Indicating device with and without antialiasing

• US 6,597,365 B1
• Filed: 09/11/1998
• Issued: 07/22/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Valeo Borge Instruments GmbH & Company KG
• Original Assignee: Valeo Borge Instruments GmbH & Company KG
• Inventors: Hartmann, Peter, Baecke, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Bella, Matthew C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): BLACKMAN, ANTHONY J
• Application Number:
  US09/151,333
• Time in Patent Office: 1,775 Days
• Field of Search: 345/136, 345/629, 345/635, 340/990, 340/995, 342/452, 707/100, 707/102, 701/213, 701/208, 701/200, 382/269
• US Class Current: 345/611
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/20 using local operators
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/28 for enhancement of character form, e.g. smoothing

Abstract

The invention concerns an indicating device for the optical reproduction of graphics, with a data-processing installation for the graphic processing of the information to be represented, and an indicating unit for the visualization of the processed information, wherein[, among others,] the data-processing installation uses antialiasing procedures in the graphical processing. In generating an image, the data-processing installation uses, for the graphical processing of at least two image areas or image objects, different antialiasing procedures, or else represents one of these image areas or one of these image objects without an antialiasing procedure.

Claims

1. An indicating device for the optical reproduction of graphics comprising:

a matrix display having at least two discrete image areas; and

a data-processing installation for graphic processing of information to be represented on the display,

wherein the data-processing installation is configured to use different antialiasing procedures for said at least two image areas for simultaneous display on the matrix display.

2. An indicating device according to claim 1, wherein as a function of available computing capacity of the data-processing installation, and/or of frame updating rate, and/or the number of objects to be represented, different antialiasing procedures are used in the generation of images to be represented in sequence.

3. An indicating device according to claim 1, wherein depending on available computing capacity of the data-processing installation, and/or on frame updating rate, and/or on the number of objects to be represented, different antialiasing procedures are used in the generation of images to be represented in sequence and wherein in the generation of an image, the data-processing installation uses in the graphic processing of at least two image areas different antialiasing procedures for said image areas.

4. An indicating device according to claim 1, wherein in the generation of an image, a computation-intensive antialiasing procedure is used for the representation of individual image areas until such time as a request for an image update is generated, whereupon remaining image areas to be represented are not represented at all, or are only represented with a less computation-intensive procedure.

5. An indicating device according to claim 1, wherein it can be predetermined for the data-processing installation or the latter determines by itself whether the computational capacity and the time available for the image processing by specific antialiasing procedures are sufficient;

and the data-processing installation selects the antialiasing procedure for the image processing for which the time and the computational capacity are sufficient to provide complete image processing.

6. An indicating device according to claim 1, wherein it can be predetermined for the data-processing installation that it utilize a specific antialiasing procedure in the image processing of a specific image area.

7. An indicating device according to claim 1, wherein it can be predetermined that depending on available computational capacity and time, as determined by frame updating rate the data-processing installation utilize a specific, generally computation-intensive antialiasing procedure in the image processing of a specific image area.

8. An indicating device according to claim 1, wherein the device is used for a matrix display with low resolution, on which are represented simultaneously or consecutively graphics and/or texts moved at varying speeds.

9. A device for the generation of visual images comprising a data input;

A processor responsive to said input and generating signals for creating a plurality of simultaneously displayable visual images, said processor including a first antialiasing program for use with one of said images and a second antialiasing program for use with a different one of said images.

10. A device according to claim 9 wherein said first and second antialiasing programs are operated as a function of available computing capacity of the processor.

11. A device according to claim 9 which further comprises a display responsive to said procesror for depicting a visual image representative information provided to the processor from said input.

12. A device according to claim 9 wherein the visual images depicted on said display at any particular time comprise a frame of information and wherein said frame of information is changed at a particular rate, said first and second antialiasing programs operating as a function of said frame change rate.

13. A device according to claim 12 wherein at a particular time said first and second antialiasing programs operate as a function of the number of images depicted at said particular time.

14. A method for graphic processing a plurality of images at a particular time comprising the step of using a first antialiasing procedure for one image and a different antialiasing procedure for another simultaneously displayable image.

15. A device comprising:

a data processor having a predetermined computing capacity, the processor being capable of generating graphic images having a number of objects by applying scaled antialiasing; and

a matrix display adapted to display the graphic images received from the data processor,

wherein the data processor is configured to selectively apply antialiasing procedures as a function of one or more variables selected from the group consisting of;

available computing capacity, frame repetition rate, the number of objects and an object change rate for each of the objects, and

wherein the data processor further comprises a memory table containing a predetermined number of image objects that can be represented in a specific time span with a specific antialiasing procedure, and wherein the processor selects antialiasing procedures sufficient to represent the graphic images at the computing capacity and the frame repetition rate.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the data processor applies a first antialiasing procedure for objects with an object change rate above a predetermined threshold value, and applies a second antialiasing procedure for other objects, and wherein the first antiallasing procedure is relatively more computation intensive than the second antialiasing procedure.

17. A device comprising:

a data processor having a predetermined computing capacity, the data processor being capable of generating graphic images having a number of objects by applying scaled antialiasing; and

a matrix display having 400,000 pixels or less, the display being adapted to display the graphic images received from the data processor,

wherein the data processor is configured to selectively apply antialiasing procedures as a function of one or more variables selected from the group consisting of;

available computing capacity, frame repetition rate, the number of objects and an object change rate for each of the objects, wherein the data processor applies a first antialiasing procedure for a first preselected set of objects, and applies a second antialiasing procedure for a second remaining set of objects, and wherein the first antialiaising procedure is relatively more computation intensive than the second antialiasing procedure, and wherein the first predetermined set of objects includes an analog clock and the second remaining set of objects includes an analog clock and the second remaining set of objects includes a navigational map.

18. An indicating device for displaying an image having a plurality of objects, the device comprising:

a data-processing installation adapted to receive information representing the objects and output a processed image, the data-processing installation being configured to apply to the information procedures selected from the group consisting of;

(a) employing a standard algorithm without antialiasing, (b) employing an antialiasing algorithm with pixel-based starting and ending points, with constant background color, (c) employing an antialiasing algorithm with subpixel-based starting and ending points, with constant background color, (d) employing an antialiasing algorithm with pixel-based starting and ending points, with several background colors, (e) employing an antialiasing algorithm with subpixel-based starting and ending points, with several background colors, (f) employing an antialiasing algorithm with subpixel-based starting and ending points, with any desired number of background colors and (g) combination of the above-procedures; and

a display associated with The data-processing installation that is adapted to receive and graphically represent the processed image;

wherein the data-processing installation selects the procedures to be applied to a given object according to the requirements for generating the image.