operating the control unit 1 is displayed on the monitor 2.
The control unit 1 is composed of a CPU 3, a VRAM 4, and a memory 5. In VRAM4, C
Screen information for display on the monitor 2 supplied from the PU 3 is stored as a color code, and this content is C
It is displayed on the monitor 2 under the control of the PU 3.

The address of the VRAM 4 corresponds to the coordinates of the monitor 2. This state is shown in FIG. The display screen of the monitor 2 is composed of, for example, 640 × 480 dots. Each dot of this monitor 2 is VR
There is a one-to-one correspondence with the address of AM4. For example VR
The address of AM4 (00000000h) is at the coordinate (0, 0) of the monitor 2, and the address of VRAM4 (00
078280h) is the coordinates of the monitor 2 (640,480)
It corresponds to.

The memory 5 also stores information for displaying the color corresponding to the color code on the screen (hereinafter, this information is referred to as the color corresponding to the color code). A color corresponding to the color code of the memory 5 is designated by the CPU 3. Further, by designating this color code in the VRAM 4, the color corresponding to the color code of the designated address of the VRAM 4 is displayed on the monitor 2 at the coordinates corresponding to this address of the VRAM 4. In this way, by specifying the color code in the VRAM 4 in accordance with the position information, such as characters, C
It is displayed on the monitor 2 by the PU 3.

Further, the blinking can be generated by changing the color corresponding to the color code of the memory 5 by the time-based interrupt processing of the CPU 3. Also, by blinking a color of a specific color code by this method and designating this color code in the VRAM 4 by the CPU 3, it is possible to blink display of information such as characters.

Here, in the above-mentioned conventional example, the timing of the interrupt in units of time is monotonous, whereas in the method of the present invention, blinking is displayed by changing the timing of the interrupt. Have variations. Then, by adding meaning to the variation of the blink display, the information is transmitted in the blink display.

2 and 3 show examples of variations of the blink display. Of these, FIG. 2 is a method of changing the blinking cycle, and FIG. 3 is a method of changing the color level (brightness) when blinking.

It should be noted that it is also possible to perform display by combining these methods of changing the blinking period and the method of changing the color level at the time of blinking.

In the method of changing the blinking period shown in FIG. 2, the blinking display simply emits two colors (white and black in this example) alternately (blinks when the colors are white and black). However, the timing is changed variously. In this example, the blinking interval is changed as shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b, the blinking time is shortened as shown in FIG. 2c, and the blinking is performed in a flash manner. It is said that it will flash twice.

In the method of changing the color level when blinking in FIG. 3, the color gradually changes as shown in the figure. In this case, various blink variations can be obtained by variously changing the timing and rate of change of the period during which the blink rises and falls and the color level is maintained. Further, in this case, more variations can be obtained by using a combination of colors such as red and green, instead of simply making the two colors to be blinked white and black.

A specific meaning is given to each of these blink displays with variations. For example, these have the following meanings. Fig. 2a: Wait message during processing Fig. 2b: Waiting for input Fig. 2c: Execution end Fig. 2d: Execution cancellation Fig. 3e: Parameter changing Fig. 3f: Error message 1 Fig. 3g: Error message 2 Fig. 3h: Warning message

By doing so, even if the character information that is actually displayed is the same, such as the menu display itself, the user can obtain the information associated with the blink. It will be possible. This allows the user to know the current state of the device, for example.

It is also possible to make the user intuitively understand the displayed contents by performing blink display in consideration of the psychological effect. This means, for example, when blinking the same "Error" character, it blinks quickly when there is a fatal error.
Slow blinking for minor errors,
Alternatively, even when displaying that processing is in progress, it is conceivable that the blinking is delayed at the beginning of the processing, and the blinking is made faster as the processing approaches the end.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, the blinking of the display attracts the user's attention, and the blinking has various variations, and the common meaning is given to each of them. This has the effect of improving the operability of menus and the like.

Further, by making the meanings for various blink displays according to the present invention common to various software and devices, a further effect can be expected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration for implementing the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a correspondence between a VRAM address and a monitor coordinate.

FIG. 3 is a time chart showing an example in which blinks have variations according to a cycle.

FIG. 4 is a time chart showing an example in which blinks have variations depending on the level of color to blink.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Monitor 3 CPU 4 VRAM 5 Memory

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A display device for displaying character information or the like, wherein the information is transmitted by changing the blinking period of the displayed characters. 2. A display device for displaying character information and the like, characterized in that the information is transmitted by changing the color level of the displayed character and blinking.