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authorJoe Hunkeler <jhunkeler@gmail.com>2015-08-11 16:51:37 -0400
committerJoe Hunkeler <jhunkeler@gmail.com>2015-08-11 16:51:37 -0400
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+.help imtool Jan87 "Image Display on the Sun Workstation"
+.sp 3
+.ce
+\fBImage Display on the Sun Workstation\fR
+.ce
+Design Specification (prototype display)
+.ce
+Doug Tody
+.ce
+January 1987
+
+.NH
+Introduction
+
+ This document describes the prototype Sunview based SUN/IRAF image display.
+The standard Sun-3 color workstation provides an 1152 by 900 by 8 bit frame
+buffer (some models are larger) with an associated 256 entry color table and
+an RGB display. A keyboard and a three button mouse are provided for
+interactive control and command entry.
+
+In typical interactive use the user will have a number of windows open on the
+screen, e.g., a GTERM virtual graphics terminal with text and graphics windows,
+the image display window, a small console window, and several icons.
+Due to limitations on the amount of screen space available and due to speed
+limitations when refreshing a full 8 bit deep window, it is desirable to limit
+the size of the image display window to a fraction of the screen space most
+of the time.
+
+Due to the complexity of the task of designing a fully functional, device
+independent image display interface, and the need to get at least a basic
+image display capability functioning for SUN/IRAF as soon as possible,
+a prototype display will be implemented first in January 1987 followed by
+the full interface later in the year. Although the prototype will not provide
+full functionality or system and device independence, the basic features are
+expected to be provided im much the same form that they will take in the final
+interface.
+
+.NH
+User Interfaces
+
+ The prototype image display will use the existing TV/DISPLAY program to
+load images into the image display. None of the other tasks in the TV package
+will be supported and the entire contents of the TV package will disappear
+later this year. Display interaction and cursor readback will be via the
+same cursor mode interface currently used for the graphics terminal interface.
+Additional display-level interaction will be available under mouse control,
+e.g., to support display dependent functions not otherwise supported in cursor
+mode, such as greyscale windowing, filtering (resampling), region of interest
+control, and the like.
+
+.NH
+Display Features
+.NH 2
+Image and Graphics Planes
+
+ The display size is a setup configuration parameter but is fixed while the
+display is in use. Typical display sizes might be 512, 800, 1024, or 2048
+pixels square, or some rectangular size. Sufficient physical memory should be
+available so that the internal frame buffers may be locked into memory.
+
+The image display will be 7 bits deep with 1 bit of graphics
+overlay, leaving half of the color table entries for use by other
+graphics windows. The image may be windowed without affecting the
+color table entries of the other windows on the screen. If 7 bits
+of greyscale proves to be a serious limitation something on the order
+of 7.9 bits is possible by playing tricks with the software (clever
+use of the color table). This latter feature will not be available
+in the initial prototype.
+
+The prototype display will provide N image frames, all of which must be the
+same size, each with its own independent lookup table and viewport.
+The frame size and number of frames are arbitrary and will be a setup option.
+Blinking, split screen, true color representation, and other operations
+involving simultaneous display of multiple frames will not be implemented
+n the prototype display.
+
+The full display will support N image frames, each with an associated 1 bit
+graphics overlay, with all frame-graphics pairs the same size, and with
+support for multiple screen operations such as blink and split screen.
+Independent lookup tables will not be possible in split screen mode,
+but this may not be a serious problem given the autoscaling algorithm in
+the DISPLAY task, and the possibility of normalization of multiple image
+frames to use a common lookup table (by modifying the loaded pixel values),
+once the lookup table has been independently adjusted for each frame.
+
+.NH 2
+Pseudocolor and True Color
+
+ Pseudocolor will probably not be supported in the initial prototype,
+although it may be added to the prototype before the final interface is written.
+True color can probably be provided in the final interface by maintaining an
+independent lookup table for each of the three frames (RGB) in software,
+generating the compound output in software, and displaying the result in
+hardware using a software generated linear pseudocolor lookup table. Once the
+true color image is generated all of the zoom, pan, etc. functions will work
+with their usual speed. Since true color display is used infrequently (and
+fully buffered memory to memory operations are fairly fast anyhow) this
+technique should prove quite adequate.
+
+.NH 2
+The Display Window
+
+ The user views the displayed image through a window which may be resized and
+moved about on the screen at any time, under interactive control of the mouse.
+Resizing the window changes only the size of the subraster of the fixed-size
+image frame to be displayed. Moving the window under Sunview does not change
+the window into the image, merely the position of the image display window on
+the screen.
+
+Zoom and pan is implemented in software. Zoom is implemented by pixel
+replication and dezoom by pixel subsampling, operating simultaneously on both
+the greyscale and graphics planes. Each operation results in a reload of the
+portion of the image displayed in the image window from data stored in the
+fixed size internal frame buffer. Zoom, dezoom, and roam are controlled
+interactively using either the normal cursor mode keystrokes (ZXYEP,1-9M,0),
+the mouse, or both.
+
+Once the region of interest has been adjusted on the display via the full pixel
+sampling techniques, a "resample" operation may be performed to recompute the
+contents of the displayed subraster using block averaging and/or bilinear
+interpolation techniques. A possible variation on this is to compute several
+block averaged versions of the full image at various dezoom factors, e.g.,
+2, 4, and 8 times dezoom, and read from these rather than the full frame when
+dezoom is selected. For example, if the frame size is 2048 square, the display
+would simultaneously store 2048, 1024, 512, and 256 square block-averaged
+versions of the frame and dynamically select the version to be used depending
+upon the dezoom factor. The percentage of additional memory required to hold
+the dezoomed frames is only about 40% greater than the fully sampled frame.
+Timing tests need to be performed to see if this is worthwhile.
+
+.NH 2
+Region of Interest
+
+ Due to screen space limitations the image window will rarely exceed about
+512 square pixels in size, hence one will normally view either a dezoomed
+version of the image or a subraster of the full frame (full screen display
+will of course be an option). One possible way to live with dezoom without
+suffering loss of resolution is to use an icon, e.g., 64 pixels square,
+to always display the region under the cursor at full resolution or better.
+The display would consist of, for example, a 512 square main window displaying
+the dezoomed image, and an independently movable 64 square by 8 bit icon
+displaying an enlarged version of the image cursor, crosshairs, graphics
+overlay, and all.
+
+Alternatively, the cursor could be positioned on the full window and then a
+mouse button pressed to display the cursor at full resolution (or better),
+at the position of the cursor, with the display returning to normal when the
+mouse button is released. Yet another possibility is for the cursor to act
+as a magnifier which is moved about over the dezoomed image. Most probably
+all these choices will be provided as options, since they are all variations
+on the same thing.
+
+.NH 2
+Windowing
+
+ The lookup tables will be readable and writable under software control for
+sophisticated applications such as interactive entry of a piecewise linear
+transfer function. Most commonly, however, greyscale windowing will be
+performed by the image display under control of the mouse. The most attractive
+way to do this is probably to display a histogram of the image in the graphics
+plane, overlaid by the current transfer function, which typically looks like
+this:
+
+.ks
+.nf
+ /------------
+ /
+ /
+ ---------/
+.fi
+.ke
+
+Moving the cursor to the left will lower the threshold (move the displayed
+curve to the left), and moving the cursor up will increase the contrast
+(increase the slope of the transfer function). Ideally window mode would
+be entered by pressing a mouse button (or some combination of a mouse button
+and a control or shift key), windowing performed with the mouse button held
+down, and window mode exited when the mouse button is released.
+
+.NH 2
+Reading the Cursor
+
+ The image display cursor may be any 64 pixel square object with a shape
+which is suitable for centering on two dimensional objects. The default cursor
+will be a pair of 64 pixel long crosshairs with a gap in the middle. When a
+cursor read is in progress the cursor will blink rapidly, e.g., at 4-8 Hz,
+signaling to the user that the program is waiting for a cursor read (this is
+like turning on the full crosshairs on the GTERM graphics screen). The cursor
+may be moved either with the mouse or with the HJKL keys in cursor mode.
+A cursor read will be terminated by typing a key on the keyboard, or by
+pressing a mouse button which has been aliased to a key (as in GTERM).
+
+All cursor input will be via the standard IRAF cursor mode cursor input
+facility. The result of an image cursor read will be a line of text identical
+to that returned for a graphics cursor read, i.e., containing the cursor
+position in world coordinates (image pixel coordinates in this case), the
+WCS number, the key typed, and so on. Semi-automatic readout of the image
+cursor coordinates may be obtained via the "C" function in cursor mode,
+perhaps aliased to a mouse button.
+
+.NH 2
+Hardcopy Output
+
+ While there will be no snap/crtpict support initially, it will be possible
+to get pseudo-greyscale output hardcopy on the laserwriter via menu selection,
+as in GTERM, by taking advantage of the greyscale rendering capabilities of
+Postscript and the 300 dpi resolution of the laserwriter. It also should be
+possible to use :.snap or "=" to get hardcopy output in cursor mode.
+
+.NH
+Features Not Supported
+
+ The prototype display will provide as IRAF callable functions only image
+frame buffer i/o, screen clear, viewport control (zoom/pan), and read and write
+cursor position. Greyscale windowing, hardcopy output, and window resize and
+move will be handled directly by the image display and Sunview, under mouse
+control. Initially there will be no access to the graphics overlay, and only
+monochrome display will be supported (pseudocolor may be added to the prototype
+at some point). Full functionality will follow when the GIO imaging extensions
+and IDI interface specification have been completed.
+
+.NH
+Implementation
+
+ The following subsystems need to be added or modified to implement the
+prototype SUN/IRAF Sunview image display.
+.ls
+.ls [1]
+The software image display program (new code). This will be implemented as
+a Sunview tool (process), to be linked into the "basetools" executable (where
+GTERM lives). The image display process (or processes if there are multiple
+displays) will communicate with other processes via sockets and/or shared
+memory. A special file entry will be required in /dev for each display
+pseudo-device. The Sunview server process will normally be set up when the
+user's .suntools file is interpreted, but will not be displayed until the
+display is first loaded. Commands and data will be passed between the server
+process and the client (e.g.,some IRAF process) via the conventional socket
+based IPC mechanism and an application defined RPC mechanism. Shared memory
+will be used to eliminate pixel i/o to the image frame buffers when the server
+resides on the same machine as the client.
+.le
+.ls [2]
+The low level code in the DISPLAY program must be modified to talk with the
+display server. For the prototype, this is probably best done using the FIO
+based display interface rather than GIO, since the current display program
+is written to use FIO. The display task will directly read and write the
+display server frame buffer using the Sys V shared memory facilities. The
+final interface will do the same (or use a socket if the server is on a remote
+machine), but will use the more flexible GIO interface. The DISPLAY task
+must also be modified to compute the WCS and output it to the cursor mode
+code via GIO, in order for cursor readback to function.
+.le
+.ls [3]
+Cursor mode must be modified to support cursor input from imaging devices.
+The principle modification seems to be the addition of a set device viewport
+instruction, to be used to pass zoom and pan instructions on to the device
+kernel rather than implementing them directly in the cursor mode software as
+is done for the STDGRAPH devices. The open / close workstation, activate /
+deactivate workstation, clear screen, set cursor, and get cursor functions
+are also needed, but need not be different than the equivalent STDGRAPH
+functions.
+.le
+.le
+
+Cursor mode requires implementation of some portion of a GIO device interface
+for the image display. Probably this will be implemented using an inline
+kernel, at least for the prototype display. Both the GIO kernel and the
+DISPLAY task will communicate directly with the display server via IPC.
+
+.NH 2
+Display Control Interface
+
+ Applications programs such as the DISPLAY task or the CL cursor mode code
+will access the display via IPC carrying a GKI command and data stream. Most
+of the GKI instructions used are already provided by the current GIO/GKI
+interface. These are summarized below for reference.
+
+
+.ks
+.nf
+ GKI_EOF = BOI 0 L
+* GKI_OPENWS = BOI 1 L M N D
+* GKI_CLOSEWS = BOI 2 L N D
+* GKI_REACTIVATEWS = BOI 3 L
+* GKI_DEACTIVATEWS = BOI 4 L
+* GKI_MFTITLE = BOI 5 L N T
+* GKI_CLEARWS = BOI 6 L
+ GKI_CANCEL = BOI 7 L
+ GKI_FLUSH = BOI 8 L
+ GKI_POLYLINE = BOI 9 L N P
+ GKI_POLYMARKER = BOI 10 L N P
+ GKI_TEXT = BOI 11 L P N T
+ GKI_FILLAREA = BOI 12 L N P
+* GKI_PUTCELLARRAY = BOI 13 L LL UR NC NL P
+* GKI_SETCURSOR = BOI 14 L CN POS
+ GKI_PLSET = BOI 15 L LT LW CI
+ GKI_PMSET = BOI 16 L MT MW CI
+ GKI_TXSET = BOI 17 L UP SZ SP P HJ VJ F Q CI
+ GKI_FASET = BOI 18 L FS CI
+* GKI_GETCURSOR = BOI 19 L CN
+ GKI_CURSORVALUE = BOI 19 L CN POS KEY
+* GKI_GETCELLARRAY = BOI 20 L LL UR NC NL
+ GKI_CELLARRAY = BOI 20 L NP P
+ GKI_ESCAPE = BOI 25 L FN N DC
+ GKI_SETWCS = BOI 26 L N WCS
+ GKI_GETWCS = BOI 27 L N
+.fi
+.ke
+
+
+Those instructions which are required in the prototype interface are marked
+with an asterisk. In addition we need a number of new instructions to
+perform various common image display control functions. This is the topic
+of the GIO imaging extensions project, which we do not wish to attempt to
+seriously address in the prototype display. The new GKI instructions outlined
+in the remainder of this section are intended only to permit the implementation
+of the prototype SUN image display, and will be replaced by a full and much
+more carefully defined set of instructions when the full interface is designed.
+
+A new instruction is needed to set the device viewport, i.e., the portion of
+the frame buffer to be displayed in the display window. The set viewport
+instructions are used to implement zoom and pan at the cursor level.
+
+
+.ks
+.nf
+ GKI_SETVIEWPORT = BOI 28 L XC YC ZX ZY
+ GKI_GETVIEWPORT = BOI 29 L XC YC ZX ZY
+ GKI_VIEWPORT = BOI 29 L XC YC ZX ZY
+.fi
+.ke
+
+
+The device viewport is specified by the [x,y] center of the displayed area in
+frame buffer pixel coordinates (1-indexed), and the zoom or dezoom factor in
+each axis. This representation is used, rather than specifying the corner
+points of the intended viewport, so that the viewport may be specified
+independently of the size of the actual device window used, and to avoid
+questions about what happens near the edge of the frame.
+
+Instructions are also needed to set and inquire the index of the frame
+currently being displayed, and the index of the reference frame for the i/o
+and control functions; these need not be the same frame.
+
+
+.ks
+.nf
+ GKI_SETFRAME = BOI 30 L RF DF
+ GKI_GETFRAME = BOI 31 L
+ GKI_FRAME = BOI 31 L RF DF
+.fi
+.ke
+
+
+Here, RF is the index of the reference frame, i.e., the frame to be operated
+upon or referenced in all set, get, and pixel i/o operations, and DF is the
+index of the frame currently being displayed or to be displayed. The frames
+are numbered 1, 2, ..., N; 0 indicates that the reference frame or display
+frame is not to be changed.
+
+The concept of the display frame is important in cursor reads. In a cursor
+read or write operation, a CN (cursor number) index of 0 indicates that the
+cursor of the display frame is to be referenced; the index of the frame
+actually referenced will be returned in the CN field of the cursor value
+structure. If a nonzero CN is given the cursor of the indicated frame is
+referenced, whether or not the indicated reference frame is currently
+displayed.
+
+Lastly, we need an inquiry function to determine the size and depth of the
+image frame buffer, and the number of image planes. It is assumed that the
+frame buffer size, etc., will be set up in advance by the user, either using
+the mouse and the display setup panel, or via command line arguments in the
+.suntools file when the display server is initially spawned.
+
+
+.ks
+.nf
+ GKI_GETFRAMESIZE = BOI 32 L
+ GKI_FRAMESIZE = BOI 32 L NP NX NY NZ
+.fi
+.ke
+
+
+Here, NP is the number of image planes, NX and NY are the size in pixels of
+each image plane, and NZ is the number of displayable greylevels, e.g., 256.
+Note that NZ need not be a power of two as the entire colortable may not be
+available.
+
+The image display will be a standard GIO (inline or sub) kernel down to the
+level where some action occurs, after decoding the i/o instruction to be
+executed. At that point a device dependent C subroutine will be called which
+will pass the command on to the display server, which will always reside in a
+separate process (it has to, due to the peculiar notifier based nature of the
+Sunview environment).
+
+.NH 2
+Display Internals
+
+ The primary functions of the display server are [1] to maintain a frame
+buffer, and respond to requests to display portions of the frame buffer in the
+display window at some zoom or dezoom factor, and [2] to read and execute
+commands from a client process.
+
+Case [1] includes both refresh of the primary window, which occurs whenever a
+new image is loaded, the device viewport changes, or the window is resized or
+uncovered, and refresh of the region of interest (cursor) window, which occurs
+whenever any of the above events occurs or whenever the cursor is moved.
+In fact it appears that both operations are really the same thing, except that
+the cursor window always hides the main window, has a narrower border and no
+label, and is refreshed more often than the main window. The refresh operation
+sets up a mapping between the frame buffer and a window and then either does
+a series of pixrect operations to refresh the window (which may be partially
+or fully covered), or carries out a resampling operation on a region of the
+frame buffer, writing the zoomed or dezoomed data to the display window.
+
+The commands to be executed in case [2] are the GKI functions described in the
+previous section. In the prototype display the primary commands are open /
+close workstation, set viewport, set cursor position, and read cursor.
+The set viewport function merely sets up a transformation and calls the
+window refresh code described in the previous paragraph.