Patent US3896428A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US3896428A
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US
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Display apparatus with selective character width multiplication
Assignee: Dyncorp Information Systems LLC
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Filing: 1974-09-03
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Granted: 1975-07-22
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Expires: 1994-09-03
Abstract
Abstract A display apparatus for displaying data characters on a CRT video display monitor so as to have one or more display attributes or characteristics. In accordance with the present invention, data characters may be displayed on a CRT video display monitor so as to be inverted in appearance, intensified, underlined, struck out, made amenable to detection by a light pen, or made to have a width twice that of a normal display character. Data characters having the abovementioned display attributes may be intermixed in one or more character display rows of the CRT video display monitor, and any given data character may have only one of the abovementioned display attributes or several of the display attributes simultaneously. To achieve the display of data characters having one or more of the abovementioned display attributes, the data characters are encoded in binary form and preceded by a binary encoded attribute character including attribute bits specifying the display attributes which the data characters are to have when displayed on the CRT video display monitor. The attribute bits of the attribute character are employed by the display apparatus of the invention to modify the accompanying data characters to achieve the particular display attributes for these data characters as specified by the attribute bits of the attribute character. In accordance with the present invention, particularly simple and novel circuitry is provided to achieve the display of data characters of double width.
Inventors
- 👤 Robert C Williams
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-23 12:16
CPC Classifications
G; G09; G09G; G09G1/00; G06; G06F; G06F3/00; G06F3/01; G06F3/03; G06F3/033; G06F3/048; G06F3/0484; G06F3/04842; G06F3/14; G06F3/153; G09G5/00; G09G5/42
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 8
Claim 1
Independent Claim
667 words
Display apparatus for displaying images of data characters having first and second widths, comprising: display means for displaying images of data characters; data source means for producing a set of data including a plurality of characters for a predetermined number of times, said characters including data characters the images of which are to be displayed by the display means and attribute characters interspersed with the data characters, each of said attribute characters including width data specifying that the images of data characters following the attribute character are to be displayed with a first width or a second, greater width, each of the data characters specified by the width data of an attribute character to have a display image of the second width being followed in the set of data by n additional, successive data characters, where n is an integer; display signal generator means having an input for receiving each data character in the set of data for the predetermined number of times, said display signal generator means being operative in response to receiving each data character at its input for the predetermined number of times to produce a set of display data signals corresponding to the data character, each display data signal comprising a series of bits; first circuit means for receiving and storing therein display data signals of sets of display data signals produced by the display signal generator means and corresponding to data characters; second circuit means coupled to the first circuit means and operative to produce clock signals for clocking the bits of display data signals stored in the first circuit means out of the first circuit means at a predetermined first rate; third circuit means coupled to the data source means and operative to receive and store therein for the predetermined number of times the width data of each attribute character produced by the data source means; fourth circuit means coupled to the third circuit means and to the first circuit means, said fourth circuit means being operative when the width data of an attribute character stored in the third circuit means for the predetermined number of times specifies that the images of data characters following the attribute character are to be displayed with the first width to enablE the first circuit means to be clocked at the predetermined first rate whereby the bits of the sets of display data signals corresponding to these data characters are clocked out of the first circuit means at the predetermind first rate, and said fourth circuit means being operative when the width data of an attribute character stored in the third circuit means for the predetermined number of times specifies that the images of data characters following the attribute character are to be displayed with the second width to cause the first circuit means to be clocked at a second rate of 1/(n+1) times the predetermined first rate, whereby the bits of the sets of display data signals corresponding to the first, ( (n+1)+1)th, (2(n+1)+1)th, (3(n+1)+ 1)th, etc., data characters following the attribute character are clocked out of the first circuit means at the second rate and the bits of the sets of display data signals corresponding to the intervening n data characters are prevented from being entered into and clocked out of the first circuit means; said display means being coupled to the first circuit means and operative to receive the bits of the sets of display data signals clocked out of the first circuit means at the first rate or second rate, said display means being operative in response to receiving the bits of each set of display data signals clocked out of the first circuit means at the first rate to provide an image, having a first width, of the corresponding data character, and operative in response to receiving the bits of each set of display data signals clocked out of the first circuit means at the second rate to provide an image, having a second width, of the corresponding data character.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
667 words
Display apparatus for displaying images of data characters having first and second widths, comprising: display means for displaying images of data characters; data source means for producing a set of data including a plurality of characters for a predetermined number of times, said characters including data characters the images of which are to be displayed by the display means and attribute characters interspersed with the data characters, each of said attribute characters including width data specifying that the images of data characters following the attribute character are to be displayed with a first width or a second, greater width, each of the data characters specified by the width data of an attribute character to have a display image of the second width being followed in the set of data by n additional, successive data characters, where n is an integer; display signal generator means having an input for receiving each data character in the set of data for the predetermined number of times, said display signal generator means being operative in response to receiving each data character at its input for the predetermined number of times to produce a set of display data signals corresponding to the data character, each display data signal comprising a series of bits; first circuit means for receiving and storing therein display data signals of sets of display data signals produced by the display signal generator means and corresponding to data characters; second circuit means coupled to the first circuit means and operative to produce clock signals for clocking the bits of display data signals stored in the first circuit means out of the first circuit means at a predetermined first rate; third circuit means coupled to the data source means and operative to receive and store therein for the predetermined number of times the width data of each attribute character produced by the data source means; fourth circuit means coupled to the third circuit means and to the first circuit means, said fourth circuit means being operative when the width data of an attribute character stored in the third circuit means for the predetermined number of times specifies that the images of data characters following the attribute character are to be displayed with the first width to enablE the first circuit means to be clocked at the predetermined first rate whereby the bits of the sets of display data signals corresponding to these data characters are clocked out of the first circuit means at the predetermind first rate, and said fourth circuit means being operative when the width data of an attribute character stored in the third circuit means for the predetermined number of times specifies that the images of data characters following the attribute character are to be displayed with the second width to cause the first circuit means to be clocked at a second rate of 1/(n+1) times the predetermined first rate, whereby the bits of the sets of display data signals corresponding to the first, ( (n+1)+1)th, (2(n+1)+1)th, (3(n+1)+ 1)th, etc., data characters following the attribute character are clocked out of the first circuit means at the second rate and the bits of the sets of display data signals corresponding to the intervening n data characters are prevented from being entered into and clocked out of the first circuit means; said display means being coupled to the first circuit means and operative to receive the bits of the sets of display data signals clocked out of the first circuit means at the first rate or second rate, said display means being operative in response to receiving the bits of each set of display data signals clocked out of the first circuit means at the first rate to provide an image, having a first width, of the corresponding data character, and operative in response to receiving the bits of each set of display data signals clocked out of the first circuit means at the second rate to provide an image, having a second width, of the corresponding data character.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
198 words
Display apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein: each data character specified to have a display image of a second width by the width data of an attribute character in the set of data produced by the data source means is followed by one additional (n 1) data character; and the fourth circuit means operates in response to the width data of each attribute character specifying that data characters following the attribute character are to have display images of the second width to cause the first circuit means to be clocked at one-half (1/(n+1) 1/2 ) the first rate whereby the bits of the sets of display data signals corresponding to the first, third, fifth, etc., data characters following the attribute character are clocked out of the first circuit means at the halved rate and the bits of the sets of display data signals corresponding to the intervening data characters are prevented from being entered into and clocked out of the first circuit means; said display means being operative to provide images of said first, third, fifth, etc., data characters having widths twice that of data characters specified by attribute characters to have images of the first width.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
114 words
Display apparatus in accordance with claim 2 wherein: the third circuit means includes: width data storage means operative to receive and store therein the width data of each attribute character produced in the set of data by the data source means; and the fourth circuit means includes: divide-by-two circuit means coupled to the width data storage means and to the first circuit means and operative in response to the width data of an attribute character stored in the width data storage means specifying that data characters following the attribute character are to have display images of the second width to cause the first circuit means to be clocked at one half the first rate.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
24 words
Display apparatus in accordance with claim 3 wherein: the display means includes a cathode ray tube display monitor of the raster scan line type.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
47 words
Display apparatus in accordance with claim 4 wherein: the display signal generator means operates to produce display data signals in which the bits are in parallel; and the first circuit means includes a parallel/serial register coupled to the cathode ray tube display monitor of the display means.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
68 words
Display apparatus in accordance with claim 5 wherein: the data source means includes a recirculating register means having an output and operative to store the set of data therein; and means coupled to the recirculating register means and operative to cause the set of data stored in the recirculating register means to circulate therein and to be applied to the output thereof for the predetermined number of times.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
224 words
Display apparatus in accordance with claim 6 wherein: the cathode ray tube display monitor has at least one character display row having a number of successive raster scan lines associated therewith equal to the predetermined number of times that the predetermined set of data is applied to the output of the recirculating register means, each of the raster scan lines traversing through a plurality of dot positions of the display monitor; the display signal generator means includes: character generator means of the read-only-memory type and having an input for receiving each data character; address means coupled to the character generator means and operative to apply to the character generator means successive address signals corresponding to the successive raster scan lines associated with each character display row of the display monitor, said character generator means being operative in response to the successive address signals applied thereto by the address means to produce a set of display data signals corresponding to the data character, said set of display data signals having a number of display data signals therein equal to the predetermined number of times that the set of data is produced by the data source means; and the second circuit means includes clock means for supplying clock signals to the parallel/serial register of the first circuit means at the dot rate of the display monitor.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1978-07-21 | 1979-01-20 | 1979-07-22 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1982-07-21 | 1983-01-20 | 1983-07-22 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1986-07-21 | 1987-01-20 | 1987-07-22 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |