Raster Scan Systems
Raster Scan Systems
In addition to the central processing unit
(CPU), a special processor, called the video
controller or display controller, is used
to control the operation of the display device.
CPU
System
Memory
System Bus
I/O Devices
Video
Controller
Monitor
Video Controller
A fixed area of the system memory is reserved
for the frame buffer, and the video controller
is given direct access to the frame buffer
memory.
Video Controller
Frame buffer location, and the
corresponding screen positions, are
referenced in Cartesian coordinates.
y
Video Controller
Scan lines are then labeled from ymax at
the top of the screen to 0 at the bottom.
Along each scan line, screen pixel
positions are labeled from 0 to xmax.
y
y max
y max
Line Scan
Line Scan
x max
x max
Video Controller
Two registers are used to store the coordinates
of the screen pixels.
Raster Scan Generator
x Register
y Register
The Basic refresh
operation of the
video controller.
Memory Address
Frame Buffer
Pixel register
Video Controller
Some of operations can be performed by the Video
Controller:
Refreshing operation.
Video controller can retrieve pixel intensities from
different areas on different refresh cycles.
Example:Two frame buffers are often provided so
that one buffer used for refreshing other is filled with
intensity values.two buffers can swithch roles
used in real time animations.
Transformation (Areas of the screen can be
enlarged, reduces, or moved during the
refresh cycles)
some systems are designed to allow the
video controller to mix the frame buffer
image with input image from television
camera or other input device.
Raster Scan Display
Processor
Raster Scan Display Processor
A raster system containing a separate display
processor (graphics controller, display coprocessor)
The purpose of the DP is to free the CPU from the
graphics chores.
Architecture of a raster graphics
system with display processor
Display Processor
Memory
CPU
Frame
buffer
Display
Processor
System Bus
I/O Devices
Video
Controller
System
Memory
Monitor
DP
A major task of the display processor
is Scan Conversion.
Scan Conversion: is digitizing a
picture definition given in an
application program into a set of
pixel intensity values for storage in
the frame buffer.( scan conversion
straight line segment, Character )
Scan converting a straight
line segment
for example, means that we
have to locate the pixel
position closest to the line
path and store the intensity
for each position in the frame
buffer.
Characters can be defined
Display Processor
Generation various line styles
(dashed, dotted, or solid)
Displaying color areas
Performing certain transformation
and manipulation on display
objects.
In effort to reduce memory requirement in raster
system,methods have been devised for organizing
the frame buffer as linked list and decoding the
intensity information.
One way to do this is to store each scan line as a
set of integer pairs
One number of each pair indicates an intensity value
and the second number specifies the number of
adjacent pixels on the scan line that are to have same
intensity.(run length encoding)
Random Scan Systems
Random Scan System
An application program as input and stored in
the system memory along with a graphic
package.
Graphic commands in the application program
are translated by the graphics package into a
display file stored in the system memory.
This file is then accessed by the display
processor unit (DPU)(graphic controller) to
refresh the screen.
Random-Scan Systems
CPU
System
Memory
System Bus
I/O Devices
Display
Processor
Monitor