Display mode processor
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Company
InventorsRobert W. Cherry, Erin A. Handgen, Brad D. Reak
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A display mode processor which maps pixel inputs into addresses for entries in window-specific color look-up tables in accordance with a predetermined display mode. The display mode processor relieves the central processing unit from video display tasks in a multi-window environment and also supports window-specific attributes such as display mode in addition to window specific color look up tables. This dedicated hardware for video display tasks allows for a more flexible and efficient color display system without sacrificing the overall system performance.
Claims32
A computer graphics system having a display device, comprising:
- means for processing input display data for display on said display device;
- a window-specific color look-up table for each display window of said display device for storing color values of pixels to be displayed within corresponding display windows of said display device, each window-specific color look-up table having color values stored therein in a format of one of a plurality of display modes for pixels to be displayed within a corresponding display window of said display device;
- a display mode processor for mapping said processed input display data into addresses to said window-specific color look-up tables, said display mode processor comprising means, responsive to input window index data specifying which display window of said display device said input display data is to be displayed in, for holding window-specific control information for each display window of said display device and for outputting window specific control information including display mode control data specifying in which of said plurality of display modes the display window selected by said window index data will display said input display data, and means, responsive to said window-specific control information for the selected display window, for converting said processed input display data into an addresses to the window-specific color look-up table corresponding to the selected display window in accordance with a display mode format for the selected display window specified by said window-specific control information;
- and
- means for providing to said display device the color values at addresses in said window-specific color look-up tables determined by said display mode processor.
A display mode processor which controls the presentation of pixels to a display window of a display device in any of a plurality of display modes, comprising:
- a window-specific color look-up table for each display window of said display device in which input display data is to be displayed, each window-specific color look-up table having color values stored therein in a format of one of said plurality of display modes for pixels to be displayed within a corresponding display window of said display device;
- means, responsive to input window index data specifying which display window of said display device said input display data is to be displayed in, for holding window-specific control information for each display window of said display device and for outputting window-specific control information including display mode control data specifying in which of said plurality of display modes the display window selected by said window index data will display said input display data;
- and
- means, responsive to said window-specific control information for the selected display window, for converting said input display data into an address of the window-specific color look-up table corresponding to the selected display window in accordance with a display mode format specified by said window-specific control information for the selected display window.
A method of mapping input display data into an address of a window-specific color look-up table of a display window of a display device in which said input display data is to be displayed, said window-specific color look-up table having color values stored therein in a format of one of a plurality of display modes for pixels to be displayed within said display window of said display device, comprising the steps of:
- masking said input display data in accordance with window-specific control data including window index data specifying which display window of said display device said input display data is to be displayed in so as to pass only predetermined portions of said input display data;
- generating an address to said window-specific color look-up table of said display window of said display device from said predetermined portions of said input display data in accordance with a display mode format specified by said window specific control data for said display window;
- resolving a dominance among a cursor input, an overlay input and said input display data when they correspond to the same address for a pixel in said display window;
- and
- outputting the generated address to said window-specific color look-up table of said display window as input thereto in accordance with said display mode format specified by said window-specific control information for said display window.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.