AUXILIARY INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM WITH A BITMAPPED ON-SCREEN DISPLAY USING LIMITED COMPUTING RESOURCES

摘要

A system for processing auxiliary information included in a television signal provides on-screen bitmapped displays using limited computing and memory resources. According to an exemplary embodiment, closed caption data is received in a vertical blanking interval (VBI) of a television signal or in one or more packets of digital data. A display list is generated in dependence upon the received closed caption data. The display list includes a bitmap pointer which points to bitmap data in a memory. The display list may also include: resolution data indicating a number of bits per pixel to be provided in the closed caption display, height data indicating a character height in pixels for the closed caption display, and width data indicating a character width in pixels for the closed caption display. The bitmap data is output as pixel data for the closed caption display. The closed caption display may be scrolled by manipulating the bitmap pointer.