Patent US4502143A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
Patent EP0059349A2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
EP0059349A2
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EP
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Display system with multiple scrolling regions
Assignee: Texas Instruments Inc
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Filing: 1982-02-11
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2002-02-11
Abstract
Abstract A data display and management system includes a microprocessor (10) whose functions are implemented by instructions in data from a directly connected main memory (48). A mass data storage memory (52) is connected to the main memory (48) and has permanently stored instructions set therein for the microprocessor (10). A display control system which operates asynchronously with the microprocessor includes a display controller (16), display memory (96, 104), character memory means, and a visual character attribute generator (94). By linking one or more row attribute bytes, or pointers, to each row of characters stored in the display memory (96) the display controller (16) performs character and row manipulation on a display device without transferring whole blocks of data in the display memory (96). Multi-region display segmentation into horizontal and vertical split regions, smooth or discrete scrolling of individual regions, and various editing functions are achieved by modifying the associated display memory pointers.
Inventors
- 👤 Lavaughn F. Watts
- 👤 Ronald L. Smith
- 👤 Yogendra C. Pandya
- 👤 Paul B. Wood
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-27 16:52
CPC Classifications
G; G09; G09G; G09G5/00; G09G5/14; G09G1/00; G09G1/007
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 17
Claim 1
Independent Claim
132 words
A data display system for forming a plurality of independently controllable display regions on a display device comprising: data processor means; main memory means connected to said data processor means; input means connected to said data processor means and to said main memory means; display controller means connected to said data processor means; display memory means connected to said display controller means wherein each row of characters to be displayed on said display device is assigned one or more memory location identifiers as defined by said display controller means to indicate the display memory address of a subsequent row of characters to be displayed and wherein said display controller means alters the sequence or rows displayed on said display device by modifying the memory location identifiers of the selected rows of characters.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
132 words
A data display system for forming a plurality of independently controllable display regions on a display device comprising: data processor means; main memory means connected to said data processor means; input means connected to said data processor means and to said main memory means; display controller means connected to said data processor means; display memory means connected to said display controller means wherein each row of characters to be displayed on said display device is assigned one or more memory location identifiers as defined by said display controller means to indicate the display memory address of a subsequent row of characters to be displayed and wherein said display controller means alters the sequence or rows displayed on said display device by modifying the memory location identifiers of the selected rows of characters.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
52 words
The system of Claim 1, further comprising : character memory means connected to said display controller means for storing a predetermined set of character data codes, whereby the data code corresponding to a selected character is loaded into said display memory means in response to a command from said display controller means.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
102 words
The system of Claim 2, further comprising : generator means connected to said display controller means, to said character memory means and to said display memory means for outputting control signals to said display device and for generating a visual attribute code for each character stored in said display memory means; and character random access memory means connected to said display controller means and to said generator means for storing alterable character data codes therein, wherein a selected character code is transferred therefrom through said generator means into said display memory means in response to a command from said display controller means.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
41 words
The system of Claim 3 wherein said display device comprises a chathode-ray tube, further comprising: means connected to said data processor means and to said generator means for controlling the contrast of said cathode-ray tube in a plurality of discrete steps.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
13 words
The system of Claim 4, wherein said data processor means comprises a microprocessor.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
15 words
The system of Claim 5, wherein said main memory means comprises a random access memory.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
49 words
The system of Claim 6, wherein said input means comprises: an array of manually operable switch means; second data processor means for scanning said array of switch means wherein said second data processor means transmits electronic signals to said microprocessor corresponding to which of said switch means are enabled.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
248 words
A display control system comprising: character memory means; display memory means connected to said character memory means; visual attribute generator means connected to said display memory means and said character memory means; means for loading character and visual attribute data into selected display memory locations from a data bus, wherein said character data is stored in said character memory means and said attribute data is generated by said visual attribute generator means, and wherein a plurality of character and attribute data bytes form a block data in the display memory corresponding to a row of characters as seen on the display device; means for assigning one or more memory location identifier bytes to each displayed row of characters, corresponding to said data blocks in the display memory, wherein each of said identifier bytes contains the display memory address of the first character in the subsequent row of characters to be displayed on the display device; means for storing a data byte corresponding to a preselected column on said display device wherein a vertical split region will begin; second means for storing a data byte corresponding to the starting address of a character row; third means for storing a data byte corresponding to the starting row address of a vertical split region; and means for determining which scan line of a character a particular display memory address corresponds to, whereby a plurality of rows of characters appearing on the display device are scrolled one scan line at a time.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
248 words
A display control system comprising: character memory means; display memory means connected to said character memory means; visual attribute generator means connected to said display memory means and said character memory means; means for loading character and visual attribute data into selected display memory locations from a data bus, wherein said character data is stored in said character memory means and said attribute data is generated by said visual attribute generator means, and wherein a plurality of character and attribute data bytes form a block data in the display memory corresponding to a row of characters as seen on the display device; means for assigning one or more memory location identifier bytes to each displayed row of characters, corresponding to said data blocks in the display memory, wherein each of said identifier bytes contains the display memory address of the first character in the subsequent row of characters to be displayed on the display device; means for storing a data byte corresponding to a preselected column on said display device wherein a vertical split region will begin; second means for storing a data byte corresponding to the starting address of a character row; third means for storing a data byte corresponding to the starting row address of a vertical split region; and means for determining which scan line of a character a particular display memory address corresponds to, whereby a plurality of rows of characters appearing on the display device are scrolled one scan line at a time.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
47 words
The display controller device of Claim 8, further including: means for assigning within said memory location identifier bytes selected region row visual attribute information: and means for presenting the next row of characters on said display device in a selected manner corresponding to said selected visual attributes.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
46 words
The display controller device of Claim 9 wherein said selected region row visual attribute comprises double high characters, whereby each scan line of region character row information is repeated on said display device before the next character row scan line is accessed from said display memory.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
99 words
A method for presenting data on a display device in a plurality of independently controllable segmented regions comprising the steps of: generating and assigning unique row identifier codes to each row of data in each of said regions, wherein each of said row identifier codes indicates a location in a display memory; interpreting said region row identifier codes; accessing the display memory location identified by a particular row identifier code; presenting the next row of data on said display device and repeating said steps of interpreting, accessing and presenting for each frame of data presented on said display device.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
99 words
A method for presenting data on a display device in a plurality of independently controllable segmented regions comprising the steps of: generating and assigning unique row identifier codes to each row of data in each of said regions, wherein each of said row identifier codes indicates a location in a display memory; interpreting said region row identifier codes; accessing the display memory location identified by a particular row identifier code; presenting the next row of data on said display device and repeating said steps of interpreting, accessing and presenting for each frame of data presented on said display device.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
58 words
The method of Claim 11 wherein said region row identifier codes contain preselected visual attribute information for each row of data, further including the steps of: interpreting said visual row attribute information included in said row identifier codes before accessing said display memory; and presenting the next row of data in the manner indicated by preselected row attributes.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
66 words
The method of Claim 12 wherein each row of data is formed of a predetermined number of scan lines on said display device and a smooth scroll attribute is selected for a particular region, further comprising the step of: offsetting the data in said particular region by one scan line for each frame of data presented on said display device until said smooth scroll is completed.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
54 words
The method of Claim 13 wherein a double high character attribute is selected for a particular region row, further comprising the step of: repeating the presentation of each scan line of information for said selected region row on said display device before accessing the next region character row scan line from said display memory.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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