JPS6031299B2 - image highlighting device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an image display device that highlights an arbitrary area of an image, and emphasizes the brightness of only a part of the image that is of interest, while other parts are blurred in comparison. This is used to highlight any area within the image.

Conventionally, in this type of display, in order to clarify the contrast of the entire image before displaying the image, the density values are linearly expanded and converted using the maximum and minimum values of the density of the entire image in advance. It was done to display this. but,
When targeting the density value of the image itself, the absolute value of the density value is converted, so if you read the density value of the specified pixel from the display memory while looking at the display screen, you will only get the converted data. I can't.

Moreover, when expanding the density value of only a part of the image as a preprocessing before display, the coordinates of the designated area must be determined and input offline, which has the disadvantage that it takes too much time. There is. It is an object of the present invention to eliminate these drawbacks in conventional displays and to expand the density values within an image display device so that the absolute value of the density values does not change.

Another object of the present invention is to normalize density values only within an arbitrary partial area of an image specified by the operator while looking at the screen, and to emphasize contrast compared to other areas. The idea is to visually display a part clearly.

Still another object of the present invention is to enable the operator to select a target area and observe the display results in real time.

According to the present invention, a first image memory stores image information to be displayed, an address register stores start point coordinates of an arbitrary rectangular area in the first image memory, and x and Y directions of the area. Stores a value indicating the width of.

△×, △Y address registers, maximum value and minimum value detectors for determining the maximum and minimum density values of pixels in the area, and density values of only pixels in the area using the maximum and minimum values. a density converter for linearly converting the density converter; a second image memory for storing the converted image information from the density converter; and a parallel shift and input/output of the image information in the first image memory and the second image memory. In order to perform control and selectively retrieve only the image information in the area in the first image memory, the values of the address register and the △×, △Y register are used to control the image information from the first image memory. An image enhancement display device is obtained, which includes a shift controller for inputting and controlling image information to the maximum value, minimum value detector, and density converter. Next, details of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a display device according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a display medium such as a cathode ray tube, 2 is a refresh memory having the number of pixels corresponding to the display screen on the display medium, For each pixel an intensity value, usually consisting of several bits, is stored. 3 is an address register that stores the x and Y coordinates of the starting point of the rectangular area to be highlighted, and 4 is a △×, △Y register that stores values indicating the width of the rectangular area in the X and Y directions. Values are set through the terminal 20' using an external coordinate input device such as a light or tablet device.

5 is a shift controller for shifting the image data stored in the refresh memory 2 in parallel and selectively taking out only pixels within the rectangular area; 6 is a maximum value of the image data within the rectangular area; and the maximum value to find the minimum value,
a minimum value detector; 7 a density converter that performs conversion to highlight the image data within the rectangular area using the maximum value and minimum value; 8 another device for storing converted data; This is IJ fresh memory.

Now, from the outside via the signal terminal 20, the rectangular female point coordinates (m, n) are input to the address register 3, and its width k, 1
Suppose that is stored in the △×, △Y register 4. In normal display, image data already written in the refresh memory 2 is sequentially read out by an external input device and displayed on the display device 1. Here, it is assumed that the refresh memo IJ2 has image data written in advance. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing in detail, among the components shown in FIG. 1, those particularly related to the present invention.

Components that are the same as in FIG. 1 are given the same numbers. The shift pulse generator 51 generates shift pulses in synchronization with the refresh cycle, and the timing controller 52
has a built-in counter (not shown), and calculates the count of this shift pulse, the X coordinate of the female point in the rectangular area of the X address register 31, the Y coordinate of the starting point of the Y address register 32, △X
The width of the register 41 in the x direction and the width of the ΔY register 42 in the y direction are compared, and a timing control signal is supplied to each component via the signal line group 100 to 106. Second
The operation of each part in the figure will be explained with reference to the timing chart in FIG. 3. FIG. 3a shows shift pulses applied in parallel by the shift pulse generator 51 to the refresh memory 2 via the signal line 100.

First, a reset pulse is applied to the maximum value register group 63 and the minimum value register group 64 via the signal line 106. This reset pulse causes the maximum value register group 6 to
3, the minimum value register group 64 contains the maximum value of the density value displayed on the display device (here, Xm as an example).
ax) is set. That is, maximum value register group 6
When the three minimum value register groups 64 are each 6-bit registers, the contents of the maximum value register 63 are all uo'', and the minimum value registers 64 are all given ``1'' as an initial value. It will be done.

A counter (not shown) in the timing controller 52 starts counting from the next shift pulse, and at this time, "0" is applied to the signal line 101 as shown in FIG. 3b. The image data in the refresh memory 2 is shifted in parallel by a shift pulse applied via the signal line 100, and is sequentially fed back to the rearmost portion of the refresh memory 2 and stored therein. At the same time as the (n-1)th shift pulse falls, the timing controller 52 connects the AND gate groups 61 and 62 via the signal line 102 as shown in FIG.
The data shifted by the nth shift pulse, each maximum value register 63, each minimum value register 6
The contents of 4 are each compared. That is, as a result of comparison between terminals 600 and 601, the data of terminal 601 is the same as that of terminal 600.
If the data is smaller than the data of
is applied to the AND gate group 61, the gate group 61 is opened to the maximum value of 4, and the smaller data is input to the register 64, and its contents are rewritten. Conversely, terminal 600
As a result of the comparison between and 601, if the data at the terminal 600 is smaller, 0'' is output to the signal line 604, and the AND gate group 61 is not opened, so the contents of the minimum value register 64 are held. At the same time, the density value and shift data of the maximum value register 63 are applied to terminals 602 and 603, respectively, and compared by the comparator 65. If the value of the terminal 603 is greater than the value of the terminal 602, the signal line 605 is 1″
is output, the AND gate 62 is opened, and the maximum value register 63 is rewritten with the shift data applied to the terminal 603. Conversely, if the data at the terminal 602 is greater than the data at the terminal 603, "no" is output to the signal line 605, so the AND gate 62 is not opened and the value in the maximum value register 63 is held until the next shift data. The above operation is repeated until the n+th shift pulse, and the maximum value register group 63 and the 4th value register group 64 contain a section in the Y direction, a column of all pixels from the nth to the n+th. The maximum value and minimum value for each shift pulse are stored respectively.At the same time as the shift pulse n+ falls, "0" is given to the signal line 101 again as shown in FIG. , does not enter the minimum value detector 6, but is only stored again at the end of the refresh memory 2.
At the same time as the first shift pulse is applied, Fig. 3c
Another shift pulse is output from the timing controller 52 to the signal line 102 as shown in FIG. The maximum value and minimum value register groups 63 and 64 are both shift registers connected in the X direction, and are sequentially shifted from right to left by m-1 shift pulses. At this time, as shown in FIG. 3d, the signal line 103 is given 0'' by the timing controller 52, so the shifted data does not pass through the asor gates 81 and 82. Separate maximum value register 6 by set pulse
8 has a maximum value of 4, and the register 69 is given the maximum density value, Xmax, as the initial value.m-1
At the same time as the second shift pulse falls, the signal line 103
is given nl'', and gates 66, 67, 81
, 82. The contents of the maximum register and minimum register of the shift data passed through the AND gate 81 are transferred to the comparator 6.
01, and the maximum value and minimum value are calculated in exactly the same way as in the case of the comparator group 65. When the m+kth shift pulse ends, no more shift pulses are applied to the signal line 102 as shown in FIG. It shows the maximum and minimum values of the data within. These values are given to a subtracter 71 and the result is given to a divider 7
2 is further given. The converted maximum density value (Xmax) is supplied from the external terminal 21 to the divider 72 . Once the maximum and minimum density values within the rectangular area are determined, linear transformation as shown in the following equation is performed using those values. x′=
Graduation = type LxR '1}maX-mln
Here, X is the density value of a certain image stored in the refresh memory 2, X' is the density value after conversion, min is the minimum value found above, max is the maximum value, and R is the maximum density value after conversion. It is.

R/(max-min) has already been determined by the divider 72 and is given as a constant.

Usually, R is a value of 6 to 8 bits, that is, 63 to 256, and is a value determined by the display device or display object, so this value can be given in advance from the external terminal 21. Next, referring again to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, an embodiment in which one operation is performed in parallel will be described.

In FIG. 3, e is a signal line group corresponding to pixels other than the m-th to m+ko-th pixels in the signal line group 104, and f
is a signal line group corresponding to pixels from m to m+kth which are part of the signal line group 104, and g is a signal line group 105
, h indicates a signal line group corresponding to the m to m10k pixels, and h indicates a signal line group other than that of the signal line group 105. Similar to the maximum value and minimum value detection period, in the case of conversion, in order to perform calculations only on rectangular areas, m, n, k, and their values stored in address register 3 and △×, △Y register 4 are used. The timing controller 0 52 provides a control signal to the converter 7 via the signal line group 104 and 105. First, the signal line group 104
are given a total of 1'' as shown in e and f of FIG. The data is stored in the refresh memory 8 via the AND gate group 73 and the OR gate group 77.
On the other hand, since the signal line group 105 is all given 0'' as shown in FIG. , as shown in FIG. 3f, only the mth to m10kth signal lines of the signal line group 104 are "0", and conversely, as shown in FIG. 3g, the mth signal line of the signal line group 105 is "0". A control pulse is given from the timing controller so that only the m10kth signal lines are nl''. Therefore, only the data from mth to m+kth passes through the AND group 74 and is subtracted from the minimum value in the subtracter group 75, and then in the multiplier group 76, the subtraction result and the R/R stored in the divider 72 are It is multiplied by the value of (max-min) and stored in the refresh memory 8. The above procedure is repeated sequentially until the n+th shift pulse, and at the falling edge of the n+th shift pulse, as shown in FIG. All "0"s are supplied to 105 as shown in FIG. 3g and h. At this time, the data read from the refresh memory 2 is always returned to the last part of the refresh memory 2, so after the conversion is completed, the previous data is stored in the refresh memory 2 and the specified rectangular area is stored in the refresh memory 8. Only the converted data will be stored. Although not shown, if the data in the refresh memory 8 is read out and displayed by the shift controller 5 in the same way as the refresh memory 2, the contrast of only the designated area will be enhanced, making it very easy to see. As described above, according to the present invention, by specifying an arbitrary area on the display screen using a coordinate input device such as a light ben or a tablet while looking at the display screen, only images within that area can be displayed in real time. It can be highlighted and the display effect can be increased.

In this embodiment, the rectangular area has been described to simplify the explanation, but the invention is not limited to this, and can be easily extended to other shapes.

In addition, if the raw data of the image is the problem, the original data is stored in the refresh memory 2 as it is, so it can be used.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an image highlighting display device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating detection of maximum and minimum values, and conversion of image data, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a timing chart diagram for explaining the operation of each component shown in the figure. In the figure, 1 is a display medium, 2 is a refresh memory, and 3 is a display medium.
4 is an address register, 5 is a shift controller, 6 is a maximum value/minimum value detector, 7 is a density converter, and 8 is a refresh memory. Force 3 diagram O diagram O diagram 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first image memory that stores image information to be displayed, an address register that stores the starting point coordinates of an arbitrary rectangular area in the first image memory, and a value that indicates the width of the area in the X and Y directions. ΔX, ΔY registers that store ΔX, ΔY registers, and maximum values for determining the maximum and minimum density values of pixels in the area;
a minimum value detector; a density converter that linearly converts the density values of only pixels within the area using the maximum value and minimum value; and a second image memory that stores converted image information from the density converter. and performs parallel shifting and input/output control of image information for the first image memory and the second image memory, and selectively retrieves only image information within the rectangular area in the first image memory. , a shift controller for controlling input of image information from the first image memory to the maximum value and minimum value detectors and the density converter according to the values of the address register and the ΔX, ΔY registers. Characteristic image highlighting display device.