Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
UK9-88-016 - 1 - 202
DISPLAY SYSTEM
The present invention relates to a display system
having an all points addressable (APT) display buffer for
the storage of information compatible with a display
output screen. A display system can be a computer system
itself, or an optional, peripheral adapter, such as a
display adapter card, installed in a computer system.
Many existing display systems operate in an
alpha-numeric display mode. Although an initial reference
is made to an alpha-numeric display mode, characters
other than alpha-numeric characters can be displayed,
depending on data provided by a character font table.
Therefore, for the purpose of description, this type of
display mode will be referred to as a character display
mode. Many existing display systems operate in a
character display mode. In a character display mode, a
display character is typically selected from a character
font of 256 available characters by a coded character
byte. The coded character byte can be stored in a coded
text buffer or a computer program instruction. The
display character is represented by a set of pixels which
are arranged in pixel rows to form a pixel matrix. The
character code byte selects the pixel matrix from a
character font table in which each pixel in the pixel
matrix- is represented by a binary bit. The binary bit
specifies whether the pixel is in the foreground of the
display character or in the background on which the
display character is superimposed. An attribute byte can
be supplied in conjunction with the coded character byte.
Four bits of the attribute byte specify a foreground
pixel color and the remaining four bits specify a
background pixel color. Such attributes are added to the
display character information by attribute combining
logic prior to output on the display output screen.
Many modern display systems can be programmed to
perform sophisticated data processing tasks. Such systems
are usually designed to operate in an SPA display mode,
UK9-88-016 - 2 -
which allows text, graphics and image data to be
superimposed on a display output screen. However, in
order to maintain compatibility with a large number of
existing alpha-numeric applications, a display system
designed to operate in an APT display mode must also be
compatible with a character display mode. A feature of a
display system operating in an APT display mode is that a
pixel is represented in the APT display buffer by a
binary word. This binary word can be representative of
either a foreground color or a background color. It
therefore follows that a character font table for storing
such pixel representations requires a large amount of
storage space in comparison with an equivalent character
font table for a display system operating in a character
display mode.
Furthermore, in some display systems operating in an
APT display mode, it is necessary to achieve
compatibility between "first order" and "second order"
character fonts corresponding to "first" and "second"
pixel code formats. The terms "first" and "second" are
used in reference to methods of storing pixels in first
and second RAM memory structures. In a first map, pixels
physically located to the left on a display output screen
are stored in higher order bits of a byte, while in a
second map, such pixels are stored in lower order bits of
a byte. Certain display systems operating in an APT
display mode are responsive to picture manipulation
instructions for a second pixel code format. This can
cause problems when a first order character font table is
supplied. Therefore, in such situations it is desirable
to translate a "first order" character font table into a
"second order" expanded format.
,
Therefore, the aim of the present invention is to
provide a translation means by which a display system
operating in an APT display mode, can make use of a
character font table associated with a character display
mode which may be stored in either a first order or a
second order RAM structure.
UK9-88-016 - 3 - ~2~C3~
In accordance with the present invention, a display
system comprising an all points addressable display
buffer, in which a pixel is represented by an n bit,
where n is an integer greater than zero, pixel word; and
in which a display character is represented by a pixel
matrix comprising a plurality of pixels arranged in a
plurality of pixel rows, a character font table for
storing a plurality of such character pixel matrices
representative of display characters of a font, and
control logic responsive to a character code word for
selecting a desired pixel matrix from the character font
table, wherein that each pixel matrix is stored in the
character font table in an m bit, where m is an integer
greater than zero, (men) per pixel format whereby the
pixel is represented by an m bit word; and in that the
display system comprises translation means for
translating a pixel row arranged in the m bit pixel
format to a pixel row arranged in an n bit per pixel
format compatible with the APT display buffer.
Preferably, the translation means has attribute
combining logic by which the n bit pixel word can be
changed in accordance with an n bit attribute word, which
can be stored in association with the character code word
in the coded text buffer for specifying an attribute of
the pixel. This achieves the advantage that a pixel
attribute, such as a foreground color associated with
one pixel status or a background color associated with
another pixel status, can be specified by a single
display processor variable associated with a pixel matrix
rather than each composite pixel. furthermore the display
processor can accommodate an existing pixel attribute
during any translation by reading an n bit attribute word
representative of a pixel in the APT display buffer
instead of a new n bit-attribute word.
In one particularly preferred arrangement the
translation means can include code transforming means
wherein a first order m bit per pixel format, associated
with a first memory structure, is transformed into a
UK9-88-016 - 4 - ~V2~0~
second order n bit per pixel format associated loath a
second memory structure. This achieves the advantage that
the translation means can be used to translate a standard
pixel format into a form compatible with any memory
structure wherein bit patterns representative of adjacent
pixels art stored at adjacent addresses.
The translation means ma include a translation
table wherein the pixel row arranged in the m bit per
pixel format corresponds exclusively to a pixel row in
the n bit per pixel format according to a translation
requirement. This achieves the advantage that by using
different translate tables, different pixel formats can
be translated.
Jo
In the following an example of a display system for
font expansion in accordance with the present invention
I` will be described with reference to the accompanying
drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a block diagram of a computer system
including a display system.
Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating the
structure of a display system in accordance with the
invention.
figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating translation
process logic in accordance with the invention.
Figure 4 illustrates a translation table structure
for the display system in accordance with the present
invention.
Figure 5 illustrates differences between first and
second RAM memory structures.
Figure 6 illustrates translation from a first order
data format to a second expanded data format.
I; Figure 7 is a flow diagram of a translation routine
; in accordance with the particular embodiment.
I;
UK9-88-016 - 5 - 2~.732~
Where possible, hexadecimal notation is used to
simplify the description of aspects of the display system
which will be described with reference to the computer
system shown in Figure 1. This computer system includes a
central processing unit (CPU) (1) for executing program
instructions. A bus architecture (2) provides a data
communication path between the CPU and other components
of the computer system. A read only memory (3) provides
secure storage of data. A fast random access memory (4)
provides temporary storage of data. Data communication
with a host computer system (5) is provided by a
communication adapter (6). An I/0 adapter (7) provides a
means for communicating data both to and from a mass
storage device (8). A user can operate the computer
system using a keyboard (9) which is connected to the bus
architecture via a keyboard adapter (10). A display
device (11) provides a visual output from the computer
system. The visual output is generated by a display
adapter (12).
The display adapter comprises the display system for
font expansion in accordance with the present invention
which will now be described with reference to Figure 2.
In this display system a display character is
represented by an eight pixel row (33) by fourteen pixel
column (34) pixel matrix (32). A one bit per pixel
character font table (22) contains 256 such character
representations, from which a particular pixel matrix can
be selected by a coded character byte (26) stored at a
text address (31) in a coded text buffer (21). An
at-tribute byte (27), associated with the coded character
byte, is also stored in the coded text buffer. The four
most significant bits of the attribute byte specify a
foreground pixel color (28) while the four least
significant bits specify a background pixel color (29).
The pixel matrix is composed of fourteen eight bit rows
which can be separately processed via a translation table
(23) to sequentially translate the pixel matrix into a
four bit per pixel format. An eight bit row can contain
one of 256 possible eight bit patterns. Accordingly, a
UK9-88-016 - 6 - Us
translation table ~23), for translating each bit in the
eight bit row into four similar bits, has 256 translation
addresses for storing 32 bit row representations of all
possible eight bit patterns. Each four bit pixel
representation is stored in an APT display buffer (25)
starting at an APT display buffer address (30)
corresponding to the text address in the coded text
buffer. The following eight pixel row translations are
given by way of example.
ONE BIT PER PIXEL FOUR BITS PER PIXEL
"AYE "FOFOFOFO"x
"C3"x "FFOOOOFF"x
"55"x "OFOFOFOF"~
A first display processor (24), instructed by a
programmed operating system, controls the translation
process according to a translation routine.
In the following, translation process logic will be
described with reference to Figure 3. This routine is
based around a display system in which all four bits
representing a pixel in the APT display buffer are
directly accessible in a "first order" addressing format
with adjacent pixels stored as adjacent four bit words.
When the routine is called, certain registers within the
display processor are initialized. For instance, a source
index register SYRIA indicates the next pixel row of the
pixel matrix character code byte, to be translated. A
destination index resister (DIR) stores a display buffer
address indicating where the next pixel row of the
character is to be drawn in the APT display buffer. In
addition, "register a", "register b", and "register c"
are general registers in the display processor which are
used fur data storage during execution of the routine. On
each call to the routine, initial values are assigned to
certain routine variables. More specifically, "all
foregrounds" (40) is the four bit foreground color
UK9-88-016 - 7 - I
specification repeated eight times to form an 32 bit
foreground specification. In the example, the foreground
color (41) is ox therefore "all foregrounds" is
"55555555"x. Similarly, "all backgrounds" (42) is the
four bit background color specification repeated eight
times to form an 32 bit background specification. In the
example, the background color (43) is ox therefore
"all backgrounds" is "99999999"x. The foreground color
specification, or the background color specification, or
both can be read from bit patterns representative of
foreground and background in the APT display buffer.
"line offset" is an incremental integer added to the
contents of thy DIR to point to the location in the APT
display buffer where the next pixel row of the pixel
matrix is to be drawn. The translation table, which is
shown in Figure 4, is a look up table, stored in a memory
in the display system, in which an eight bit row of a
pixel matrix specifies an address for a corresponding 32
bit word in which each bit of the eight bit row is
represented by for similar bits in the 32 bit word.
The translation process logic is responsive to a
translation routine, in accordance with the present
invention, which will now be described with reference to
the flow diagram shown in figure 7 and the translation
process logic shown in Figure 3. Step So loads the number
of bit rows in the pixel matrix into "register c". Step
So resets "register a". Step So loads the next eight bit
row ~44), representing an eight pixel row of the pixel
matrix into "register a". The appropriate eight pixel row
is specified by the contents of the SIR. Step So
increments the contents of the SIR in preparation for the
next program iteration. Step So translates each bit
stored in "register a" into four similar bits according
to a particular 32 bit pattern specified in "translate
table". Step So copies the contents of "register a";
inverts it via a logical NOT (47) operation; and places
the inverted version (48) in "register b". Step So sets
each four bit foreground pixel specification in "resister
a" to a four bit representation of foreground color
UK9-8~-016 - 8 -
(49). A logical AND operation is used for this purpose
(50). Step I sets each four bit background pixel
specification in "register b" to a four bit
representation of background color ~51~ through
application of another logical AND operation (52). Step
So reassembles the eight pixel row using a logical OR
(54) operation, wherein each pixel is now specified by
four bits (53), according to foreground (41) and
background (43) color information. Step Sly writes the
eight pixel row to an APT display buffer address
specified in register edit Step S11 increments the
contents of the DIR by "line offset" to specify the next
eight pixel row of the APT display buffer to be written
to. Step S12 reiterates the process on the next eight bit
row of the pixel matrix. Step S13 decrements the contents
of "register c" on each program iteration until all
composite bit rows of -the pixel matrix have been
processed, whereupon the display processor can be
instructed to perform another task as appropriate.
This implementation uses lo bytes to store a set of
four bit per pixel character fonts; each of which would
otherwise require 14k bytes of memory space for storage.
By reversing the order of the 256 bit patterns
stored in the translation table, a first order one bit
per pixel character font table can be translated into a
second order four bit per pixel character font table. The
following eight pixel row translations are provided by
way of example.
one BIT PER PIXEL four BITS PER PIXEL
'AA x 'OFOFOFOF x
C3'x 'FFOOOOFF'x
'55'x 'FOFOFOFO x
Figure 5 illustrates the first pixel format (80) of
four pixels represented by two bytes, By and By, stored
next to each other in an APT display buffer. By
UK9-88-016 - 9 -
represents two pixels to the right of those pixels
represented by By as displayed on a display output
screen. For comparison, the same pixels are also shown in
the second pixel format (81) wherein the stored bit
pattern representing By and By is reversed. The
translation table shown in Figure can therefore be
rearranged to translate an eight pixel row, as shown in
Figure 6, from the first order one bit per pixel format
(82) to a second order four bit per pixel format by
changing the order of the appropriate 32 bit pattern
(833.
