JPH10187139A - Method and device for displaying sprite - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate the flickering of the screen and the bungling in the changes by providing quick changes against the various changes of many sprites. SOLUTION: The attribute data related to the display attributes of each sprite for the display of plural sprites are grouped into the absolute attribute data group and the relative attribute data group which is subordinated to the absolute attribute data and these groups are stored in a sprite attribute table 6. By updating the absolute attributes, a CPU2 batch updates plural sprite display positions, the direction of the display, the display pattern, the color and the size which are specified by the absolute attribute data and the relative attribute data which are subordinated to the absolute attribute data.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sprite display method and apparatus for efficiently displaying sprites displayed as a group of display patterns, such as a game character, a pattern flying on a screen, a cursor display, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a display position and a picture of tens or hundreds of sprites are changed using a graphic chip for amusement, a change in a sprite attribute table storing sprite display attributes is performed. It was necessary to change the display attributes of all target sprites. Normally, in the case of a graphic chip, in order to prevent display noise, an attribute table is intensively accessed during a vertical blanking period (a period during which display is not performed) of a display device to rewrite display attributes. However, when the number of sprites that must be changed at the same time increases, it becomes difficult to rewrite the contents of the table in several vertical retrace periods, causing sprites to move slowly,
May flicker.

Therefore, a reference point coordinate table indicating the absolute coordinate position of the sprite and an index table indicating the relative coordinate position of the sprite are provided, and the display coordinates of a plurality of sprites in one group are determined by grouping the sprites. There has been proposed one realized by only changing the reference coordinate table. Also, as a similar idea, one of a plurality of patterns is set as a lead pattern, the other pattern is set as a dependent pattern, and when the lead pattern moves on the screen,
It has been proposed that each dependent pattern be moved in the same manner as a lead pattern (Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-41833).
issue).

[0004]

However, all of the above-mentioned conventional sprite display methods relate to display positions of sprites, and display attributes of other sprites, for example, display direction, size, color, picture, and the like. No changes are considered. For this reason, the number of accesses to the table must be increased for various changes of a large number of sprites, and as a result, problems such as a change in the sprites and a flickering of the screen occur.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and enables a sprite display which can quickly change even with various changes of a large number of sprites and which does not cause flickering or flapping of the screen. It is an object to provide a method and an apparatus.

[0006]

According to the sprite display method of the present invention, attribute data relating to the display attribute of each sprite for displaying a plurality of sprites is represented by absolute attribute data and relative attributes dependent on the absolute attribute data. The display position and display direction of a plurality of sprites specified by the absolute attribute data and the relative attribute data subordinate thereto by changing the absolute attribute data by dividing the data into groups including data, At least one of the display pattern, the color, and the size is changed collectively.

A sprite display device according to the present invention comprises: a sprite attribute table for storing attribute data relating to display attributes of each sprite for displaying a plurality of sprites;
Pattern storage means for storing a display pattern of each sprite, display means for displaying each sprite,
Drawing control for reading attribute data of each sprite from the sprite attribute table, reading a display pattern from the pattern storage unit based on the read attribute data, and displaying the display pattern at a display position of the display unit specified by the attribute data Means, and a table rewriting means for appropriately rewriting the attribute data stored in the attribute table, wherein the attribute table stores the attribute data in absolute attribute data and relative attribute data dependent on the absolute attribute data. The drawing control means stores the display position of the sprite specified by the relative attribute data from the relative attribute data and the absolute attribute data on which the sprite is dependent. The table rewriting means calculates Rewriting only sex data, the absolute attribute data, wherein the display position of the sprite, and the display orientation of the sprite, is intended to include display patterns, at least one of color and size.

According to the present invention, not only the display position of the sprite, but also the display attributes such as the display direction, display pattern, color and size are defined as relative attribute data. Invert the overall orientation of multiple sprites that make up the group left and right or upside down, change all the patterns, darken the overall color,
An operation of increasing or decreasing the size can be performed only by a rewriting operation on the absolute attribute data. For this reason, it is possible to cause changes to more sprites with a small number of accesses, and it is possible to prevent the display screen from flapping or flickering even with a variety of complicated changes.

When changing the orientation of a plurality of sprites forming one group, the display position of the relative attribute data is set to the display position of the absolute attribute data, and the display direction of the absolute attribute data is changed. Can be obtained by adding or subtracting according to In this case, the display direction of the absolute attribute data indicates the display direction in the absolute space, and the display direction of the relative attribute data is the display direction relative to the display direction of the absolute attribute data to which it depends. Is desirable. With such a setting, the relative sprite display direction can be made dependent on the absolute sprite display direction only by changing the absolute attribute data.

The attribute table is composed of, for example, one table in which absolute attribute data and relative attribute data are successively stored. Each relative attribute data has a higher priority in reading. It is desirable that the data is stored so as to be dependent on the nearest absolute attribute data. By arranging the absolute attribute data and the relative attribute data in this manner, there is no need to store information indicating which absolute attribute data each relative attribute data depends on,
The process of referring to the absolute attribute data on which each relative attribute data depends is simplified.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a sprite display device according to one embodiment of the present invention. This device comprises a CPU 2 interconnected via a bus (address bus and data bus) 1,
A ROM 3, a RAM 4, a drawing controller 5, a sprite attribute table 6, and a pattern memory 7 connected to the drawing controller 5, and a display device from the drawing controller 5 via a drawing line memory 8 and an RGB encoder 9. It is configured such that display data is supplied to 10.

The sprite attribute table 6 stores display attributes of a plurality of sprites to be displayed. The pattern memory 7 is a ROM in which a display pattern of each sprite is stored as image data. CPU2
Rewrites the contents of the sprite attribute table 6 during the vertical retrace period of the display device 10 based on the program stored in the ROM 3. The RAM 4 provides a work area for processing necessary for the CPU 2.

The drawing controller 5 generates a display address to sequentially control the drawing line memory 8 and, at the same time, generates a sprite attribute table 6.
, A read address of the pattern memory 7 is generated from the content of the pattern memory 7, a write address for the drawing line memory 8 is similarly generated from the content of the sprite attribute table 6, and image data to be written to the drawing line memory 8 is appropriately selected and written. Execute control. In this embodiment, the line memory 8 is assumed as a drawing memory.
A frame memory can also be used.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the contents of the sprite attribute table 6. The sprite attribute table 6 includes absolute sprite data storing absolute display attribute data (absolute attribute data) and relative sprite storing relative display attribute data (relative attribute data) dependent on the absolute sprite data. And data. These sprite data are stored in descending order of priority, and the relative sprite data is dependent on the absolute sprite data that appears first in the direction of higher priority, as indicated by the arrow in the figure. As a result, one absolute sprite data and zero or more relative sprite data subordinate thereto are continuous, and by these, the groups G1, G2,
... will be composed. Therefore, it is not necessary for each relative sprite data to store information on which absolute sprite is dependent. Although the relative sprite data often refers to the absolute sprite data in the process, the recording is performed continuously with the absolute sprite, thereby simplifying the processing and increasing the processing efficiency.

The contents of each sprite data are shown on the right side of FIG. These contents are as follows. X0 to X9, Y0 to Y9 (display position) These are the display positions of the sprite, and as shown in FIG.
Specify in dot units on the display space defined by coordinates.
This position is data that specifies the upper left position of the sprite when the sprite is in the normal orientation. As the display space coordinates, for example, the display start dot of the display start line is (0, 0), the right direction is the positive direction of X, and the downward direction is the positive direction of Y. The size of the space is, for example, (1023, 10
23) and returns to 0 when it exceeds 1023. In the case of the absolute sprite 21, X and Y indicate an absolute position on the display space coordinates, and in the case of the relative sprite 22, X and Y
Y indicates the relative position from the absolute sprite 21 to which it depends.

N0 to N15 (pattern name) These are the pattern names of the sprite, and are stored in the pattern memory 7
Is determined. As shown in FIG. 4, the address of the pattern memory 7 is determined in units of 8.times.8 dot sprites. One dot is represented by 4 bits for 16-color display and 8 bits for 256-color display. If one access to the pattern memory 7 is 16 bits, FIG. As shown, in the case of 16-color display, pattern names N0 to N
Four bits (L2, L1, L0, d2) for designating four dots (= 16 bits) to access in the 8.times.8 dots are added to the 15 lower bits. Also, 256
In the case of the color display, as shown in FIG. 5B, 5 bits (L2) for designating 2 dots (= 16 bits) to be accessed in 8 × 8 dots are used as lower bits of the pattern names N0 to N14. , L1, L0, d2, d1). In the case of 256 color display, N15 becomes invalid,
The number of patterns that can be stored in the pattern memory 7 is half that in the case of 16-color display.

If the vertical and horizontal sizes are larger than 8 dots, the addresses of the upper left 8 × 8 pattern are N0 to N15.
Alternatively, it is indicated by N0 to N14, and the other is uniquely determined by the size. That is, the pattern in units of 8 × 8 dots is mapped on the memory 7 in the range of NX0 to NX2 and NY0 to NY2 as shown in FIG. 4, and as shown in FIG.
The other 8 × 8 dot patterns are designated by adding the address of all combinations of 01 with the number of bits according to the size to the upper N15 (or N14) to N0 of the address. The figure shows an example of a sprite size of 64 x 64 dots.
The address to be added is 6 bits, but 64 × 3
5 bits for 2 dots, 4 bits for 32 × 32 dots, 3 bits for 32 × 16 dots,
In the case of 16 × 16 dots, 2 bits may be added, and in the case of 16 × 8 dots, 1 bit may be added.

C4 to C9 (Palette selection) The color of each dot of the sprite is specified by the data read from the pattern memory 7. In addition, the overall color tone can be changed by selecting a palette. Can be. That is, in the case of 16-color display, 4-bit data C0 to C3 read from the pattern memory 7
In addition, C4 to C9 are added to the upper bits so that 64 different color palettes can be selected for one display color. In the case of a 256-color display, a pattern memory is used. 7 in addition to the display color based on the 8-bit data C0 to C7 read from
By adding 8-C9, it is possible to select four color palettes for one display color. In the latter case, C4 to C7 of the sprite data become invalid.

FX and FY (Reversal Control) FX and FY are used to control vertical and horizontal reversal display (display direction). FX is for horizontal reversal display and FY is for vertical reversal control. As shown in FIG. 6, FX and FY are 0, 0
, Standard, 0,1 is upside down, 1,0 is left and right, 1,1
Is displayed upside down and left and right. In the case of the absolute sprite data, as shown in FIG. 6A, the inversion control is performed centering on the display positions X and Y indicating the upper left position of the sprite in the standard time. In the case of relative sprite data, data indicating the position of the lower left when flipping vertically, the upper right when flipping left and right, and the lower right when flipping left and right is used.
X and FY have different meanings.

SX0, SX1, SY0, SY1 (size) SX0, SY0-1 are the X,
SX1, SX0 = 0, 0: 8 dots in X direction, SX1, SX0 = 0, 1: 16 dots in X direction, SX1, SX0 = 1, 0: 32 dots in X direction SX1, SX0 = 1, 1: 64 dots in the X direction, SY1, SY0 = 0, 0: 8 dots in the Y direction, SY1, SY0 = 0, 1: 16 dots in the Y direction, SY1, SY0 = 1, 0 : 32 dots in the Y direction, SY1, SY0 = 1, 1: 1: 64 dots in the Y direction, and the values of SX1, SX0, SY1, and SY0 are used to access the pattern memory 7 as described above. Are determined uniquely. For example, when focusing only on the X direction, SX1
= SX0 = 1 (for 64 dots), NX2-0 = (0
00), (001), (010), (011), (10
0), (101), (110), and (111) are sequentially added to N15 to N15, so that 8 in the horizontal direction in FIG.
Two 8 × 8 dot patterns are sequentially specified.

CS (color number selection) CS is a color number selection flag. When CS = 1, it becomes a sprite for displaying 256 colors, and when CS = 0, it becomes a sprite for displaying 16 colors. PR (priority designation) A flag for designating the display priority. When PR = 1, the sprite is displayed at the forefront of the image.

RL (relative designation) When RL = 1, it is relative sprite data, and when RL = 0, it is absolute sprite data. The relative sprite data is a relative value with respect to the absolute sprite data having the highest priority, and the absolute sprite data (hereinafter referred to as “A” is added before the attribute data) is used as the absolute value as follows. Is converted to data.

Display position As shown in FIGS. 7A to 7D, the absolute sprite 21
Is changed by the inversion control data AFX and AFY of the absolute sprite 21 as follows. X = AX ± X When AFX = 0 +, when AFX = 1− Y = AY ± Y When AFF = 0 +, AFY = 1− Pattern name N = AN + N Palette selection C8, 9 = AC8 , 9 + C8,9 No change for C4 ~ C7

Inversion control As shown in FIG. 7, the inversion control of the relative sprite data is the inversion control based on the absolute sprite. That is, the relative sprite 22 shown in FIGS.
All are standard (FX = 0, FY = 0) and depend on the inversion control AFX, AFY of the absolute sprite 21. On the other hand, the relative sprite 221 in FIG. 7E is inverted upside down with respect to the absolute sprite 21 (FX = 0, FY = 1).
And the relative sprite 22 2 is the absolute sprite 21
Up, down, left and right (FX = 1, FY = 1).
Further, the relative sprite 223 in FIG. 7F is horizontally inverted (FX = 1, FY = 0) with respect to the absolute sprite 21, and the relative sprite 224 is vertically inverted (FX = 0) with respect to the absolute sprite 21. , FY = 1). In each case, it is found that the reference position P indicating the display position has not changed in comparison with (a) and (b) without inversion. That is, the relative sprite inversion control is performed as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 6B, the meaning is different from the case of the absolute sprite of FIG. 6A.

The sizes SX and SY, the number of colors selection CS and the priority designation PR are not different between the absolute sprite data and the relative sprite data.

Next, the operation of the thus configured sprite display device will be described. The processing of the drawing controller 5, which substantially controls the display of sprites, can be roughly divided into two processings: processing in a horizontal scanning period and processing in a horizontal blanking period.

Processing in Horizontal Scanning Period This processing checks whether or not all sprite attribute data stored in the sprite attribute table 6 is a sprite to be displayed in the next line, and stores the pattern memory 7 in the sprite to be displayed in the next line. This is a process for calculating NY2-0 and L2-0 for access. For the sprite to be displayed on the next line, the pattern name N15-0 and NY2 indicating the display position in the Y direction
０0 and L2０0 are stored in preparation for processing in the next horizontal blanking period. In this process, the Y-direction read position of the sprite is determined based on the presence / absence of inversion in the Y direction (FY) and the size in the Y direction (SY).

FIGS. 8 to 10 are flowcharts of the processing during the horizontal scanning period. The drawing controller 5 executes the following processing while reading sprite attribute data one by one from the top of the sprite attribute table 6 (S1). First, the relative designation R of the read attribute data
L (S2). If RL = 0, the process of FIG. 8 is performed assuming that the data is absolute sprite data, and if RL = 1, it is determined that the data is relative sprite data.
Execute the processing of

If the read data is absolute sprite data, it is checked whether or not the Y direction is inverted by referring to FY (S3). That is, as shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, when the vertical position of the next line to be displayed is V (this is the value of the vertical position counter that is incremented every horizontal scanning), Y When there is no reversal of the direction [Fig.
1 (a)] and the case where there is inversion [FIG. 11 (b)]
The relationship between the range in which the sprite exists and the V, and the relationship between the display position in the Y direction of the sprite differ. Therefore, when there is no inversion, the vertical position V is Y ≦ V ≦ Y +
It is determined whether SY ^* (where SY ^* is the number of dots in the Y direction determined by SY) is satisfied (S4). If the condition is satisfied, NY2-0, L
The value of 2-0 is determined (S6), and the pattern name N15-
NY2-0 and L2-0 are registered together with 0 (S7),
If the conditions are not satisfied, these registrations are not performed (S4). On the other hand, if there is a reversal in the Y direction, it is determined whether or not the vertical position V satisfies Y-SY ^* ≦ V ≦ Y (S5). The values of NY2-0 and L2-0 are determined (S8), and NY2-0 and L2-0 are registered together with the pattern names N15-0 (S9). If the conditions are not satisfied, these registrations are performed. No (S5).

When the sprite attribute data indicates an absolute sprite, X, Y, FX,
It is desirable that attribute data such as FY, N, C8, and C9 be temporarily stored in registers and the like as absolute attribute data AX, AY, AFX, AFY, AC8, and AC9. This is because these absolute attribute data are frequently used to determine the attributes of the subsequent relative sprite.
Also, since the relative sprite always depends on the nearest absolute sprite among the absolute sprites registered earlier, the attribute data of the absolute sprite is
Every time an absolute sprite is read, it can be overwritten and saved. For this reason, it is only necessary to secure a storage capacity for one absolute sprite as a register, and only one register is referred to when processing a relative sprite.

Next, when the read data is relative sprite data, as shown in FIGS. 11C to 11F, whether the parent absolute sprite 21 is inverted or not, the relative sprite 22 itself is used. There are four modes depending on the presence / absence of inversion, and among them, when the parent absolute sprite 21 is not inverted [FIG. 11 (c),
(D)] is the reverse of the process of FIG. 9 [FIG.
(E), (f)] are the processing of FIG. That is, as shown in FIG. 9, it is first determined whether or not the parent absolute sprite is inverted with reference to AFY (S1).
2). If there is no inversion of the parent absolute sprite, it is checked with reference to its own FY whether there is any inversion in the Y direction (S13). In the case where there is no inversion, the state shown in FIG. 11C is obtained, so that the vertical position V is AY + Y ≦ V ≦ AY + Y
It is determined whether or not + SY ^* is satisfied (S14). If the condition is satisfied, the values of NY2-0 and L2-0 are determined based on the value of V- (AY + Y) (S16), and NY2-0 and L2-0 are registered together with the pattern names N15-0. (S17) If these conditions are not satisfied, these registrations are not performed (S14). The pattern name N registered here is a pattern name N obtained by adding its own pattern name N to the pattern name AN of the parent absolute sprite and converting it into an absolute value. On the other hand, when there is a reversal in the Y direction, the state shown in FIG.
It is determined whether or not + Y ≦ V ≦ AY + Y + SY ^* is satisfied (S15). If the condition is satisfied, (AY + Y
+ SY ^* )-V, the values of NY2 to 0 and L2 to 0 are determined (S18).
Y2-0 and L2-0 are registered (S19), but if the conditions are not satisfied, these registrations are not performed (S1).
5).

Similarly, when there is an inversion of the parent absolute sprite 21, the state is as shown in FIGS. 11 (e) and 11 (f). Therefore, as shown in FIG. Within the range according to (S22), it is determined whether a sprite exists at the vertical position V of the next line (S23, S24),
NY2-0 and L2-0 are determined (S25, S2
7), NY2-0, L together with pattern names N15-0
2 to 0 are registered (S26, S28). Then, during one horizontal scanning period, the above processing is executed for all sprites registered in the sprite attribute table 6 (S
10, S11, S20, S21, S29, S30).

Processing in Horizontal Blanking Period This processing is processing for sprite data determined to be displayed on the next line in the above processing. Considering the size (SX) and inversion (FX) in the X direction, NX2
0 and d2 to 0 are determined, and the dot data (C3 to 0) is fetched from the pattern memory 7 and stored in the line memory 8 together with the pallet selection data (C9 to 4).

FIGS. 12 to 15 are flowcharts of the processing during the horizontal blanking period. First, as shown in FIG. 12, the sprite data registered in the process in the horizontal scanning period is read one by one (S41), and by referring to the sprite attribute table 6, it is determined whether the sprite is an absolute sprite or not. It is determined whether the sprite is a sprite (S42). If the sprite is an absolute sprite, the processing of FIGS. 12 to 14 is performed. If the sprite is a relative sprite, the processing of FIG. 15 is executed. In each case, the size SX of the sprite in the X direction, the number of colors CS, and the inversion control FX,
The number of dots taken out from the pattern memory 7 and the arrangement order in the X direction differ.

For example, in FIG. 12, the target sprite is an absolute sprite (S42), the size specified by SX is 8 dots (S43), the number of colors specified by CS is 16 colors (S44), and there is no inversion ( In the case of S45), as shown in FIG. 16A, an 8 × 8 dot pattern (1
(Dots are 4 bits for 16 colors), and 8 dots at positions NY2 to 0 and L2 to 0 determined by the process are d2
It suffices to read four dots from the pattern memory 7 in the order of = 0, 1 and store them in X to X + 3, X + 4 to X + 7 of the line memory 8. This processing is executed in steps S46 to S49. Similarly, there is inversion (S4
In the case of 5), as shown in FIG. 16B, the reading order in the X direction is reversed, and the storage position of the line memory 8 is also X
−7 to X. This processing is executed in steps S50 to S53. When each data is stored in the line memory 8, the pallet selection data C9-4
Is also stored at the same time.

In step S44, the number of colors CS is 256.
If a color is specified, the process is as shown in FIG. In this case, one dot becomes 8 bits, and FIG.
As shown in (d), d2, d1 are 00, 01, 10,
11 (without reversal) or 11, 10, 01, 00
The data is read out from the pattern memory 7 by changing two dots at a time, as in (without inversion), X-X + 7 of the line memory 8 when there is no inversion, and X-7 of the line memory 8 when there is inversion. To X should be stored in order. The pallet selection data given at this time is C
9, C8. This processing is executed in steps S55 to S71.

In steps S43 and S73, the size SX is 1
If six dots are specified, the process shown in FIG. 14 is performed. In this case, as shown in FIGS. 16 (e) and 16 (f), it is necessary to read 16 dots of data from the pattern memory 8 every 4 dots.
0,001 (without inversion) or 001,000
(With inversion) and d2 for each
Are changed to 0, 1 (in the case of no inversion), 1, 0 (in the case of inversion), and data is read out for every four dots, and X to X + 15 (in the case of no inversion), X− 15 to X (in the case of inversion) may be stored in order. This process is executed in steps S74 to S83.

On the other hand, if the sprite is a relative sprite, the processing is as shown in FIG. In this process,
The storage position of the line memory 8 is determined by the relationship with the parent absolute sprite, for example, AX + X to AX + X + 7, AX
Eight dots of data are stored in the forward or reverse direction at positions -X-7 to AX-X. Further, among the palette selection data C9 to C4 assigned at this time, C9 = C9 due to the relationship with the parent absolute sprite.
+ C9, C8 = AC8 + C8. Steps S85 to S97 perform these processes. It should be noted that the other combinations such as the size and the number of colors are similar to the above-described processing, and the description thereof is omitted here. Then, during the horizontal blanking period, the above processing is executed for all sprites registered in the above processing (S54, S72, S84, S98). As a result, all the sprites of the next line to be displayed are stored in the line memory 8.

FIGS. 17 to 19 are diagrams showing sprites displayed according to this embodiment and examples of modifications thereof.
FIG. 17 shows that, by changing the display position (X, Y) of the absolute sprite 21 to (X ′, Y ′), the five relative sprites 221 to 2 subordinate to the absolute sprite 21 are changed.
25 indicates that the attribute data can be moved collectively without any change. FIG. 18 shows that only the pattern name N of the absolute sprite 21 is changed from 1 to 4 without changing the attribute data of the five relative sprites 221 to 225 subordinate to the absolute sprite 21 at all. This shows that all the patterns can be changed to two relative sprites 221 'to 225'. Also, since one pattern is used for each of the patterns 221 to 225 and 221 'to 225', the number of patterns to be registered is small.

FIG. 19 shows five relative sprites 221 to 225 subordinate to the absolute sprite 21 by changing the inversion control of the absolute sprite 21 so that the absolute sprite 21 is horizontally inverted.
Can be reversed all at once without changing the attribute data. In the above embodiment, the relative designation of the size was not mentioned. However, if the relative designation of the sprite size is enabled, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 9, by changing the size (and pattern name) of the absolute sprite 21, the five relative sprites 221 to 225 subordinate to the absolute sprite 21 are changed.
Can be changed collectively as 21 ', 221' to 225 'without changing the attribute data at all. At this time, if the palette selection C of the absolute sprite data 21 'is changed at the same time, it is possible to make the image darker as the size becomes smaller and the sprite gradually moves away.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Not only display positions of sprites but also display attributes such as display orientation, display pattern, color, and size are defined as relative attribute data, so, for example, the entirety of a plurality of sprites forming one group Operations such as turning the direction left and right or upside down, changing all the patterns, darkening the entire color, and increasing or decreasing the size can be performed only by the rewriting operation on the absolute attribute data. For this reason, it is possible to cause a change in a larger number of sprites with a small number of accesses, and it is possible to prevent the display screen from flapping or flickering even with various complicated changes.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a sprite display device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the contents of a sprite attribute table 6 in the same device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a display coordinate space in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a memory address space of a pattern memory 7 of the same device.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a read address of the pattern memory 7;

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining inversion control in the device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a display position including inversion control of an absolute sprite and a relative sprite in the same device.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation of the drawing controller 5 in the horizontal scanning period in the same apparatus.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart continued from FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart continued from FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the processing of FIGS. 8 to 10;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an operation of the drawing controller 5 in the same apparatus during a horizontal blanking period.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart continued from FIG. 8;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart continued from FIG. 8;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart continued from FIG. 8;

FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining the processing in FIGS. 12 to 15;

FIG. 17 is a view for explaining a display modification of the same device.

FIG. 18 is a view for explaining a display modification of the apparatus.

FIG. 19 is a view for explaining a display modification of the apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Bus, 2 CPU, 3 ROM, 4 RAM, 5
Drawing controller, 6 ... Sprite attribute table, 7
... Pattern memory, 8 ... Line memory for drawing, 9 ... RG
B encoder, 10 ... display device.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An attribute data relating to a display attribute of each sprite for displaying a plurality of sprites is grouped into a group consisting of absolute attribute data and relative attribute data dependent on the absolute attribute data. At least one of the display position, display direction, display pattern, color, and size of a plurality of sprites specified by the absolute attribute data and the relative attribute data subordinate to the absolute attribute data by changing the target attribute data A sprite display method characterized in that one is changed at a time. 2. A method for calculating a display position of a sprite specified by the relative attribute data based on the relative attribute data and a display position and a display direction of absolute attribute data on which the sprite depends. The sprite display method according to claim 1, wherein 3. A sprite attribute table for storing attribute data relating to display attributes of each sprite for displaying a plurality of sprites; a pattern storage means for storing a display pattern of each sprite; and each of the sprites is displayed. Display means for reading attribute data of each sprite from the sprite attribute table and reading a display pattern from the pattern storage means based on the read attribute data, and displaying a display pattern of the display means specified by the attribute data. A sprite display device comprising: drawing control means for displaying; and table rewriting means for appropriately rewriting attribute data stored in the attribute table, wherein the attribute table converts the attribute data into absolute attribute data and the absolute attribute data. And relative attribute data dependent on The drawing control means calculates the display position of the sprite specified by the relative attribute data from the relative attribute data and the absolute attribute data to which the relative position data depends, and Rewriting means for rewriting only the absolute attribute data, wherein the absolute attribute data is a display position of the sprite,
A sprite display device including at least one of a display direction, a display pattern, a color, and a size of the sprite. 4. The attribute table according to claim 1, wherein said absolute attribute data and said relative attribute data are stored continuously.
4. The sprite display according to claim 3, wherein each relative attribute data is stored so as to be dependent on the nearest absolute attribute data having a higher priority in reading. apparatus. 5. The drawing control means determines a display position of a sprite specified by the relative attribute data based on the relative attribute data and a display position and a display direction of the absolute attribute data on which the sprite depends. The sprite display device according to claim 3, wherein the sprite display device calculates the sprite display value.