JPS6140110B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a data output method for repeatedly reading information in a storage device from sequential addresses and providing it to an output device such as a display device.

In recent years, especially in fields related to information processing,
As systems become more complex and sophisticated, complex information processing systems that include the processing of image information in addition to the processing of coded information such as numerical values, so-called data processing, have appeared, and their range of applications has expanded. be. In conventional data processing systems, the information handled is coded information such as numerical values. Therefore, when sending coded data to an output device, the code must be converted into a human-readable pattern. I had to convert it to .

On the other hand, for example, image information itself is handled in information processing systems as information that is semi-readable by humans. For this reason, when coded information and non-coded information are mixed, as in the above-mentioned complex information processing system, separate storage devices are generally provided depending on the type of information, or separate storage devices of the same type are used. After converting into information, it must be stored in a storage device, making the control system extremely complex. Furthermore, the storage of uncoded information requires extremely large storage capacities, which increases the cost of processing systems and prevents their widespread use in applications.

An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks by storing uncoded information in the same storage device as coded information and performing reading control similar to that of coded information. To provide an inexpensive data output method capable of outputting a mixture of information and non-coded information.

The data output method of the present invention includes a first storage means for storing information to be output to an output device;
a second storage means for storing at least one area designation information specified by a storage area in the first storage means; and a storage area in the first storage means specified by the area designation information. a third storage means for storing attribute designation information that designates whether the content is coded information or non-coded information; and sequentially reading out the area designation information stored in the second storage means; control means for causing the output device to output the contents of the storage area in the first storage means designated by the read area designation information based on the attribute designation information corresponding to the read area designation information; It is characterized by being composed of.

According to the present invention, composite information from the central processing unit, input device, etc. (hereinafter referred to as main system) is written to the storage device via the output control circuit. When the output control circuit receives instructions from the main system, it reads the storage device and determines whether the read data is coded information or non-coded information. If the information is coded information, a pattern corresponding to the code is read from the pattern generator and provided to the output device via the output connection circuit. In the case of non-coded information, the read data from the storage device is provided as is to the output device via the output connection circuit. That is, the output device circuit determines the type of information stored in the storage device, switches the addressing method in the storage device according to the type of information, and controls or disables the pattern generation operation of the pattern generator. Close.

Next, regarding the data output method according to the present invention,
Examples will be given and explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a cathode ray tube (CRT) display device as a data output device. The CRT display in this embodiment has four data lines each 80 characters long.
line can be displayed. The video output also provides horizontal sweep control and vertical control of, for example, a 7x9 dot matrix. The 7x9 dot matrix is located within an 8x16 matrix for each character as required for cursor position and character spacing. It is assumed that the control of the CRT display device and the display of code data are carried out using a known method. In the figure, when the output control circuit 1 receives coded display information a from the main system via the interface 10, the display information a is stored in the storage device 2 as shown in the example memory map of FIG. It is possible to write to any arbitrary address via signal lines 1 and 2. Here, SA1, SA2, SA3
indicates the starting address where the display information is stored, and L1,
L2 and L3 indicate the length of display information, and the third
As in the example shown in FIG. a, each can be stored in a register within the output control circuit 1. A synchronizing signal b for controlling the horizontal sweep return line and vertical sweep return line is applied from the output control circuit 1 to the CRT display device 7 via signal lines 1-3, and raster control is executed. In synchronization with this synchronization signal b, the address SA of the storage device 2 is
1, display information of code data c and attribute data d indicating a method of displaying the code data, etc. are read out sequentially through signal lines 2-1 and 2-2, respectively. At the same time, a raster count output e is derived through the signal line 1-1, and initially its value is "0" to indicate the first raster of the 8.times.16 dot matrix. In the case of this embodiment, when 80 digits of display information is read, horizontal retrace control is executed and the raster count output e is 1.
At the same time, the display information is read again from the same address SA1 as when the value is "0". In this way, the raster count output e becomes the value "15" indicating the final raster of the 8x16 dot matrix, and when the reading of the 80-digit display information is completed, the raster count output e is cleared and becomes "0". At the same time, 80 digits (data length L1 is 80
It is determined that the reading of (in the case of 2) has been completed, and display information is sequentially read in the same manner from the next data display start address SA2.

The raster count output e and code data c are given to a pattern generator 4, and pattern data f of an 8×16 dot matrix is created. This pattern data f is given to the parallel-to-serial conversion circuit 5 via the signal line 4-1, where it is converted into a serial signal g. The attribute data d is analyzed by the video control circuit 3 to become a video control signal h, which is applied to the video control gate 6 along with the serial signal g from the signal line 5-1 via the signal line 3-1. Here, it becomes the final video output i and is given to the CRT display information 7 via the signal line 6-1. By repeatedly repeating the above operations, code data can be displayed. In this embodiment, the parallel-to-serial conversion circuit 5, the video control circuit 3, and the video control gate 6 form an output connection circuit.

Furthermore, when the output control circuit 1 receives the non-coded information a' from the main system via the interface 10, it can receive any information from any address SA2' as illustrated in FIG. 2, as in the case of the coded information. The non-coded information a' can be written to the storage device 2 by a length L2'. The output control circuit 1 outputs the display start address SA as shown in the example of Fig. 3b.
1, SA2', 7A2 and each data length L
1, L2', and L2 can be stored in the register, and at the same time, these display data groups can be of type c.
It is possible to store a parameter indicating whether the information is coded by type I or non-coded by type I. Therefore, in the example of Figure 3b, the first
When the reading of the coded information a by SA1, L1, and C is completed, the non-coded information a' of SA2', L2', and I is detected and the non-coded information is sequentially read from address SA2' of the storage device 2. Once the 80 digits of uncoded information have been read, horizontal retrace control is executed. At this time, if it is determined that the type of information currently being read is I (non-encoded information), the address of the storage device 2 where the continuation starts with the next raster becomes SA2'+80,
Generate a dot matrix like coded information. Therefore, since the same address is not read repeatedly, reading and outputting of addresses is continuously executed up to the information length L2'. During this time,
The output control circuit 1 outputs a signal j indicating reading of non-coded information, and supplies it to the parallel-to-serial conversion circuit 5 via signal lines 1-4. In response to this, the parallel-to-serial conversion circuit 5 invalidates the data output f from the pattern generator 4 and converts the non-coded information C' from the storage circuit 2 into a serial signal. Thereafter, the video signal is sent to the CRT display device 7 to display the information in the same manner as in the case of encoded information. When the length L2' of non-coded information is read, the raster count output e is cleared and becomes "0", and the coded information is sequentially read according to the information type C from the next data display start address SA2.

Note that while the above embodiments illustrate how to display information on a cathode ray tube display by iteratively addressing sequential storage locations without main system intervention, this technique can be applied to any random access storage device. Needless to say, this can also be achieved by using a device.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the composite information read out from the storage device according to the specification from the output control circuit can be generated as a pattern by a pattern generator depending on the type of information, or can be directly converted into pattern information. By supplying the information to the output device via the output connection circuit, complex information can be easily introduced into the output device with a simple configuration.
This not only lowers the price but also expands its use in applications.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a memory map of the storage device in FIG. 1, and FIGS.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing states in which only encoded information and composite information are stored in the output control circuit of FIG. 1; FIG. In the figure, 1 is an output control circuit, 2 is a storage device, 3 is a video control circuit, 4 is a pattern generator, 5 is a parallel-to-serial conversion circuit, 6 is a video control gate, and 7 is a CRT display device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 a first storage means for storing information to be output to an output device; a second storage means for storing at least one area designation information specifying a storage area within the first storage means; third storage means for storing attribute specification information that specifies whether the content of the storage area in the first storage means specified by the area specification information is coded information or non-coded information; and sequentially reads the area designation information stored in the second storage means and specifies the read area designation of the contents of the storage area in the first storage means specified by the read area designation information. A data output method comprising: control means for causing the output device to output data based on the attribute designation information corresponding to the information.