Abstract: The present invention allows a single display controller design to be used in multiple markets by providing an additional stand-alone circuit which converts conventional analog CRT display signals to digital flat panel display or other digital display signals. A single VGA CRT controller may be implemented in both desktop and portable (e.g., laptop) markets thereby reducing the cost of the display controller through the economies of scale. For a laptop or other digital display markets, the apparatus of the present invention may be applied to a conventional analog CRT controller to convert analog CRT signals to digital laptop signals to generate a display on a flat panel display or other digital device. In addition, the apparatus of the present invention may be incorporated into a stand-alone flat panel display intended for use as a replacement for conventional CRT monitors. The apparatus of the present invention accepts a conventional analog CRT input and outputs digital flat panel display signals.

Abstract: A computer video controller, particularly a VGA or SVGA video controller for use with graphical user interface (GUI) software such as WINDOWS.TM. or OS/2.TM. is provided with two video data pipelines for simultaneously displaying full motion video within a window in a video display. A first data pipeline displays background video at a first pixel depth. A second data pipeline is provided to display a motion video window at a second, usually higher, pixel depth. The location of the motion video window is measured horizontally in number of memory fetch cycles needed to retrieve the horizontal scan line of pixel data abutting the motion video window. The width of the motion video window is measured in the number of memory fetches required to retrieve one scan line of the motion video window.

Abstract: A video controller receives character data, attribute data and font data, each of which are stored in different planes of a video memory. The font data comprises bit maps of at least two character fonts, which may be user fonts or default fonts loaded from a controller BIOS. The video controller retrieves the font data, translates the font data into a page mode, and stores the font data in a hidden font cache in an unused portion of the video memory. The paged font data is divided into a number of pages equal to the number of scan lines per character. Each page contains a number of words, and each word contains at least two bytes. Each byte represents one scan line of a character in a different font. The video controller retrieves the paged fonts in page mode and assembles the scan lines for the characters to be displayed into one video scan line. The use of the page mode increases refresh rate and allows simultaneous display of two fonts.