US3781850A — Television type display system for displaying inf…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 436 words

A system for displaying characters on a video display means of the type producing images on a display surface by selectively writing on the display surface while repeatedly sweeping a raster scanline pattern over the display surface, said system including in combination memory means for storing coded data in a plurality of storage positions, each storage position corresponding to a normal location on the display surface, said coded data being a digital character code word representing a character to be displayed or being a digital delay code word representing an amount of delay associated with the digital character code word stored in a particular storage position; memory addressing means for reading out digital code words from said memory means; video signal generating means coupled to said memory means and operable in response to a digital character code word being read out of a storage position in the memory means to generate video signals for producing an image of the character on the display surface; control means operable in response to a digital character code word being read out of a storage position in the memory means and in the absence of a digital delay code word associated therewith to cause the video signal generating means to generate video signals for producing an image of the character on the display surface in timed relationship with signals for controlling the raster scanline pattern so that the image of the character is produced on the display surface in its normal location corresponding to the storage position in which the respective digital character code word is stored; and delay means including first means operable to store data representing the amount of delay of a digital delay code word and to store data related to the associated digital character code word in response to a digital character code word and an associated digital delay code word being read out of said memory means, second means operable in response to data representing an amount of delay being stored in said first means to measure the amount of delay, and third means operable in response to completion of the amount of delay measured by the second means to read out the data related to the associated digital character code word from the first means to the video signal generating means whereby the video signal generating means generates video signals for producing the image of the character on the display surface in a location displaced from its normal location in the direction of tracing of the individual scanlines by an amount determined by the amount of delay represented by the digital delay code word.

Claim 2

Independent Claim 436 words

A system for displaying characters on a video display means of the type producing images on a display surface by selectively writing on the display surface while repeatedly sweeping a raster scanline pattern over the display surface, said system including in combination memory means for storing coded data in a plurality of storage positions, each storage position corresponding to a normal location on the display surface, said coded data being a digital character code word representing a character to be displayed or being a digital delay code word representing an amount of delay associated with the digital character code word stored in a particular storage position; memory addressing means for reading out digital code words from said memory means; video signal generating means coupled to said memory means and operable in response to a digital character code word being read out of a storage position in the memory means to generate video signals for producing an image of the character on the display surface; control means operable in response to a digital character code word being read out of a storage position in the memory means and in the absence of a digital delay code word associated therewith to cause the video signal generating means to generate video signals for producing an image of the character on the display surface in timed relationship with signals for controlling the raster scanline pattern so that the image of the character is produced on the display surface in its normal location corresponding to the storage position in which the respective digital character code word is stored; and delay means including first means operable to store data representing the amount of delay of a digital delay code word and to store data related to the associated digital character code word in response to a digital character code word and an associated digital delay code word being read out of said memory means, second means operable in response to data representing an amount of delay being stored in said first means to measure the amount of delay, and third means operable in response to completion of the amount of delay measured by the second means to read out the data related to the associated digital character code word from the first means to the video signal generating means whereby the video signal generating means generates video signals for producing the image of the character on the display surface in a location displaced from its normal location in the direction of tracing of the individual scanlines by an amount determined by the amount of delay represented by the digital delay code word.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 88 words

A system for displaying characters in accordance with claim 1 wherein the storage positions of said memory means are arranged in an array designating rows and columns of corresponding normal locations on the display surface; said memory addressing means reads out digital code words from the storage positions designating a column in sequence for each tracing of a scanline; and a digital delay code word stored in a storage position is associated with the digital character code word stored in the adjacent storage position next in the sequence.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 143 words

A system for displaying characters in accordance with claim 2 wherein said delay means includes delay data storage means for storing data representing an amount of delay read out of said memory means; first character data storage means for storing data relating to the associated character read out of said memory means subsequent to reading out data on an amount of delay; and delay readout control means coupled to said delay data storage means and to said first character data storage means and operable to read out the data relating to the character stored in the first character data storage means upon completion of the amount of delay represented by the data stored in the delay data storage means and cause the video signal generating means to generate video signals for producing an image as determined by the data relating to the character.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 110 words

A system for displaying characters in accordance with claim 3 including input decoding means coupled to said memory means and operable to produce a delay signal in response to a digital delay code word being read out of said memory means; and wherein said delay means includes delay input control means coupled to said input decoding means and operable in response to said delay signal to cause data representing the amount of delay to be stored in said delay data storage means and also operable in response to said delay signal to cause subsequent data relating to the associated character to be stored in said first character data storage means.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 246 words

A system for displaying characters in accordance with claim 4 wherein said delay readout control means includes counting means coupled to said delay data storate means for receiving a count representative of the amount of delay stored in the delay data storage means, the count representing a numer of incremental divisions of the dimension of a location on the display surface along the direction in which the scanlines are traced; said counting means being operable to receive periodic clock pulses and to produce an indication when the number of clock pulses received equals the count received from said delay data storage means; clock pulse generating means for applying periodic clock pulses to said counting means when activated, the clock pulses occurring at the rate of one clock pulse for the tracing of a scanline through one incremental division; counting control means for applying the count representative of the amount of delay stored in the delay data storage means to the counting means and for activating said clock pulse generating means when data relating to the associated character is loaded into said first character data storage means; and delay readout means operable in response to said indication to cause the data relating to the character stored in the first character data storage means to be read out of the first character data storage means and the video signal generating means to generate video signals for producing an imgae as determined by the data relating to the character.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 262 words

A system for displaying characters in accordance with claim 5 including a second character data storage means for storing data relating to character data not associated with an amount of delay; and wherein said video signal generating means includes video output means coupled to said first character data storage means and to said second character data storage means and operable to convert character data applied thereto to a stream of video signals in timed relationship with the tracing of a scanline; and said control means includes input control means coupled to said second character data storage means for causing data relating to a character to be stored therein in the absence of an associated amount of delay, and output control means coupled to said video output means and operable to apply the data stored in the second character data storage means thereto in timed relationship with the tracing of a scanline to cause the image to be produced in its normal location on the display surface; and the delay readout means of the delay readout control means is coupled to said video output means and is operable to apply the data stored in the first character data storage means thereto in response to said indication from said counting means; whereby upon time coincidence of data being applied to the video output means from the second character data storage means and from the first character data storage means, the stream of video signals generated by the video output means consists of signals for causing images related to the two characters to be superimposed.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 408 words

A system for displaying characters in accordance with claim 6 wherein said video output means includes a shift register having a plurality of stages arranged in succession, the number of stages being equal to the number of incremental divisions of the dimension of a location on the display surface along the direction in which the scanlines are traced, each stage of said shift register having an output terminal, a signal input terminal and a clock input terminal; a like plurality of pairs of AND gates, each pair being associated with a different stage of said shift register, a first input connection of the first AND gate of each pair being connected together and coupled to said output control means of said control means, a second input connection of the first AND gate of each pair being coupled to the second character data storage means, a first input connection of the second AND gate of each pair being connected together and coupled to said delay readout means of the delay readout control means, and a second input connection of the second AND gate of each pair being coupled to the first character data storage means; a like plurality of first OR arrangements each associated with a different pair of AND gates, each first OR arrangement having a first input connection connected to the output connection of the first AND gate of its associated pair and a second input connection connected to the output connection of the second AND gate of its associated pair; and a like plurality minus one of second OR arrangements each associated with a different stage of the shift register except for the first stage in the succession, each second OR arrangement having a first input connection connected to the output connection of the associated first OR arrangement, a second input connection connected to the output connection of the previous stage in the succession, and an output connection connected to the signal input terminal of its associated stage, the output connection of the first OR arrangement associated with the first stage in the succession being connected to the signal input terminal of its associated stage; means connected to the clock input terminals for applying clock pulses thereto, the clock pulses occurring at the rate of one clock pulse for the tracing of a scanline through one incremental division; and a video signal output terminal connected to the output terminal of the final stage of the succession.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 348 words

A system for displaying characters in accordance with claim 6 further including third character data storage means for storing data relating to the associated character read out of said memory means subsequent to reading out data on an amount of delay; and wherein said delay input control means includes means operable, in response to a delay signal occurring subsequent to a previous delay signal causing character data to be stored in the first character data storage means, to cause subsequent data relating to a character to be stored in said third character data storage means; and wherein said delay readout control means also includes second counting means coupled to said delay data storage means for receiving a count representative of the amount of delay stored in the delay data storage means, the count representing a number of incremental divisions of the dimension of a location on the display surface along the direction in which the scanlines are traced; said second counting means being operable to receive periodic clock pulses and to produce an indication when the number of clock pulses received equals the count received from said delay data storage means; second clock pulse generating means for applying periodic clock pulses to said second counting means when activated, the clock pulses occurring at the rate of one clock pulse for the tracing of a scanline through one incremental division; second counting control means for applying the count representative of the amount of delay stored in the delay data storage means to the second counting means and for activating said second clock pulse generating means when data relating to the associated character is loaded into said third character data storage means; and second delay readout means coupled to said video output means and operable in response to said indication to cause the data relating to the character stored in the third character data storage means to be read out of the third character data storage means and the video signal generating means to generate video signals for producing an image as determined by the data relating to the character.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1976-12-24	1977-06-25	1977-12-25	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1980-12-24	1981-06-25	1981-12-25	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	1984-12-24	1985-06-25	1985-12-25	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Television type display system for displaying information in the form of curves or graphs

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