JPS60230194A - Multi-script type graphic terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention is capable of displaying textual information in any script, such as alphabetical script, syllabic script, ideographic script, as well as "international dictation script", as well as being able to display screen information in terms of automatic processing. It concerns a graphical terminal that allows you to mix different languages and their scripts on the same line.

[Prior Art Graphic terminals can be classified into two types of terminals: passive terminals and intelligent terminals. Both of these graphical terminals are connected to a remote information processing device which transmits the characters and control codes to be displayed.

PROBLEM SOLVED BY THE INVENTION Historically, the first passive graphics terminals developed were mostly limited to low definition video monitors. The screen is operated by a remote information processing device.

Since this information processing device takes a considerable amount of processing time to operate the screen, it is not very effective in that it limits the "effective" processing time allotted for program execution. Under these conditions, screen manipulation is reduced to a minimum and alphanumeric characters from a matrix of read-only memory are often used.

In order to avoid operating the screen by a remote device, it is provided, in particular, with an image memory, means for displaying the contents of the image memory on the screen, and means for exchanging data codes with the remote device for operating this display means. It was decided to incorporate graphic terminal processing means.

These data codes are character codes to be displayed or control codes.

The control code is a code that changes the state of the screen, such as a carriage return, a single line jump, a backspace, or a cursor movement code. The control code is also the code that interrogates the graphics terminal regarding the state of the screen, which is determined by the value of each image point on the screen, the position of the cursor, and the display state of the cursor (on, off, blinking).

The invention relates to a second type of graphical terminal. The most commonly used graphical terminal of this type is the alphanumeric terminal. In this case, the processing means includes a matrix of characters and
Means is provided for associating the received character code to be displayed on one character of this matrix with two journals. The matrix of characters can be stored in read-only memory. The processing means also comprises means for defining writing rules, ie how letters of the alphabet are combined to form words and phrases. These write rules may also be stored in read-only memory in the form of a series of instructions.

Most often only one matrix of characters is used, and this can be replaced relatively easily with another matrix of characters. For such an exchange, it is only necessary to exchange the read-only memory containing the matrix of characters; such exchange is done because the read-only memory only contains the data that makes up one set of characters. If the read-only memory is housed in a plug-in cartridge, it can be replaced relatively easily.

However, in general, writing rules cannot be easily changed. The write rules are therefore in the form of instructions stored in read-only memory;

Other instructions to be executed by the processing means are also included, for example instructions for the operation of input/output circuits.

Therefore, existing graphics screens are adapted to display graphics and alphanumerics with fixed scripts, but are not configured to form new characters that are governed by special writing rules. It is not possible to display their text processing.

The writing rules are not completely fixed, and some of them are parameters. For example, from among the character sizes, it is possible to select one size corresponding to a character composed of a matrix of 5x7 dots and another size corresponding to a character composed of a matrix of 10x14 dots.

However, the script that can be displayed may be a fixed script composed of a predetermined matrix that cannot be changed.

There is a limit to how such writing rules can be changed, and it is not possible to simultaneously process simple characters such as Latin characters and complex characters such as ideograms.

Part 1 showing textual information in various languages and scripts
From Figures a to 1e, the importance of being able to change the writing rules for displaying a large number of different languages by means of one graphical terminal can be seen.

Figure 1a shows text information in Latin characters. All characters are contained within the same dot matrix, typically 5x7 dots. In this way, the display screen can be covered regularly with characters, thus simplifying the operation of the screen.

This method is not optimal from the perspective of the person viewing the screen. This is because a character with a limited width such as ``I'' and a character such as ``rMJ'' are displayed occupying the same area, so that the textual information consists of a wide character. gives a sense of width, and gives an otherwise narrow feel.

However, the visibility of the text information is satisfactory.

However, when the dimensions of two characters in a set of characters differ widely, it is not possible to cover the screen regularly with the characters. For example, the text in Figure 1 written in Ugaritic script includes a small character 4 and a large character 6. It is clear that if each of these characters were assigned the same dot matrix, the text would become very difficult to read. Therefore, the writing rules are not the same for the text in Figure 1a and the text in Figure 1S. Even if these rules are fixed for a known alphanumeric graphical terminal, it is not possible to display these texts on the same alphanumeric graphical terminal.

Part 1 @c is the rule for combining one letter as shown in Figure 1a
and shows alphabetic text that differs from the script rules in Figure 1. In fact, the first
Diagram C shows text in written Hebrew and its associated components, where the script direction is from right to left. These characters are all written in the same dot matrix as in FIG. 1a, but each dot matrix may include punctuation marks 10 and 14 and a character 8.12. The symbols contained in the dot matrix 16 are not single characters extracted from the character matrix, but are made up of two characters: an alphabetic character 8 and a punctuation character 10. This writing rule, which consists of adding punctuation marks below, inside, stylistically, above the letters of the alphabet, does not appear in the two texts mentioned above.

Figure 1d shows another example of an alphabetic script consisting of text of the Arabic alphabet,
In this case, it is written from right to left. There are typical rules for writing zoku, which consist of connecting consecutive letters. These characters can be connected in initial, intermediate or final positions, or can appear in separate forms, so they can take on different forms determined by the specific algorithms of the Arabic script. Also contains related ingredients. Most notably, alif is also known as hdmza or lag-alif.
f).

Figures 1a to 1d thus represent alphabetic scripts that vary depending on the set of letters used, as well as the writing rules that govern how these letters are combined to form text. It shows.

In the case of some known graphical terminals, the writing rules are fixed even though multiple sets of characters are available. Therefore, one graphic terminal cannot process various texts as shown in FIGS. 1a to 1d.

Figure 1e shows text in Chinese, ie, a non-alphabetic script. Since each character is quite complex, a large dot matrix, e.g. 25X2
It is necessary to display it in a dot matrix of 5. The writing rules in this case are similar to those in FIG. 1a. Each character is composed of the same matrix of dots,
The size of the dot matrix is not the same in both cases. Therefore, the writing rules are also not the same in both cases.

Alphabetic scripts and other scripts are divided into two types. It should be understood that the term "script" as used herein is not limited to the meaning of a language script. For example, a musical note constitutes a set of script characters, which has a certain number of concatenations of various symbols, which are governed by mandatory and mandatory rules about the concatenation of these characters. So, it can be said that it is alphabetic,
It can be processed using a graphic terminal.

Hieroglyphs and ideograms are not alphabetic script characters. The matrix of characters in this case would be too large to be stored on a graphical terminal (3000 characters for ancient Egyptian, 5700 characters for Chinese, and 45000 characters for Atsyrian-Babylonian wedge script). These characters are therefore stored in a large capacity memory, such as a hard disk or floppy disk, which can be addressed by a remote information processing device to which the graphics terminal is connected.

In this case, the information processing device transmits the value of each dot in the dot matrix that corresponds to the character to be displayed, rather than sending a simple code combined with the character to be displayed, as in the case of an alphabetic script. There must be.

Therefore, the code of the character to be displayed is completely different depending on whether it is an alphabetic script or another script. Therefore, known graphical terminals cannot process these two scripts simultaneously since the transmission protocol between the terminal and the remote information processing device is fixed.

Means to solve problems The aim of the invention is to eliminate these drawbacks.

To this end, the graphical terminal of the present invention includes means for loading one or more script generators from a remote terminal. This consists in particular of storage means and control means.

The control means are capable of loading into the storage means a set of data and instructions received from a remote device to which the graphics terminal is connected. Each of these sets defines a script, ie, a set of displayable characters and the rules for combining these characters to form words and phrases.

Operation In this way, the graphical terminal according to the invention can process any variety of languages in its original script or in a number of typologically different languages contained in its original script. , words in various languages contained in various scripts,
These scripts can be blended into one or more lines of the screen based on their own rules, regardless of the writing instructions. To change the language, the control means need only load into memory one or more script generators received from the remote terminal.

The graphic terminal according to the invention is, for example, R8
It is not based on a file management system formed by a remote device with a standard interface such as the It can be adapted to all information processing systems. Additionally, the graphics terminal of the present invention can be connected to any remote device while maintaining its own graphics capabilities, regardless of what file management system is used.

According to another feature of the graphical terminal according to the invention, for each alphabetic script generator the storage means are provided with a command zone defining the writing rules and a data zone defining the connections of the letters.

According to a further feature of the graphical terminal of the invention, for each non-alphabetical script generator the storage means are provided with a command zone defining the writing rules.

According to a further feature of the graphics terminal of the invention, the writing or reading code for the series of image points comprises a field containing a control group, a field containing the number of image points associated with the control, and a field containing the number of image points associated with the control. and a field containing the amount.

The script begins at a point specified by the cursor position, and the cursor can be moved or fixed based on the control.

In the case of black and white graphics terminals, according to a feature of the invention, the field containing the values of the series of image points includes one bit per image point and optionally includes filler bits.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a graphic terminal according to the invention. This graphics terminal includes a display screen 30, display management means 3 constituted by a graphics processor 34 and an image memory 36.
2, an input/output circuit 38 for exchanging data with the remote device 4o via a bidirectional connection or bus 42, and processing means 44.

The processing means 44 include a processor 50 and a storage means 49, which form control means 48. Shari means 44
further comprises storage means 46, which means 1
A series of character matrices and writing rules are stored to form one or more script generators. The control means 48 manages the reception of codes from remote devices and operates one of the script generators on the basis of these codes. The control means 48 also include a direct access unit to the memory 47 and the graphics processor 34.
It is possible to accelerate data exchange with

The input/output circuit 38, the graphics processor 34 and the storage means 46, 47 and 49 are connected to the processor 50 by a bus 52.

Similarly, image memory 36 is connected to graphics processor 34 by bus 54. Furthermore, screen 30
is connected to graphics processor 3 by channel 56.
Connected to 4.

Graphics processor 34 copies the contents of image memory 36 to screen 3o. The graphics processor also receives instructions from the processor 50 and executes the instructions stored in the storage means 49 to change the contents of the storage memory 36.

The instructions contained in the storage means 49 constitute the basic management functions of the graphics terminal. An outline of these functions is shown below.

- General screen management functions such as carriage return, line jump, display reset, backspace, and cursor movement.

- Ability to copy a rectangular zone of the screen towards another zone of the same size.

- Temporary zoom function for rectangular zones of the screen.

1. The ability to store data and instructions received via the input/output circuit 38 from a remote device in the storage means 46.

- Ability to send a hood indicating the state of the screen (cursor position, image point display state, etc.) to a remote device.

The storage means 49 contains script generators that are used if there are no script generators loaded into the storage means 46.

The instructions contained in the storage means 46 control, inter alia, the size of the dot matrix constituting the characters to be displayed, since this size may connect consecutive characters;
It does not necessarily have to be the same for all characters. Also, according to these instructions, the parameters of the screen management functions included in the storage means 46, such as the number of lines of image points corresponding to the "line jump"function;
can be fixed. This number of lines is related to the size of the dot matrix that constitutes the character.

The operation of the graphic terminal will be described below.

At startup, processor 50 executes a series of instructions contained in storage means 49 to start the graphics terminal. Processor 50 then stores one or more script generators received from remote device 40 via input/output circuitry 38 in storage means 46 . Waits for control from remote device 40 instructing it to load. In this case, control of the processor is given to the instructions of the script generator, which are selected as a function of the code taken and loaded into the storage means 46 to control the execution of the write function.

The format of the codes received and transmitted by the graphic terminal is described in detail below. Third
Time a shows the format of the code of the character to be displayed in the case of an alphabetic script with a small number of characters. This code is very simple; for example, an ASCII code can be used in which 1 byte is specified for each character. If a number of script generators are loaded into the storage means, this code may be preceded or followed by a check code indicating which script generator is to be acted upon.

Control codes can also be transmitted in a known manner by bytes of ASCII code.

Figure 4a shows the format of the write code for a series of image points. This format is used to send characters point by point in case of non-alphabetic script families. However, this format can also be used to perform processing operations other than displaying characters when the writing method is alphabetic.

The code shown in Figure 4a has three fields, each containing the control name, the number of image points in question, and the value of each image point.

Writing begins at the point specified by the cursor, and the cursor can be shown or hidden by command. In the case of black and white graphics terminals, the value of each point is reduced to one bit.

The sizes of the various fields are as follows. 2 bytes for the control name, 1 or 2 bytes for the number of image points, and (N+6)/7 bytes for the image point value. However, N is the number of image points. This N is 7
If it is not a multiple of , only the lower bits of the last byte are used and the other upper bits are ignored.

4th [b] shows the state of the screen after receiving a series of image points from the writing code, where N=
5 and 5=='11001011'. Only the lower 5 bits of S have meaning; manipulate the cursor coordinates and J
Then, these are the coordinate image points (I, J), (I, J
+1), (I, J+2), (I, J+3) and (I, J
+4) on or off states are shown in increasing order.

The write code format of FIG. 4a can also be used to inform a remote terminal of the status of N image points. These two codes are their names,
That is, they are distinguished by a value different from the first field.

This format can be simplified when reading and writing one image point. When writing, the code can be renamed based on whether the image point is turned on or off.

In this case, writing or reading the image point is
It is represented by a code having only the first code field of figure a. Compared to the prior art, the format of FIG. 4a allows for lower data rates between the remote device and the graphics terminal when displaying text in a non-alphabetic script format.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1a to 1e are diagrams showing various alphabetic and non-alphabetic scripting systems; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a graphical terminal according to the invention; FIGS. 3a and 3e are alphabetical The figure which shows the character code which should be displayed and the displayed character in the case of a script method. Figures 4a and 4a show the format of the code for displaying a series of screen dots and the corresponding display 64.6, 8.12...Character 10.14... Punctuation marks 30...display screen 32...display management means 34...graphics processor 36...image memory 38...input/output circuit 40...
・Remote device 42... Bus 44... Processing means 46... Storage means 48... Control means 49... Storage means 50... Processor

Claims (7)

[Claims] (1) comprising a display screen, means for managing a display device provided with an image memory, an input/output circuit for receiving codes of characters to be displayed and control codes from a remote information processing device, and processing means; In a multi-script graphical terminal, the processing means comprises storage means and control means, the control means being capable of loading into the storage means one or more script generators received from the remote device; A graphics terminal capable of receiving from a device a code of characters to be displayed and a control code, and further capable of causing a script generator to act on the receiver to control the display device based on the received codes. (2) TovgMl coffee factory is - Proyano 廿ν 9 -
2. A graphics terminal according to claim 1, further comprising a memory containing instructions for managing a terminal, wherein said processor is capable of executing said instructions. (3) The graphic terminal according to claim (2), further comprising a unit that directly accesses the memory. (4) For each alphabetic script generator,
A graphic terminal according to claim 1, wherein the storage means comprises a command zone defining writing rules and a data zone defining a matrix of characters. 5. A graphical terminal according to claim 1, wherein for each non-alphabetic script generator the storage means comprises a command zone defining the writing rules. (6) The writing code for a series of image points comprises a field containing a control name, a field containing a number of image points associated with the control, and a field containing a value of successive image points. The graphic terminal described in paragraph (1). (7) The display screen is a black and white screen,
The field containing the values of successive image points contains one bit per image point. Graphics terminal according to claim 6, optionally including filler bits.