JPS6242278B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an improvement in the field of graphic display devices, and in particular converts graphic patterns registered in advance in a pattern generator to display new patterns that are not present in the pattern generator. The present invention relates to a graphic display device capable of generating and displaying various patterns.

(Prior Art) Characters, figures, or their constituent elements (hereinafter referred to as graphic patterns) that can be displayed by a graphic display device are determined by the contents of graphic patterns registered in a pattern generator.

Therefore, it is desirable that as many graphic patterns as possible be registered in the pattern generator.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, when registering a graphic pattern in a pattern generator, it is necessary to create write signals corresponding to each graphic pattern one by one. Therefore, when there are many types of graphic patterns, there is a problem in that the number of man-hours required to produce them becomes enormous.

The present invention solves these problems,
To provide a graphic display device which requires less man-hours for graphic pattern registration even though there are many types of graphic patterns that can be displayed.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention achieves the above object by storing screen data including a pattern generator address, a vertically rotated signal, a horizontally rotated signal, a vertically reversed signal, and a horizontally reversed signal. Refresh memory, a raster modification circuit that modifies the raster address for pattern generator readout according to the upper and lower rotate signals read from the refresh memory, and a reflex controller connected to the previous or subsequent stage of this raster modification circuit. A raster conversion circuit that generates a new raster address by subtracting a raster address from a predetermined highest raster address in accordance with an up/down inversion signal that is read from the Tsushi memory and applied, and a raster that is applied through these raster modification circuits and raster conversion circuits. A pattern generator that outputs the corresponding graphic pattern portion according to the address and pattern generator address given by reading from the refresh memory, holds the output of one raster of this pattern generator, and refreshes the pattern generator. A shift register that cyclically shifts the stored contents in a predetermined direction by an amount specified by a left and right rotate signal read from the refresh memory and given, and a left and right inversion signal read from the refresh memory and given. It is comprised of a parallel/serial converter that loads the output signal of the shift register at the timing of the load signal of the refresh memory and converts it into a serial signal from the MSB side or the LSB side.

The apparatus is equipped with a raster scan type display whose brightness is controlled according to the output signal of the parallel/serial converter.

(effect) Each component of the present invention operates as follows.

The refresh memory outputs four types of signals for converting the graphic pattern together with the screen data, namely, a vertical rotation signal, a horizontal rotation signal, a vertical inversion signal, and a horizontal inversion signal.

A new pattern is generated by cutting the original graphic pattern vertically at predetermined positions using a raster modification circuit and a vertical rotation signal.

The original graphic pattern is flipped vertically using the raster conversion circuit and the vertical flip signal.

A new pattern is generated by cutting the original graphic pattern left and right at predetermined positions using a shift register and left/right rotate signals.

The original graphic pattern is flipped left and right using a parallel/serial converter and a left/right inversion signal.

(Example) The present invention will be explained below using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a refresh memory, 2 is a raster modification circuit, 3 is a raster conversion circuit,
4 is a pattern generator, 5 is a circular shift register, 6 is a parallel/serial converter having outputs at both ends, and 7 is a raster scan type display.

The refresh memory 1 stores screen data provided from an external computer or the like. The screen data includes the content of the display image and its modification signal. The content of the displayed image is the address in the pattern generator 4 of the graphic pattern corresponding to the displayed image. The modification signal is a control signal for pattern conversion, which will be described later, and there are four types: a vertically rotated signal, a horizontally rotated signal, a vertically reversed signal, and a horizontally reversed signal. Then, the graphic pattern registered in the pattern generator 4 is rotated vertically and horizontally, or reversed vertically and horizontally to generate an apparently new graphic pattern.

The screen data in the refresh memory 1 is read out periodically in accordance with the display operation, the pattern generator address of the screen data is given to the pattern generator 4, and the upper and lower rotate signals of the modification signals are sent to the raster modification circuit. 2,
The vertically inverted signal is applied to the raster conversion circuit 3, the horizontally rotated signal to the shift register 5, and the horizontally inverted signal to the parallel/serial converter 6.

The operation of each modification signal will be explained below in different cases using the drawings.

(1) Vertical Rotate Signal Figure 2a shows the case where a circular graphic pattern is rotated by half a turn in the vertical direction, resulting in a string-shaped graphic pattern in which two semicircles are stacked vertically.

In this case, the raster modification circuit 2 is given a raster address as screen data is read from the refresh memory 1. The raster address is
This is an address for accessing the pattern generator 4 together with the pattern generator address.
This raster address is modified by the raster modification circuit 2 according to the up and down rotation signals.

The raster modification circuit 2 is, for example, an addition circuit, and
A new raster address is generated by adding the upper and lower rotate signals to the raster address. The original raster address is rotated by the amount that the upper and lower rotate signals are added, so when the pattern generator 4 is read using this raster address, the graphic pattern in the pattern generator 4 is changed by the amount that the upper and lower rotate signals are added to. It is read out in rotation up and down.

(2) Vertical inversion signal Figure 2c shows the case where a triangular graphic pattern is reversed in the vertical direction.
A pattern is obtained.

In this case, the modified raster address output from the raster modification circuit 2 is given to the pattern generator 4 through the raster conversion circuit 3. When the up/down inversion signal is "1", the raster conversion circuit 3 subtracts the given raster address from the predetermined highest raster address to create a new raster address. The highest raster address is, for example, "7" of raster addresses 0 to 7 when 8 rasters are required to draw one graphic pattern. If we subtract each of the raster addresses 0 to 7 from this 7, we get
Since the raster address 7 to 0 is obtained, when the pattern generator 4 is accessed using this raster address, the graphic pattern in the pattern generator 4 is read out in order from the bottom pixel upwards. When you display it, you get a graphic pattern that is flipped upside down.

When the raster address is a binary number, such raster conversion is performed by exclusive OR operation between each bit of the raster address and the up/down inversion signal.If the up/down inversion signal is "0", the raster address is output as is. , if it is "1", the complement of the raster address, which is a binary number, is obtained, and as a result, the raster address is inverted and output. Note that the raster conversion circuit 3 may be placed before the raster modification circuit 2.

(3) Left/Right Rotate Signal Figure 2b shows the case where a circular graphic pattern is rotated by half a turn in the left/right direction, resulting in a butterfly-shaped graphic pattern in which two semicircles are connected left and right.

The operation in this case is performed by the shift register 5. One raster portion of the graphic pattern read out from the pattern generator 4 according to the raster address given by the raster conversion circuit 3 and the pattern generator address given by the refresh memory 1 is set in the shift register 5. Shift register 5 has refresh memory 1
Since the left and right rotate signals are given from
In accordance with this command, the contents of the shift register 5 are cyclically shifted in a predetermined direction, either to the right or to the left, by a specified amount, resulting in a graphic pattern rotated in the horizontal direction.
Since the shift is circular, the same transformation can be specified in either the left or right direction.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the structure of such a shift register 5. The data loaded by the load signal is cyclically shifted by a predetermined number of bits according to the shift clock and sent to the parallel/serial converter 6. This shift clock is generated by a clock provided in the shift register 5,
Since it is necessary to process one raster's worth of data in real time, the shift clock should be sufficiently faster than the shift clock used to display one dot of this data. In this way, the shift operation is completed within the processing time for one dot worth of data.

(4) Horizontal inversion signal Figure 2 d shows the case where a triangular graphic pattern is reversed in the left-right direction, and the left-handed graphic pattern is changed to the right-oriented graphic pattern.
A pattern is obtained. Such operations can be performed in parallel/
This is done by a serial converter 6.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating details of the parallel/serial converter 6. As shown in the figure, the parallel/serial converter 6 receives a load signal for identifying the start of one screen of data and a shift clock for sequentially outputting dots constituting one raster.
For example, in an 8-bit device, there are 8 pulses of the shift clock during one load signal. As the parallel/serial converter 6, an element such as SN74LS299 supplied by TI, for example, is used. Since such an element has two types of output terminals, left shift and right shift, this output signal and a left/right inverted signal are input to the gate to select one of them. Either the left shift or the right shift selected by the gate is sent to the display 7.

The operation in this case will be explained next. The shifted contents of shift register 5 are set into parallel/serial converter 6. This timing is determined by the pulse of the load signal of the refresh memory 1. The contents of the parallel/serial converter 6 are changed from the left side or the right side according to the left/right inverted signal given together with the load signal, i.e.
The signal is serially outputted from the MSB side or the LSB side by a shift clock and given to the display 7 as a brightness control signal. Depending on whether the serial output is output from the right or the left, a graphic pattern with the left and right sides reversed can be obtained.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, when the graphic pattern in the pattern generator 4 is converted by rotating or reversing vertically and horizontally, or by a combination thereof, one basic graphic pattern is created. Since it is possible to generate several new graphic patterns, there is no need to register graphic patterns in the pattern generator 4, which saves man-hours. Furthermore, the hardware configuration for pattern conversion is relatively simple.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a graphic pattern for explaining the operation of the device shown in FIG. 1, and a diagram of the shape of the converted graphic pattern. FIG. 1 is a detailed block diagram of the shift register 5 and parallel/serial converter 6. FIG. 1... Refresh memory, 2... Raster modification circuit, 3... Raster conversion circuit, 4... Pattern generator, 5... Shift register, 6... Parallel/serial converter, 7... Display device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A refresh memory that stores screen data including a pattern generator address, a vertical rotation signal, a horizontal rotation signal, a vertical inversion signal, and a horizontal inversion signal; a raster modification circuit that modifies a raster address for pattern generator readout in accordance with a vertical rotate signal, and a raster modification circuit that is connected to the preceding or subsequent stage of this raster modification circuit and that modifies a raster address read out from a refresh memory according to a vertical inversion signal that is applied. A raster conversion circuit that subtracts a raster address from a predetermined highest raster address to create a new raster address, and a raster address that is provided through these raster modification circuits and raster conversion circuits and a pattern generator that is provided by reading out the raster address from the refresh memory.・A pattern generator that outputs graphic pattern parts corresponding to the addresses according to the addresses, holds the output of one raster of this pattern generator, and uses the left and right rotate signals read from the refresh memory and given. A shift register that cyclically shifts retained contents in a predetermined direction by a specified amount, and the shift register is operated at the timing of a load signal of the refresh memory according to a left/right inversion signal read from the refresh memory and given. Equipped with a parallel/serial converter that loads the output signal and converts it from the MSB side or LSB side to a serial signal, and a raster scan type display whose brightness is controlled according to the output signal of this parallel/serial converter. Graphic display device.