KR20070001765A - Memory saving character display system and display method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and a method for display characters in a memory saving type are provided to maximally restrict memory usage and use diverse fonts/character sizes by generating unit character information combining property information and bitmap information of a character, and managing/displaying the character with the property information and the bitmap information after applying the unit character information to an HMI(Human Machine Interface). An editor generates the character property including a character code and the bitmap information of the character as one character unit by editing the characters through diverse font/size settings. A display part receives and stores character display information comprising the generated character unit information to a memory, and display the needed character information to a display unit by using the character property and the bitmap information included in the character unit information in case that the needed character information is displayed. The editor and the display part respectively include a communicator for interchanging data including the character unit information.

Description

Memory-saving character display system and its display method {MEMORY SAVING CHARACTER DISPLAY SYSTEM AND DISPLAY METHOD THEREOF}

1 is a block diagram of a character display system including a character display unit and an editor unit for a general human-machine interface;

2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a general character display method.

Figure 3 is a block diagram and an example of the character unit data of an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a flow chart showing the operation of the embodiment of the present invention.

*** Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawing ***

10: HMI Display 11: Display Window

12: control unit 13: memory

14: communication unit 20: editor unit

21: editorial unit 22: communication unit

30: unit character information 31: font attribute part

32: Bitmap data portion

The present invention relates to a memory-saving character display system and a display method thereof. In particular, a combination of font attribute information including a character code and bitmap information of a predetermined font corresponding to the code without storing all of the separate TrueType font information is stored. The present invention relates to a memory-saving character display system and a method of displaying the same, wherein new unit character information is generated so that this information can be used as a character-related processing but also used as bitmap information of a character to be used when the actual display window is displayed.

As various electronic devices are used over a wide area, various interface devices have been developed that can interface between people and devices. Such devices may be broadly classified into input devices for providing a predetermined instruction to electronic devices and display devices for checking an input item or an operation state of the devices. Thanks to their rapid development, they have been changed in various and splendid ways.

The display unit for displaying the operation state of the electronic devices or the input contents of the user is a light emitting device that provides a simple light, and a graphic light emitting device module using the light emitting device is used. In recent years, the LCD and the TFT have been used. Similarly, display means capable of representing characters are also used. In the case of high-end devices, various monitors (CRT, LED, TFT, etc.) may be utilized.

However, small and excellent LCD or small TFT monitors are often applied to industrial equipment and home appliances, and these display means have a function of expressing characters so that users can recognize various situations.

The interface between the human and the machine is collectively referred to as a human-machine interface (HMI), and their performance has long been an important factor comparable to that of an actual electronic device.

Among them, the HMI display unit that can provide characters to the user provides various characters by using a predetermined character display memory, and fonts and characters used in the computer to maintain compatibility with the computer (PC) used in everyday life. The code is used as is. However, depending on the application of HMI, it is often necessary to express not only basic ASCII code characters but also double-byte characters such as Korean, Japanese, and Chinese using very limited memory. For compatibility with computers that design programs and provide character information to be displayed using communications, they must support universal fonts and character codes recognizable by the computer. As a result, it is common for computer font data to be stored in memory and used in HMIs with small memory. However, since the computer font data is designed to be operated in a relatively large storage area (hard disk), all the available characters are often included in a single font, and thus the capacity thereof becomes large. For example, TrueType fonts used by Microsoft's Windows operating system can be quite large, even if only one font is stored on a device or home appliance HMI that needs to be reduced in cost and size because it is several megabytes in size. A memory area is needed. That is, in case of general HMI display unit, Windows font is downloaded and used as it is. If you want to use other fonts due to memory limitation, the previously downloaded font is removed and new font is downloaded and used.

If the display performance of the display window 11 is a means in which clear display by True Type is impossible (when it is black and white or gray scale of a low resolution), bitmap information having a fixed size is used in a TrueType font composed of bitmap information. It also stores extracted bitmap fonts (complete bitmap fonts in Korean). However, this also needs to store bitmap font information corresponding to 1: 1 in thousands of codes, so the size is also in megabytes, and such bitmap fonts must be created separately. Because of the huge memory area occupied by fonts, font storage becomes an important factor that increases the overall HMI cost.

FIG. 1 illustrates a configuration of an editor unit 20 that provides text information to be displayed on the HMI display unit 10 and the HMI display unit 10 of a general HMI interface.

The HMI display unit 10 is simply a memory 13 for storing font data and storing code information of characters and character strings to be displayed, and a display window 11 for physically displaying bitmap information of fonts stored in the memory 13. ), A communication unit 14 for receiving an externally provided character code or binary data, and the information received through the communication unit 14 to process the information stored in the memory 13 or display the contents to be displayed. And a control unit 12 to display the display window 11 on the display window 11.

The editing unit 21 generates a character code by editing the character information to be displayed by the HMI display unit 10 and generates various control information or driving information in a binary state, and the communication unit of the HMI display unit 10. An editor unit 20 including a communication unit 22 for transmitting to 14 is connected to the HMI display unit 10. The editor unit 20 may be a computer, a notebook computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a dedicated editing device, or the like. However, the type of devices that can be used as the editor 20 can be further expanded if the device is capable of editing characters using a general font and a character code.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a specific process of displaying predetermined characters on the display window 11 by the HMI display unit 10 of FIG. 1, as shown in FIG. 2, a font information area in which a font is stored; The text to be displayed is divided and described into text character code information area. In practice, they are separated from each other by physical or logical memory areas.

The figures shown represent the sequence of operations. First, information to be displayed in the memory area is obtained from the text character code information area. The content stored in the area is composed of information related to the display and character codes of actual characters, and in some cases, may be string information composed only of actual character codes.

In order to display character code information (two-byte information) among the information thus obtained on an actual display window, font data information corresponding to the character code is detected in the font information area. In Windows general-purpose font, character code and font data correspond to 1: 1, so you can get the start address of the code by simple memory location calculation. Get font data information to display.

When the font data thus obtained is displayed in accordance with the display window, characters that can be checked by the user are displayed on the display window.

However, to this end, the font information area must include all the font data that can represent thousands of characters. Therefore, the HMI which displays relatively small or limited characters to be represented has a lot of wasted memory, and it is difficult to use various fonts. In the case of having font information consisting of bitmap information, it is difficult to control the size or direction of the font.

As described above, the display unit of the conventional human-machine interface stores the entire font having specific display data information of all the fonts of several thousand characters in order to convert the character code into data for actual character representation using limited memory. Since the display data information corresponding to the character code to be retrieved is retrieved from the corresponding font, the type of fonts that can be stored by the limited memory is limited, which makes it difficult to use various fonts and causes a lot of wasted memory. There was an inefficient problem in terms of expression and cost.

In consideration of such a problem, the present invention defines character information as attribute information including a character code and size and bitmap data information about the corresponding character as one unit character information, thereby generating an edited character as unit character information in the editor. After applying this to the memory of the human-machine interface, it manages and displays characters using attribute information and actual bitmap information, so that fonts and character sizes of various fonts can be used while minimizing memory usage. It is an object of the present invention to provide a memory-saving character display system and a display method thereof.

The present invention for achieving the above object is an editor unit for editing the character through a variety of font and size designation to generate a character attribute, including character code and bitmap information of the actual character in one character unit; After receiving the character display information consisting of the character unit information generated by the editor unit in the memory and storing the necessary character information, the display means by using the character attribute and bitmap information included in the character unit information And a display unit for displaying.

The character unit information is defined as a structure consisting of standardized character codes, original font names from which characters are extracted, character attribute information including character sizes, and bitmap binary data whose horizontal and vertical sizes are determined by the character size. It is characterized by.

In addition, the present invention, after creating and editing the character information to be expressed through the editor that can specify a variety of fonts and sizes, and the character information to the edited character information in units of bitmap data according to the character properties and editing status, respectively Generating and converting the data into a module; Storing the converted generated character unit information in a memory of a human-machine interface display device; If necessary, the human-machine interface retrieves character unit information to be displayed among character unit information stored in a memory, obtains bitmap data included in each character unit information, and then displays each character attribute. Marking the individual rules on the means.

The editor and the human-machine interface may further include character recognition, arithmetic processing, and editing using a character code included in character unit information.

The present invention as described above will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing the structure of character unit information 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, a set of two different data divided into a font attribute part 31 and a bitmap font display part 32 is illustrated. The character unit information 30 is defined to be represented. It may have a structure form, and it may be understood that the font attribute part 31 serves as a kind of header and the bitmap font display data part 32 serves as data of a character form to be actually expressed.

In other words, after constructing a separate font database, not only the character expressions attributed to the fonts are implemented using only the character codes, but also used for display characters extracted using different fonts for each character, which is wasted for unused characters. It reduces font storage space, enables various expressions, and treats them as non-picture characters so that they can be operated, compared, and edited.

In the embodiment on the right, an example of the font attribute part 31 includes information including the standard double-byte character code of the character, the font name used, and the font size of the bitmap font display data part extracted as a bitmap. . If color representation is possible, the font attribute may further include a color color. That is, the information is used to obtain the information capable of treating the character unit information 30 as one character using this portion, and the horizontal and vertical size information of the subsequent bitmap font display data portion 32 is provided.

In general, since the bitmap font display data portion 32 is simply original picture data corresponding to one character of the font, the font attribute portion 31 serves as a header of the corresponding picture data, thereby defining horizontal and vertical sizes. It allows you to display characters accordingly.

The generation of the character unit information 30 as described above may be performed in the editor unit and the HMI display unit, but most basically, the function should be supported by the editor unit. Description of this will refer to the system configuration of FIG. Although the overall configuration is the same, it is noted that the editing section 21 of the editor section 20 and the control section 12 and the memory storage states of the HMI display section 10 are different.

That is, the editing unit 21 used in the present invention should have a function of generating character attributes including character codes and bitmap information of actual corresponding characters by one character unit by editing characters through various fonts and size designations. The control unit 12 of the HMI display unit receives the character display information consisting of the character unit information generated by the editing unit 21 and stores it in the memory 13, and then displays the necessary character information in the character unit information. It should have a function of displaying on the display window 11 by using the included character attributes and bitmap information. In this case, no separate font information is stored in the memory 13, and only the received character unit information is stored.

In order to describe the above configuration in more detail, first, in order for a user to generate character unit information 30 to be used in the HMI display unit 10, necessary characters are edited into general characters through the editing unit 21 of the editor unit 20. After the editing is completed, the font attribute information for each character is extracted, and the bitmap font display data information is extracted from the characters directly displayed on the screen to obtain one character unit information (30). To store all the information. In this case, if it is a space character, it can be defined only by attribute information (in the case of the space character, the same storage space as the other character was required). If the HMI display unit 10 provides a text editing function, the above function should be implemented in the HMI display unit 10, but is not common.

Note that the character information stored in this way can be used for internal string editing, string comparison, string operation, etc. by extracting only character attributes individually.

Therefore, if the present invention is applied to an HMI display unit having a relatively limited expression method and contents, it is possible to use various fonts with memory storage effects, so that it is used as graphic data, but at the same time, it can also perform character string related functions. Sex is very good.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, after editing text information to be displayed on the HMI display in an editor, converting the text information into unit text information, and transmitting the unit information to the HMI display; The HMI display unit storing the stored unit character information in the memory is largely divided into a process of displaying a desired character on the display window according to the bitmap font display data stored in the unit character information.

First, the editor creates and edits a predetermined character or character string. The editor may be a personal computer, a personal information terminal, or a variety of physical devices capable of editing a document using various font information, including a portable terminal and a dedicated editor. The internal editing unit of the editor, that is, the editing application, preferably has a function of inputting and editing desired characters and specifying a font and size of the desired characters separately, similarly to a general text editor. Then, the edited characters are mixed with the font attribute information of the corresponding characters and bitmap data of the characters displayed on the screen to generate one unit character information, and these are converted into a file or a series of communication streams and transferred to the HMI display unit. do. This can be done through actual communication means, but the information (file format) thus created can be downloaded directly into the memory of the HMI display unit or written directly into the memory using a specific writing device.

In the same manner as described above, the HMI display unit in which the unit character information is stored in the memory selects the desired information using a character code included in the font attribute of the unit character information stored in the memory and extracts, edits, and operates it as a normal character. You can also search on memory. If some of these characters are displayed on the display window, the corresponding bitmap font display data is displayed using the character size information (the number of vertical bits, or the font size thereof) included in the font attribute portion of the unit character information. Is displayed on the display like a picture or icon. Of course, the actual screen display for these uses bitmap data, but in the buffer for managing them as strings, they can be managed with character codes.

In this way, you can use fonts of various fonts even with limited memory. You can set the size, direction, and color of individual characters individually, and also increase memory efficiency by suppressing unnecessary memory waste. Character management can also be used.

As described above, the memory-saving character display system and method for displaying the same of the present invention define character information as attribute information including character code and size and bitmap data information about the corresponding character as one unit character information. Edit by using attribute information, generate edited character into unit character information, apply it to memory of human-machine interface, and manage and display character by using attribute information and actual bitmap information accordingly. Even if you don't record the whole font information in memory, you can use the character management and calculation function as it is, but you can designate the font, size, etc. in units of characters, so you can use various fonts in the limited memory area. There is no memory area wasted to save As it is possible to improve the efficiency of memory use. In particular, in the case of having limited display content or not much display content, a very good display quality and memory efficiency can be provided.

Claims (7)

An editor unit for editing characters through various fonts and size designations to generate character attributes including character codes and bitmap information of actual corresponding characters in one character unit; After receiving the character display information consisting of the character unit information generated by the editor unit in the memory and storing the necessary character information, the display means by using the character attribute and bitmap information included in the character unit information And a display unit for displaying the memory-saving character display system. The method of claim 1, wherein the editor unit generates the character attribute and the bitmap information as a single character unit, and when editing the generated characters, internally uses only the character attribute to perform a task and after completion of the task. And a character unit consisting of character attributes and bitmap information from the work contents. The character unit information of claim 1, wherein the character unit information is determined by character property information including a standardized character code, an original font name from which the character is extracted, a character size, and size information of a character included in the character property information. A memory-saving character display system defined by a structure consisting of bitmap binary data whose vertical size is determined. The memory-saving character display system of claim 1, wherein the editor unit and the display unit each further include communication means for exchanging data including mutual character unit information. After creating and editing the character information to be expressed through the editor that can specify various fonts and sizes, converts the edited character information into character unit information based on the character property and bitmap data according to the editing status. Steps; Storing the converted generated character unit information in a memory of a human-machine interface display device; The human-machine interface retrieves the character unit information to be displayed from among the character unit information stored in the memory when necessary, obtains bitmap data included in each of the character unit information, and then displays the display unit by referring to each character attribute. And displaying the individual rules in the character saving method of the memory-saving character display system. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the character attribute included in each of the character unit information includes a character code, a font name, and a font size, wherein the bitmap data is determined to have a horizontal length and a vertical length determined through the font size information. Character display method of memory-saving character display system characterized by the above-mentioned. 6. The memory-saving character display system of claim 5, wherein the editor and the human-machine interface further include character recognition, arithmetic processing, and editing using character codes included in character unit information. Character display method.

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