Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Computer graphics processing – Graphic manipulation
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-27
2001-09-18
Brier, Jeffery (Department: 2672)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Computer graphics processing
Graphic manipulation
C345S683000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06292203
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 88105423, filed Apr. 6, 1999, the full disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to video display technology, and more particularly, to a method for use on an OSD-based (On-Screen Display) video display system, such as a VCD system, a super VCD (SVCD) system, or a DVD system, for the purpose of enhancing the resolution of cursor movement on the display screen of the video display system.
2. Description of Related Art:
FIG. I is a functional block diagram, schematically showing the basic system configuration of a conventional video display system
100
, such as a VCD system, a super VCD system, or a DVD system. As shown, the video display system
100
includes a digital disc drive
102
, a pointing device
108
, and a display screen
106
. The digital disc drive
102
typically includes an on-screen display (OSD) unit
104
which is capable of displaying the operating status of the overall video display system
100
. The OSD unit
104
controls the display screen
106
in such a manner that the display screen
106
is partitioned into an array of blocks (hereinafter referred to as “OSD blocks” throughout this specification), with the rows and columns of these OSD blocks being encoded with ascending code numbers for addressibility to these OSD blocks.
One example of the screen partition scheme is depicted in FIG.
2
. As shown, in this example, the display screen
106
represents a primary signal field of 240 horizontal lines by 352 pixels without pixel interpolation. The display screen
106
is partitioned in such a manner that each OSD block has a size of 16 lines by 16 pixels, so that the overall display area can be partitioned into a total of 15×22 OSD blocks, each being used for the display of a certain predesigned symbol (hereinafter referred to as “OSD symbol”) therein. Each OSD symbol can be a character or any user-designed graphic pattern. Each of the OSD blocks is labeled with a specific code that allows software to address these OSD blocks for display of selected OSD symbols.
FIG. 3
is a functional block diagram schematically showing detailed inside architecture of the OSD unit
104
used in the video display system
100
of FIG.
1
. As shown, the OSD unit
104
includes a microprocessor
302
, a primary memory unit
304
, a display memory unit
306
, and an overlapping circuit
308
. The primary memory unit
304
can be either ROM (read-only memory) or RAM (random-access memory), and is used to store a set of OSD symbols that can be selected for display on the display screen
106
. During initialization, the microprocessor
302
retrieves the selected OSD symbols from the primary memory unit
304
and then transfers the retrieved OSD symbols to the display memory unit
306
. The retrieved OSD symbols can be, for example, the English letters “A”, “B”, and “C”. When display request is received, the overlapping circuit
308
then displays the OSD symbols “A”, “B”, and “C” along with a cursor mark “
” on the display screen
106
as illustrated in FIG.
2
. In the case of
FIG. 2
, for example, the three OSD symbols “A”, “B”, “C” and the cursor mark “
” are respectively displayed in the OSD blocks at the addresses [column 3, row 2], [column 4, row 2], [column 5, row 2], and [column 5, row 3].
In the video display system
100
, the provision of the pointing device
108
, which can be either a mouse or a trackball, allows additional functionality to the video display system
100
so that the video display system
100
is capable of running video games or educational programs. One drawback to the foregoing video display system
100
, however, is that the movement of the cursor would be zigzag-like and discontinuous due to the reason that the cursor can be displayed only from block to block on the display screen
106
and each block is quite large in size that makes the resolution of the cursor movement to be considerably low. This drawback is further depicted illustratively with reference to FIG.
4
. Assume the display screen
106
is partitioned into 16×16 OSD blocks, with two of them indicated by the reference numerals
402
,
404
in
FIG. 4
, and the dashed line indicates the intended route for cursor movement. When the user moves the cursor along the intended route, then the cursor will be displayed within the OSD block
402
at a first pointed position at the time t
0
, within the right-next OSD block
404
at a second pointed position at the time t
1
, and nevertheless within the same OSD block
404
at a third pointed position at the time t
2
. As a result, the cursor movement would proceed in a nearly zigzag and discontinuous manner along the intended route, which is quite visually unappealing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an objective of the invention to provide a method for enhancing the resolution of cursor movement on the display screen of the video display system, which can help the cursor to be moved in a more smooth and continuous manner and positioned at desired locations more precisely.
It is another objective of the invention to provide a method for enhancing the resolution of cursor movement on the display screen of the video display system, which can help enhance the resolution of cursor movement simply through software modifications without having to modify or add extra hardware to the existing video display system
In accordance with the foregoing and other objectives of the invention, a novel method is provided for enhancing the resolution of cursor movement on the display screen of a video display system.
The method of the invention is designed for use on a video display system having an OSD unit, a pointing device, and a display screen, for the purpose of enhancing the resolution of cursor movement on the display screen. The display screen is partitioned into an array of OSD blocks. The OSD block is capable of displaying a predesigned OSD symbol. In accordance with the invention, the OSD blocks are partitioned into an array of subblocks. One subblock represents one resolution unit for the cursor movement, and a number of sets of fragmented cursor patterns are predesigned. The set of the fragmented cursor patterns is stored as one OSD symbol that is displayable in one full OSD block of the display screen. The set of the fragmented cursor patterns is retrievable for display in response to a particular movement of the cursor over the display screen and visually combinable into a full cursor pattern when being displayed at corresponding OSD blocks. In response to a cursor-moving control from the pointing device, the method first detects which one of the subblocks the pointing device is currently pointing at and in which direction the cursor is being moved. Then based on the detection results, the corresponding set of fragmented cursor patterns are selected and then displayed respectively at corresponding OSD blocks on the display screen to be visually combined to appear as a full cursor pattern.
The invention can enhance the resolution of cursor movement on the display screen by first partitioning the OSD blocks into the subblocks. One subblock represents one resolution unit for the cursor movement. The fragmented cursor patterns are displayable in one full of the OSD blocks on the display screen, and the set of the fragmented cursor patterns is visually combinable into a full cursor pattern when displayed at the corresponding OSD blocks in response to a particular movement of the cursor over the display screen. Therefore, the cursor can be more precisely moved in a more smooth and continuous manner, and this can be done by software modifications without having to modify or add extra hardware to the existing video display system.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a video display system with cursor movement resolution enhancement is provided. The video display syst
Brier Jeffery
Huang Jiawei
J. C. Patents
Winbond Electronics Corp.
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