JPS6213674B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an image display device, and particularly when a plurality of objects are located in front and back from the perspective of an observer,
The present invention relates to an image display device that can display objects arranged in any order from the front to the rear.

For example, in an image display device such as a graphic terminal used as a terminal device of a data processing device, when image data to be displayed is stored in the image memory 1, the image data to be displayed is displayed in red. The signal is stored as three digital signals of (R), green (G), and blue (B) in 1-bit screen memory areas 2, 3, and 4, respectively. Here, screen memory area 2 is for red lights, screen memory area 3 is for green lights, and screen memory area 4 is for green lights. When displaying these on the display monitor 8, the values of each component for the same pixel are read out simultaneously, and each is converted into an analog signal by digital-to-analog converters (hereinafter referred to as D/A converters) 5, 6, and 7. , is displayed on a display monitor 8 such as a color CRT.

Now in the red, green, and blue screen memory areas 2 to 4,
When images such as those shown as hatched areas 2-0, 3-0, and 4-0 in FIG. , an image as shown in FIG. 2D is displayed. In this case, a portion where two or more color components overlap is displayed as a mixed color. Therefore, red and blue overlapping areas are displayed in magenta, red and green overlapping areas in yellow, blue and green overlapping areas in cyan, and areas where all three colors overlap are displayed in white. .
So from the perspective of the observer, from the front to the back, red,
If objects are arranged in the order of green and blue, when the colors of the objects are mixed and displayed as shown in FIG. 2D, it is not possible to determine their context.

Therefore, conventionally, when writing to image memory, the front and back of each object was fixed in advance (for example, a red object was placed at the front, a blue object at the back), and the front and back relationships were set using hardware or software. Eventually, images such as those shown in Fig. 3 A to C were written to the respective screen memory areas. According to this, as shown in Figure 4A, only the object in the foreground is displayed in the overlapping part, so
It is easy to understand their context. However, with this method, information about the object behind that is hidden by the object in the foreground is not recorded in memory, so for example, when the red object in the foreground is erased, the object behind does not appear, as shown in Figure 4 (b). The disadvantage is that the image ends up looking like this.

In contrast to such conventional devices, the present inventors suppressed the display signal of the rear object by the display signal of the object in the foreground, as shown in FIG. He invented and filed an application for a display device that not only provides a display image as shown in Figure 4A, but also allows objects in the rear to appear when an object in the foreground, for example a red object, is erased, resulting in a display image as shown in Figure 6.

That is, in FIG. 5, the image signal in the screen memory area 2 is converted into an analog signal by the D/A converter 5 and transmitted to the display monitor 8 as it is, but "1" indicating the presence of an image is output from the screen memory area 2. When the signal is input to the inverter 12 directly via the inverter 11 or the OR circuit 13, the inverters 11 and 12 output "0", the AND gates 9 and 10 are turned off, and the screen memory area 3, The output signal of 4 is suppressed. Further, when "1" is output from the screen memory area 3, the AND gate 10 is similarly turned off and the output signal from the screen memory area 4 is suppressed.

Furthermore, as shown in Figure 7, multiple objects ~
can also be displayed in the same way.

In this case, the image information of the object, etc. is stored in the same number part in the n-bit first image memory 14-1 to N-th image memory 14-N, respectively, and is passed through the priority circuit 15, which will be described later. , 1st
Look up Table
(hereinafter referred to as LUT) is transmitted to the 16th to 19th NLUTs. Here, the first LUT 16 outputs a red signal (R), a green signal (G), and a blue signal (B) of an appropriate number of bits determined in advance according to the input signal, and the second LUT 17 to NLUT 19 also output a predetermined appropriate number of bits.
It is configured in the same way as 1LUT16. Adder 20
The red signals R output from the first LUT 16 to NLUT 19 are added to the adders 21 and 22, and the green signal G and blue signal B output from the first LUT 16 to NLUT 19 are added to the adders 21 and 22, respectively. The digital addition output signals of adders 20 to 22 are transmitted to D/A converters 23 to 25, respectively, and converted into analog signals, and color images corresponding to these signals are displayed on display monitor 26.

By the way, the priority circuit 15
is a method that suppresses the rear image signal based on the front image signal, and the part of the rear object that is hidden by the foreground object is not displayed, and when the foreground object is deleted, the part that was hidden until then is not displayed. It accurately displays the image of the object behind. The first image memory 14-1 input to this priority circuit 15 distance
When image information indicating the presence of an object (at least one bit is "1") is transmitted from the inverter 30, the inverter 30 outputs "0" and the AND gate 27
Turn off. Therefore, the second image memory 14-2 in which the object to be input as the distance is stored
The image information transmitted from the LUT 17 is not transmitted to the second LUT 17. However, when the first image memory 14-1 outputs all n bits "0" indicating the presence of an object, the inverter 30 outputs "1" and turns on the AND gate 27. - The image information transmitted from 2 is the 2nd LUT1
7 will be transmitted.

Further, the OR circuit 34 outputs "1" when a signal indicating the presence of an object is transmitted to at least one of the first image memory 14-1 and the second image memory 14-2, and the inverter 31 outputs "1". 0'' is output, the AND gate 28 is turned off, and the third image memory 14 in which the object is stored is output.
No. 3 image information is output to the third LUT 18. In this way, by further using the OR circuits 35, 36, the inverters 32, 33, and the AND gate 29, it is possible to perform a display in which the presence of the object in front hides the object in the rear, as described above.
Here, distance<distance<...<distance N, and distance N is further behind the observer.

However, when only such a priority circuit 15 is used, the first image memory 14-1
The object stored in the N-th image memory 14-N is always displayed as if it were in the foreground, and the object stored in the second image memory 14-2 is displayed as being in the second position. The object will be displayed as if it were at the rearmost position. In other words, the display order is uniquely determined depending on which image memory the image is written into.

However, depending on the purpose, you may want to freely select the number from the front to display the image, regardless of the number of the image memory written into it. For example, when designing dyed fabric patterns through conversation processing with a computer, you can write various basic patterns in multiple image memories and change the order in which they are stacked to see how the finished pattern changes. When you want to check on the display monitor, etc.
If only the display could be changed without rewriting the contents of the image memory, work efficiency would be greatly improved.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image display device (having such a function). For this purpose, the image display device according to the present invention includes a storage means for storing image information of each object when a plurality of objects to be displayed are located in front and behind each other, and an image display device for displaying images of these objects based on the image information. In an image display device having a display means for displaying a composite image, the input end has a plurality of input ends receiving the output of the storage means and an output end provided corresponding to the front and back of the object to be displayed. By providing a switching means that can selectively output a signal input to an output terminal to an arbitrary output terminal, it is possible to change the front and back states of a plurality of objects to be displayed as appropriate, and the output terminal of the switching means A priority means having a corresponding input section and a gate means that is controlled on and off depending on the presence or absence of image information of the object in front is provided, and the image information of the object in the rear is suppressed and input to the display means. It is characterized by the following.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 8 to 10.

FIG. 8 shows the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the switching circuit, and FIG. 10 is an example of the switching circuit.

In FIG. 8, the switching circuit 37 has an input section,
…N outputs the signal input to,,…N
For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the input signal transmitted to the input part is outputted to the output part, the input signal transmitted to the input part is outputted to the output part, The input signal transmitted to the input section is output to the output section, and the input signal transmitted to the input section N is transmitted to the output section.
8 has the same structure as FIG. 7 except for this switching circuit 37. Therefore, when the switching circuit 37 in FIG. 8 outputs the switching as shown in FIG.
-The object entered in 2 will be displayed at the forefront,
The object written in the third image memory 14-3 is displayed second, and the object written in the N-th image memory 14-3 is displayed third.
The object written in N is displayed, and the object written in the fourth image memory (not shown) is displayed at the end. Of course, the output section,
. . . By appropriately changing the transmission signals from each image memory outputted from N, the order of the displayed objects can be changed accordingly.

The switching circuit 37 is, for example, as shown in FIG.
It can be configured by the first data selector 38 to the Nth data selector 41. The first data selector 38 is provided with N input terminals and one output terminal, and each input terminal has an input signal -
Input signals N are respectively input. In response to a selection signal SEL applied to the selection end S, one of the input signals applied to each input end is selectively output. Of course, it is also possible to output all "0" in accordance with the selection signal. The second data selector 39 to the Nth data selector 41 are each configured similarly to the first data selector 38. Therefore, the first data selector 3
A switching circuit can be constructed that can output each input signal from an arbitrary output terminal in accordance with each selection signal SEL (multiple bits) applied to the 8th to Nth data selectors 41. Note that although the configuration shown in FIG. 10 shows a 1-bit plane, the image memory has n bits per pixel (n≧
In the case of 2), n pieces of the same circuit as shown in FIG. 10 may be arranged in parallel in the depth direction of the bit and controlled simultaneously.
Of course, this switching circuit may be a semiconductor switch or a relay switch, but it can also be configured with an IC.

As explained above, according to the present invention, the switching circuit selectively outputs the image signals stored in the image memory to the priority circuit, thereby arbitrarily changing the arrangement order of the objects on the display section. Therefore, it is possible to provide a display device that can be used for various purposes.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a conventional display device, Figs. 2 to 4 are illustrations of its operating state, and Figs. 5 to 7 are a display device that displays a state hidden by an object in front and its operating state. An explanatory diagram, FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the switching circuit.
FIG. 10 is an example of a switching circuit. In the figure, 1 is an image memory, 2 to 4 are image memory areas, 5 to 7 are D/A converters, 8 is a display monitor,
9 and 10 are AND gates, 11 and 12 are inverters, 13 is an OR circuit, 14-1 to 14-N are first to Nth image memories, respectively, 15 is a priority circuit, 16 is a first LUT, 17 is the first
2 LUT, 18 is the 3rd LUT, 19 is the NLUT, 20
22 is an adder, 23 to 25 are D/A converters, 2
6 is a display monitor, 27 to 29 are AND gates,
30 to 33 are inverters, 34 to 36 are OR circuits, 37 is a switching circuit, 38 is a first data selector, 39 is a second data selector, 40 is a third data selector, and 41 is an Nth data selector. Each is shown below.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. When a plurality of objects to be displayed are located in front and behind each other, an image having a storage means for storing image information of each of these objects, and a display means for synthesizing and displaying images of these objects based on the image information. The display device has a plurality of input ends that receive the output of the storage means and output ends that are provided corresponding to the front and back of the object to be displayed, and outputs the signal input to the input ends to an arbitrary output end. A switching means is provided that can selectively output the output to the output end, and the output of the output end is inputted to the display means so that the forward and backward states of a plurality of objects to be displayed can be changed as appropriate, and the output of the switching means A priority means having an input section corresponding to the terminal and having a gate means that is controlled to turn on and off depending on the presence or absence of image information of an object in front is provided, and suppresses image information of an object in the rear to be sent to the display means. An image display device that allows input.