The conversion of a drawing instruction into respective pixmap locations resident in main memory is typically performed by a host processor when an associated graphics processor cannot access the main memory. Such conversion is enhanced by employing a common pixmap accessible to the graphics processor, and arranging the host processor so that it changes a drawing instruction which references a respective pixmap into one which references the common pixmap. The changed drawing instruction is then passed to the graphic processor for conversion into respective memory locations resident in the common pixmap. Thereafter, the contents of the common pixmap is transferred to the block of main memory reserved for the respective pixmap.
An apparatus including an image pick-up device, a data storage controlling arrangement, a main memory, a mass storage device, and a manipulation size setting unit. The image pick-up device picks up images to produce image data and stores the same into a frame buffer. The main memory offers rapid access but low storage capacity and stores the image data supplied from the frame buffer. The mass storage device is capable of holding a vast amount of memory but cannot be accessed very quickly. It also stores the image data supplied from the frame buffer. The manipulation size setting unit sets a mask region and a frame rate both of which are necessary for storing the image data into the mass storage device. The data storage controlling arrangement controls storage of the image data, in which the image data is stored in the mass storage device when the same is capable of storing the image data at an inherent frame rate larger than or equal to the set frame rate, and in which the image data is stored in the main memory when the inherent frame rate is smaller than the set frame rate.
The system and method of forming a display from a sequence of blocks of pixel data includes intermediate storage of selected blocks of pixel data in sequence for subsequent selective access in the stored sequence. One or more accesses to a given block of pixel data from intermediate storage provides zoom expansion or compression of displayable images represented by the blocks of pixel data.
A user invokes an application program and initiates a request to display an image on a display device. In response, a display device driver creates a bitmap in an offscreen video memory of an adapter card. The display device driver then writes data corresponding to the requested image to the bitmap. At an appropriate time, the display device driver copies the bitmap from the offscreen video memory to an onscreen video memory of the adapter card over an adapter bus. The requested image is then displayed on the display device using the bitmap stored in the onscreen video memory.
An image memory management system for tiled images. The system defines an address space for a virtual memory that includes an image data cache and a disk. An image stack for each source image is stored as a full resolution image and a set of lower-resolution subimages. Each tile of an image may exist in one or more of five different states as follows: uncompressed and resident in the image data cache, compressed and resident in the image data cache, uncompressed and resident on disk, compressed and resident on disk and not loaded but re-creatable using data from higher-resolution image tiles.
A data format employing multiple different headers associated with corresponding OSD content facilitates the implementation of an efficient and flexible OSD management and control system. Each header contains a unique display characteristic or set of display characteristics for the interpretation and presentation of an associated OSD pixel map. In using this system, the presentation or modification of an OSD involves the selection of the header, associated with the OSD, having the desired display characteristics to be used in presenting or modifying the OSD.
