Method and apparatus for independent color control of alphanumeric display and background therefor

Claim 2

In an electron beam tube character display system wherein the characters to be displayed on an electron beam tube are represented by a series of pulse signals comprising a portion of a pulse train, a method for selecting the color of the background against which said characters are to be displayed, comprising the steps of: representing the background color information as a series of pulses; inserting a pulse series representing said background color information in a space in said pulse train between two pulse series representing respective characters to be displayed; and controlling the background color generated by said electron beam tube by said pulse series representing said background color information.

Claim 3

A method according to claim 1, comprising the further step of inserting said pulse series representing said background color information in a space in said pulse train preceding the pulse series representing the character to be displayed against said background color.

Claim 4

A method according to claim 1, comprising the further steps of: encoding a pulse train with a first pulse series representing said character to be displayed, a second pulse series representing the color of said character to be displayed, and a third pulse series representing the background color against which said character represented by said first pulse seRies is to be displayed; transmitting the encoded pulse train to decoding means; decoding said encoded pulse train into said respective first, second and third pulse series; applying said second and third pulse series to character color selector means and to background color selector means, respectively; generating character color and background color control signals in said character color and background color selector means, respectively; and controlling the electron beam generating means of said electron beam tube with said character color and background color control signals to control the color of the character to be displayed and background against which said character is to be displayed.

Claim 5

A method according to claim 1, wherein the pulse series representing a character to be displayed comprises a first series of pulses representing the character, a second series of pulses representing the color of said character and a further pulse representing a parity check signal; and wherein said pulse series representing said background color information comprises a first series of pulses identifying the signal as a pulse series representing background color, a second series of pulses identifying said background color, and a further pulse representing a parity check signal.

Claim 6

A method according to claim 4, wherein said first and second pulse series comprising the pulse series representing said character to be displayed comprise seven pulses and three pulses, respectively; and wherein said first and second series of pulses comprising said pulse series representing said background color information comprise seven pulses and three pulses, respectively.

Claim 7

An electron beam tube character display system comprising: first means for generating a first pulse series representing a character to be displayed and the color of said character; second means for generating a second pulse series representing the background color against which said character represented by said first pulse series is to be displayed; means coupled to said first and second generating means for encoding said first and second pulse series into a composite pulse train; means coupled to said encoding means for storing the encoded pulse train; means coupled to said storing means for decoding the stored encoded pulse train into said respective first and second pulse series and for decoding the decoded first pulse series into two further signals representing the identity of the character to be displayed and the color thereof; means coupled to said decoding means for generating control signals representing the identity of the character to be displayed, the color thereof, and the color of the background against which said character is to be displayed; a color display tube having electron beam generating means; and means coupling said control signal generating means to said electron beam generating means of said display tube for controlling the electron beam generated thereby with said control signals representing the identity of said character, the color thereof and said background color.

Claim 8

An electron beam tube character display system comprising: first means for generating a first pulse series representing a character to be displayed and the color of said character; second means for generating a second pulse series representing the background color against which said character represented by said first pulse series is to be displayed; means coupled to said first and second generating means for encoding said first and second pulse series into a composite pulse train; means coupled to said encoding means for storing the encoded pulse train; means coupled to said storing means for decoding the stored encoded pulse train into said respective first and second pulse series and for decoding the decoded first pulse series into two further signals representing the identity of the character to be displayed and the color thereof; means coupled to said decoding means for generating control signals representing the identity of the character to be displayed, the color thereof, and the color of the background against which said character is to be displayed; a color display tube having electron beam generating means; and means coupling said control signal generating means to said electron beam generating means of said display tube for controlling the electron beam generated thereby with said control signals representing the identity of said character, the color thereof and said background color.