1996 Jan 08
25
Philips Semiconductors
Preliminary specification
Microcontroller for monitor OSD
and auto-sync applications
PCE84C882
11 CHARACTER ROM
64 character fonts may be held in ROM; 62 customer
selected character fonts plus the Carriage Return Code
and the Space Code. Customer selected fonts are mask
programmable. Each character font is stored in a 12
×
19
dot matrix. However, only elements in Rows 1 to 18 can be
selected as visible dots on the screen. Row 0 is only used
for the combination of two characters in a vertical direction
when North shadowing mode is selected.
11.1
Character ROM address map
Figure 18 shows the ROM address map. Addresses 3EH
and 3FH hold the reserved codes for carriage return and
space functions, respectively. Addresses (00H to 3DH)
hold the customer selected character font codes.
11.2
Character ROM organization
ROM is divided into two parts: ROM1 and ROM2. The
organization of the bit patterns stored in ROM 1 and
ROM 2 and also the file format to submit to Philips for
customized character sets is shown in Fig.19. Regarding
Fig.19 the following points should be noted.
1.
Row 0 of each font is reserved for vertical combination
of two fonts.
Binary 1 denotes visual dots.
ROM1 and ROM2 data files are in INTEL hex format
on a byte basis. Each byte is structured high nibble
followed by low nibble.
The unused last byte of each font in ROM1 must be
filled with FFH.
The unused last 2
1
2
bytes in ROM2 must be filled with
the same data as held in the corresponding address in
ROM1.
The data bytes of the last 2 reserved fonts (Carriage
Return and Space Codes) should be filled with 00H.
CS denotes Checksum.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
A software package (OSDGEM) that assists in the design
of character fonts on-screen and that also automatically
generates the bit pattern HEX files is available on request.
The package is run under the MS-DOS environment for
IBM compatible PCs.
11.3
Combination of character font cells
Two (or more) character font cells may be combined in a
horizontal or vertical direction to create a new higher
resolution pattern.
The combination of two cells in a horizontal direction is
straight forward and requires no special precautions to be
taken. When combining character cells in this manner all 4
Background/Shadowing modes are available. An example
of combining two character font cells in a horizontal
direction is shown in Fig.20.
However, the combination of two character font cells in a
vertical direction is more difficult and care must be taken;
otherwise, the new pattern may be created with gaps in its
shadowing. An example of a character pattern with gaps is
shown in Fig.21. Providing the steps listed below are
followed no problems with shadowing will occur.
The line spacing between two rows of characters must
be programmed to 0H. This procedure is explained in
Section 10.1.2.
If the North shadowing mode is selected then when
combining two character cells in a vertical direction
Row 0 must contain the same bit pattern as held in
Row 18 of the character directly above it. This is shown
in Fig.22.
If North shadowing is not required then Row 0 should
contain all zeros.
Fig.18 ROM address map.
0
61 (3DH)
62 (3EH)
63 (3FH)
Mask Programmable Font
Carriage return code
Space code
reserved code
MLC287