JPS6318217B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an information output device that is equipped with a display device, a printing device, etc., and displays or prints predetermined information according to information from a processing device.

Specific examples of such information output devices include various display devices, various output printers, control consoles, and various terminal devices (devices). Here, the information output device is a general term for these in terms of output devices. Note that this information output device may naturally have an input function.

Since the information output device according to the present invention has such a device that converts information into a format for display or printing used within the device, there is no need to send data from the processing device in the converted format. Rather, it is sufficient to simply send out information in the format used within the processing device, and the number of programs within the processing device can be reduced.

For this reason, this device is equipped with a storage device for storing a display or print format, and a data conversion device for display or print.

Hereinafter, a video data terminal device (hereinafter simply referred to as a display terminal) will be described as a specific example of the information output device.

By the way, in a computer processing system, information is generally exchanged, given and received between a central computer and a terminal user. In this case, display terminals are often used.

The general structure of this type of conventional display terminal is shown in FIG. In the figure, 1 is a central computer, and 2 is a display terminal.

Display terminal 2 accepts information from computer 1 from line 3 and displays CRT display 4.
A pattern of characters, symbols, etc. is displayed on the top in a predetermined format. On the other hand, the user can display necessary information on the CRT display 4 by using the keyboard 5. If necessary, the input information is transmitted from the display terminal 2 to the computer 1 via the line 3. 3, a bus can be used instead of a line, but the line will be explained below.

Here, the display terminal 2 inputs the data information received from the line 3 to the device control circuit 6, and stores it as display data in a predetermined position of the refresh memory 7 according to predetermined control. The data stored in this way is sent to the character/pattern generation circuit 8, the character or pattern corresponding to the data is read out, and this is sent to the video control circuit 9. The generated characters/patterns are converted into video signals and displayed on the CRT display 4.

The refresh memory 7 is a buffer memory corresponding to the screen, and stores display control information indicating character codes, blinking, display colors, etc. in correspondence with the screen position, and under the control of the device control circuit 6, the refresh memory 7 is a buffer memory corresponding to the screen.
The pattern generation circuit 8 is sequentially addressed to generate a predetermined character/pattern.

Here, the output of the function keys etc. of the keyboard 5 is as follows.
A cursor signal from the keyboard 5 and the like are input to the device control circuit 6 and are input to a refresh memory 7. In addition to the refresh memory 7, the device control circuit 6 also includes a character/pattern generation circuit 8, etc.
It has the ability to control each circuit and, in turn, the entire device. Furthermore, refresh memory 7
has a built-in address counter, cursor counter, etc.

By the way, data sent from the computer 1 to the display terminal 2 is represented by a code including a character code and display control information. This is generated by converting binary data used within the computer 1 into data in a code system that can be used by the display terminal 2 within the computer. For example, the data handled within the computer 1 includes integer binary numbers, real number binary numbers, and character binary numbers, and each of these is represented and processed in the corresponding binary number. . However, within the display terminal 2, each of these must be converted into a code as display data.

On the other hand, information input by the user through the keyboard 5 is stored in the refresh memory 7 in an encoded form according to the code system used within the display terminal 2.

When there is a read request from the computer 1 for this input signal, it is sent to the refresh memory 7.
The code information of that code system is read out as is and sent to the computer 1 side. Therefore, the computer 1 uses its internal program to reversely convert this into a binary information code system that can be processed within the computer 1.

In order to absorb such differences in code systems between the computer 1 and the display terminal 2, a processing program for processing this is required inside the computer, which increases the capacity of the entire processing program. Therefore, the execution time becomes longer, which causes a problem that the load inside the computer increases.

The present invention was made in view of such conventional problems, and aims to eliminate this problem. The present invention provides an information output device capable of transmitting data information.

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention has the accompanying drawings or, as an example of its configuration,
As embodied in the embodiment, command information 60 and data information (33
or 70), the information output device (display terminal 20) that displays or prints predetermined information and outputs the data information (33 or 70) from the processing device (computer 1). A storage device 22 stores a plurality of conversion information (for example, 43, 46) for converting into data information used within the device 20, and a storage device 22 that stores a plurality of conversion information (for example, 43, 46) for converting into data information used within the device 20, and a storage device 22 that stores a plurality of conversion information (for example, 7
0) into predetermined data information for display or printing by referring to predetermined conversion information (for example, 46).

Here, the data conversion device 23 converts the storage device 2 when receiving predetermined command information from the processing device 1.
2, by receiving the supply of predetermined conversion information, the function converts the predetermined data information from the processing device 1 into predetermined data information for use, display, or printing within this information output device 20. It is equipped with

In the information output device 20 of the present invention configured as described above, the code of the code system used in the information output device 20 is determined from the information in the storage device 22 and the data information before conversion from the processing device 1. Information can be generated. Therefore, there is no need to provide a special program for conversion processing in the processing device (computer 1), and the number of processing programs can be reduced.

By the way, the concept of the word "data information" used in this specification includes not only data to be displayed or printed, such as character codes, pattern specification codes, etc. , various control information for display or printing, such as color display information, color display code, coordinate designation information, coordinate designation code, field definition information, code, blink information, code, etc. It is defined and used as a broad conceptual term that includes various types of information related to this.

Here, the control information is used in the sense of distinguishing it from the character code itself, and is a general term for things that control the display of the display character itself, such as the coordinate position of the character itself, color display, blink display, etc.

In particular, the conversion information referred to in the claims includes conversion identification codes, "I", "R", "C", "S", etc., which will be explained in the following examples.
In particular, it is defined and used as a concept that includes the case where data in a predetermined storage location is converted in a predetermined relationship without using a conversion identification code. This means that conversion information is incorporated into information such as position. For example, information in the third byte of stored information is used as color information, and a predetermined information is stored in an information output device. In relation to this, it means a conversion that generates a corresponding color code, or a conversion that converts that color code into corresponding coordinate information (address information).

Further, for convenience of explanation, the word character code includes codes indicating numerical values, and will be explained using character codes as a representative.

Here, before entering into the description of the embodiments, each drawing will be described in advance.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a display terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of display format information sent from the computer 1, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of display format information sent from the computer 1. Among the information, FIG. 5 shows a specific example of the format information corresponding to each screen. FIG. 5 shows a specific example of the display format of the CRT display 4. FIG. 6 shows the command information from the computer 1. 7 is a diagram showing a specific example of data information from the computer 1, FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of displaying data based on data information from the computer 1, and FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the configuration. , a diagram showing format information when displaying a bar graph, FIG. 10 is a diagram showing data information from the computer 1 when displaying a bar graph, FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a specific example of a screen displaying a bar graph, FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a specific example of command information for performing processing with reference to display format information in the main memory of the computer 1.

Examples of the present invention will be described below.

In FIG. 2, a block diagram showing the configuration of the display terminal is shown in a form corresponding to FIG. 1, and the same reference numerals as in the same figure mean the same components.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a display terminal, which includes a display information analysis and generation circuit 21 and a storage device 22 in addition to the configuration shown in FIG. Here, the display information analysis generation circuit 21 is a specific example of the data conversion device 23, which is one of the components in the present invention, and includes an interface circuit 21a and a coordinate information generation circuit 21.
b, a display color code generation circuit 21c, and a character code generation circuit 21d.

The storage device 22 receives conversion information from the device control circuit 6 and stores it. A specific example of the conversion information is format information shown in FIG. 3, which will be described later. , is stored as display format information together with its identification number.

Furthermore, the storage device 22 is accessed by the display format information identification number (sent from the computer 1) from the device control circuit 6, outputs predetermined format information (conversion information), and uses this to analyze the display information. The signal is sent to the generation circuit 21.

The display information analysis generation circuit 21 generates control information ( However, including coordinate information) and character code,
Or generate a pattern code.

These pieces of information generated in the display information analysis generation circuit 21 are then sent to the device control circuit 6, where they are stored at predetermined coordinate positions in the refresh memory 7 according to the obtained coordinate information. . The control information (excluding coordinate information) stored in the refresh memory 7 is sent to the video control circuit 9, while the character code or pattern code is sent to the character/pattern generation circuit 8.
The character/pattern generation circuit 8 is addressed thereby to generate a predetermined pattern and send it to the video control circuit 9. Therefore, predetermined characters or patterns are displayed on the display 4 according to a predetermined format.

Thereafter, data information transmitted from the computer 1 will be displayed in the same format unless the format is changed.

After the display format information is registered (stored in the storage device 22), information on the display format information reference command is sent from the computer 1 to the display terminal 20 together with the display format information identification number, and from this point on, the display format information is The screen will follow that display format.

The above is an overview of the display terminal 20.
Next, the configuration of each device will be specifically explained.

First, the display format information group 30 is transmitted from the computer 1 to the display terminal 20 in the format shown in FIG.
It is then transmitted via line 3. In the display terminal 20, the device control circuit 6 first receives this data information and stores it in the storage device 22 as a group of information in a display format.

The configuration of the display format information group 30 shown in FIG. 3 includes a display format information identification number 31, the number of display format bytes (3
The number of bytes constituting 3) 32 and the format information 33 are made to correspond to one screen, making one unit, which is made up of a plurality of screens.

Here, 1 consisting of display format information identification number 31, display format byte number 32, and format information 33 is shown.
The unit data information is one piece of display format information, which defines the display format of data exchanged between the computer 1 and the display terminal 20.

At the beginning of the display format information group 30, information indicating a display format information registration command code 34 and the number 35 of display format information registration is attached. The information 34, 35 at the beginning is decoded by the device control circuit 6, and upon receiving it, the device control circuit 6 reads the display format information identification number 3 that follows.
1. Display format number of bytes: 32, format information: 3
3 are sequentially stored in the storage device 22.

Here, the contents of the format information 33 are as follows:
For example, the information is displayed on a CRT display 4 in a format as shown in FIG.

Note that here, the conversion information is configured in the form of format information. That is, this format information has coordinate information, color information, number of field digits, etc. arranged at predetermined positions, becomes incorporated conversion information, and has a conversion identification code as the conversion information.

In FIG. 5, the display screen 50 has an X coordinate in the horizontal direction and a Y coordinate in the vertical direction, and the X coordinate is set from 0 to 9 and the Y coordinate is set from 0 to 6.

Here, the fourth field 51, the fifth field 52, the sixth field 53, and the seventh field 54
Let be each current display field. Here, the fourth field 51 has its leading X and Y coordinates as X=
1, Y=1. Similarly, the fifth field 52
Then, X=5, Y=2, in the sixth field 53, X=1, Y=4, and in the seventh field 54,
=5, Y=5.

Correspondingly, these are shown in the column of X coordinate information 41 and the column of Y coordinate information 42 of each field position shown in FIG. 4, respectively. Furthermore, display color identification information 43 is arranged in the subsequent column as information indicating the display color in each field. Here, W means white, R means red, B means blue, and G means green.

Column 44 is information indicating the number of digits in the field, and column 45 is information indicating the number of digits below the decimal point. Further, column 46 is a conversion identification code. In the conversion identification code 46, "I" means an integer, "R" means a real number, "C" means a character, and "S" means special data. Here, the conversion code for “S” is
It means to display the information 47 set after that, and in FIG.
The characters are "DATA".

Here, each data information shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is shown in a binary code of the data system sent from the computer 1, and each column □ is a 1-byte binary code ( means data expressed in binary numbers).

The computer 1 transmits command information 60 in the format shown in FIG. The data information 70 shown is sent out.

Here, the command information 60 includes a code 61 whose first 1 byte means display format information reference, and the next 1 byte.
It consists of 2 bytes of information, each byte indicating the display format information identification number 62.

On the other hand, the data information 70 shown in FIG. 7 is sequentially transmitted in the form of, for example, integer binary data 71, real number binary data 72, and character binary data 73.

When the device control circuit 6 receives these command information 60 and data information 70 via the line 3, the device control circuit 6 decodes the command information 60 and uses the display format information identification number 62 to send the data to the storage device 22.
access. Then, among the display format identification numbers 31 of the stored information, the format information 33 corresponding to the number that matches the display format information identification number 62 is stored according to the number of display format information bytes 32. , and sends it to the display information analysis and generation circuit 21. Also, at this time, the device control circuit 6 controls the display information analysis generation circuit 2.
A drive request signal is sent to 1.

In the display information analysis generation circuit 21, the storage device 22
The first two bytes of X and Y coordinate information 41 and 42 of the format information sent from the X and Y coordinates are input to the coordinate information generating circuit 21b. Here, it is converted into predetermined coordinate information (address information) of the refresh memory 7. On the other hand, the display color identification information 43 in the third byte of the format information is input to the display color code generation circuit 21c, where it is converted into a code indicating the display color information on the CRT display 4. The remaining number of field digits 44, number of digits below the decimal point 45, and conversion identification code 46 of the fourth to sixth bytes are respectively input to the character code generation circuit 21d.

On the other hand, a drive request signal sent from the device control circuit 6 to the display information analysis generation circuit 21 is input to the interface circuit 21a.

In response to this, the interface circuit 21a
Coordinate information generation circuit 21b, display color code generation circuit 21c, and character code generation circuit 2, respectively.
1d, the device control circuit 6 sends a signal generation request signal to each circuit, receives each piece of information generated from those circuits, and
The information is sent to.

Note that when the character code generation circuit 21d receives a generation request signal from the interface circuit 21a, it refers to the conversion identification code, and if this code is not "S", it sends a message to the interface circuit 21a.
A request to send data information 70 from computer 1 is issued. Then, in response to this, storage device 2
A predetermined character code or pattern code corresponding to this data information is generated from each piece of information 44, 45, 46 starting from 2 and this data information 70.

For example, of the data information 70, the integer binary data 71 is a character code (numeric code) indicating each corresponding number based on the conversion identification code "I", which corresponds to the number of digits. is produced as. In addition, for the real binary data 72, character codes indicating each number, including each corresponding number and the number below the decimal point, are created based on the conversion identification code "R", and furthermore, each character code indicating each number, including the corresponding number and the number below the decimal point, is created. 2
In the case of a base number, each corresponding character code is created based on the conversion identification code "C".

Here, when the conversion identification code is "S", special data information, for example, information corresponding to "DATA" is read from the storage device 22,
Based on this, each character code indicating this "DATA" will be created.

Each piece of information generated in this way is transmitted to the device control circuit 6 under the control of the interface circuit 21a.
will be sent to. The device control circuit 6 selects the corresponding coordinate position (address position) of the refresh memory 7 based on the information from the coordinate information generation circuit 21b, sets this as the leading position, and selects the corresponding coordinate position (address position) from the display color code generation circuit 21c. The code indicating the display color and the character code from the character code generation circuit 21d are sequentially stored in the refresh memory 7.

As a result, information as shown in FIG. 8 is displayed on the screen 50 of the CRT display 4. In addition, in FIG. 8, the fourth field 5
"520" shown in 1 corresponds to the binary data of 71 in the data information, and "40.5" shown in the fifth field 52 corresponds to the binary data of 72 in the data information.
And "SWC" shown in the 6th field 53
correspond to 73 binary data in the data information. Here, “DATA” in the seventh field 54 is sent from the storage device 22.

Next, a case in which a graph is displayed in this embodiment will be described.

FIG. 9 shows format information 90 for displaying a graph, and corresponds to the format information 33 shown in FIG.

91 in the first byte, 92 in the second byte
indicate the X coordinate and Y coordinate, respectively, and mean the reference position of the graph. 3rd byte 93
is display color identification information, and here, G indicates green. The fourth byte, 94, is information indicating the number of graph points and indicates how many graphs are to be displayed, which is seven in this case.
The 5th byte, 95, is the Y-direction size indicating the maximum size at which the graph can be drawn, and here, the maximum size is 5 coordinates. The 6th byte 96 indicates the format of the graph, and "B" means a bar graph. The 7th byte 97 is a conversion identification code, and "I" means integer conversion. 8th byte 98
indicates the minimum value of the scale, and 99 in the 9th byte indicates the maximum value of the scale, which means that values from 0 to 100 are taken here.

Here, in the case of graph display, a display to that effect is made in the command information 61 shown in FIG. 6.
When this is transmitted from the computer 1, the device control circuit 6 decodes it and executes predetermined processing on the data information sent from the computer 1.

Here, the data information 100 sent from the computer 1 is as shown in FIG.
In other words, for the seven bar graphs to be displayed,
Information indicating the height is sequentially shown in the first byte to the seventh byte and is sent. Therefore, based on this data information, a pattern code corresponding to the graph is created in the character code generation circuit 21d, and the pattern code corresponding to the graph is generated in the coordinate information generation circuit 21.
A reference coordinate position is obtained from b, and predetermined arithmetic processing is performed in the device control circuit 6, and a predetermined pattern code is written to a predetermined address position in the refresh memory 7.

As a result, the displayed graph is as shown in FIG. 11.

As explained above, here, the storage device 22
may be replaced by the main memory built into the computer 1. In this case, the display format information is stored in the main memory, and the display format information on the main memory is stored by command information as shown in FIG. With reference to
The display terminal 20 will perform predetermined processing.

Here, the command information 120 shown in FIG. 12 is composed of a display format information reference command code 121 and a display format information storage location number 122.

Incidentally, the display terminal 20 has a function of displaying input signals from the keyboard 5 on the CRT display and also sending the signals to the computer 1 side.

Next, control in such a case will be briefly explained.

Information input from the keyboard 5 is immediately stored in a code format at a predetermined coordinate position (address position) of the refresh memory 7. When a read command is sent from computer 1,
When a transmission request is issued from the display terminal 20 side, the information newly input from the keyboard 7 will be sent to the computer 1 side.

In such a case, first, information input from the keyboard 7 is input to the inverse conversion circuit 6a of the device control circuit 6, and conversion information is created by converting this into the code system on the computer 1 side. Next, the format information 33 corresponding to the current screen is read out from the storage device 22, the field corresponding to the coordinate position inputted by the keyboard 7 is selected, and after that field number, the format information 33 corresponding to the current screen inputted from the keyboard 5 is selected. The converted information is added to the information and sent to the computer 1 side. At this time, even if the character input from the keyboard 5 is one of the characters displayed in the display field, information on the entire number of digits to be displayed is sent.

In this case, not only the data of the field corresponding to the key input, but also the data of the entire screen may be sequentially sent out. In this case, sending the field number etc. becomes unnecessary.

By the way, to determine which field the new information input from the keyboard 7 belongs to, a signal from the coordinate information generation circuit 21b is determined by a determination circuit or a
It is sent to a judgment program and judged here.

As can be understood from the above explanation, this information output device (display terminal in the embodiment) may be an information input/output device that also functions as an input device, but the point of this invention is to Since it is an output point, it is merely viewed here as an information output device.

Although the present invention has been mainly described with reference to a display terminal as a display device, it is of course applicable to printing devices such as line printers, XY plotters, dot printers, and typewriters. Also,
Although the explanation focuses on terminal devices, this invention
The present invention is not limited to terminal devices, but can be applied to various input/output devices, control consoles, etc., when the code systems are different.

In the above embodiments, specific examples of conversion information include conversion identification codes for binary integers, real numbers, characters, etc., and display control information such as conversion of color display information, generation of coordinate information, etc. However, in addition to this,
Depending on the system, various control information such as blink information, format definition, and field definition may be included. By the way, here, the data conversion device may be one that simply converts only the conversion identification code.

In addition, the display information and command information are displayed on the computer 1.
Although it is explained as if it were sent from
Although the description is given as a computer, it will be understood that this may also be a processing device, in general.

Further, the display format information identification number 31 may be managed using the address number of the storage device 22 instead. In this case, the format information sent from the computer 1 may be stored sequentially in address order. Here, the display format information is sent from the computer 1 side, but it may be stored in advance as fixed information inside the display terminal 20, and the format information 33 is sent from the computer 1 side. That alone is enough.

As described above in detail, the present invention includes a storage device that stores a plurality of conversion information for converting into data information used in an information output device;
Since the configuration includes a data conversion device that converts predetermined data from the processing device into predetermined data information for display or printing by referring to predetermined conversion information, the information conversion on the processing device side The processing programs such as the above can be made small and simple, and the conversion information program itself can be eliminated in some cases, reducing the load on the processing device side.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the general structure of a conventional display terminal device, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the structure of a display terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. An explanatory diagram showing the configuration of display format information sent from the computer side to the display terminal device side in the figure, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific configuration example of format information of the display format information in FIG. 3, Figure 5 is displayed using the format information shown in Figure 4.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of the display format of a CRT display. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of command information sent from the computer in FIG. 2. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of command information sent from the computer in FIG. 2. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of data information. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of displaying data based on data information from the computer in FIG. 2. FIG. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the data information from the computer for the bar graph in FIG. 9. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the format information when displayed. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the data information from the computer for the bar graph in FIG. Figure 12 is
In FIG. 2, it is a diagram showing a specific example of command information to be processed by referring to display format information in the main memory on the computer side. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Computer, 2...Display terminal device, 3...Line, 4...CRT display, 5...Keyboard, 6...Device control circuit, 7...Refresh memory, 8...Character/pattern generation circuit, 9...Video control circuit, 21 ...Display information analysis generation circuit, 22
...Storage device, 23...Data conversion circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An information output device that receives command information and data information from a processing device, displays or prints predetermined information, and outputs the information, and the data information is used within the information output device. A storage device that stores a plurality of conversion information for converting into data information, and a storage device that stores a plurality of conversion information, and converts predetermined data information from the processing device into predetermined data information for display or printing by referring to the predetermined conversion information. and a data conversion device that performs conversion, reads predetermined conversion information from the storage device based on predetermined command information from the processing device, supplies it to the data conversion device, and converts the data from the processing device. An information output device characterized by converting predetermined data information into predetermined data information for use, display, or printing within the information output device. 2. The conversion information is configured in the form of format information indicating the format of display or printing, and the data conversion device outputs information based on predetermined data information and predetermined format information from the processing device. Generates control information for display or printing used within the device and code information for generating predetermined characters or patterns, and displays in accordance with the predetermined format information;
The information output device according to claim 1, wherein the information output device performs printing.