Accelerated graphics display method
First Claim
1. A method for displaying an image on a display screen comprising the steps of:
- receiving an event from a host computer in response to operator input;
determining if an event is an update image event;
determining, when said event is an update image event, a first video display where image data is located in memory and a second video display where a window to be updated is loaded;
preparing a copy command to request that a graphics controller copy the image data from a first video display memory into the memory of a second display; and
sending the copy command to the graphics controller so that the graphics controller copies the image data from a memory of the first video display to a memory of the second video display.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method is presented which eliminates the extra steps by an application to call a graphics function. The method eliminates the intercepting layer or program between the application and the graphic functions. The method may call hardware and software graphics functions directly and thus requires fewer processing steps and thereby reduces the amount of work the host computer must perform. The method and apparatus enables copy image data into a computer screen window faster than a comparable image display system that intercepts every call that an application makes to a graphics function.
The method and apparatus enables an application program to directly control the location of image data in memory. The present invention enables movement of image data within memory or out of memory to make room for higher priority images. These features enable an application program to move image data between memories for different displays so that an image can move between screens.
The method and apparatus enables display of images that are too large to fit on a single display memory to be broken into smaller sections referred to as "chunks". Each image chunk is small enough to fit within a single display memory so that large images can be displayed by writing each smaller chunk to a single display memory and then displaying all the chunks together and so that the entire image appears on the display screen.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method for displaying an image on a display screen comprising the steps of:
-
receiving an event from a host computer in response to operator input; determining if an event is an update image event; determining, when said event is an update image event, a first video display where image data is located in memory and a second video display where a window to be updated is loaded; preparing a copy command to request that a graphics controller copy the image data from a first video display memory into the memory of a second display; and sending the copy command to the graphics controller so that the graphics controller copies the image data from a memory of the first video display to a memory of the second video display. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A method for displaying image data in a window on a computer display screen comprising the steps of:
-
receiving in an application process running on a host computer, a request to update a window on a computer display screen; determining a location of the image data in memory; performing in the application process mathematical calculations on the image data to prepare the image data for handling by a graphics card; and sending a command from the application process to the graphics card to command the graphics card to copy the image data prepared by the application process to a video card so that the image data appears in the window on the computer display screen. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
-
Specification