Interface for enabling continuous high speed row grabbing video display

Abstract

An interface for enabling continuous high speed row grabbing video display with real time hard copy print out thereof interfaces a hard copy printer with a real time frame grabbing video display terminal for enabling substantially instantaneous provision of a continuous direct video display of a selectable predetermined video frame of information on a video display from continuously receivable information remotely provided over a transmission media while substantially simultaneously providing real time hard copy printing of this selectable information on the printer. The continuously receivable information comprises a plurality of pseudo video scan lines, each of which has a television video scan line format and is capable of comprising a complete self-contained packet of digital information sufficient to provide an entire displayable row of video data characters, the displayable row comprising a plurality of television video scan lines, each of the characters comprising a plurality of bits for each of the television video scan lines. The interface comprises buffer storage for locally storing hard copy printable information obtained in real time from the row grabbing terminal video displayable row local storage which buffer storage is controllably loaded with one bit position of each of the characters for each of the television video scan lines locally stored in the row grabbing terminal local storage at the rate at which the characters are loaded into the row grabbing terminal local storage with a different bit position being selected for a different one of each of the television video scan lines comprising the row, the bits comprising the printable characters thus being selectable from the continuously receivable information at the character reception rate. A local microprocessor may be utilized to control the function of the row grabbing terminal and the printer interface.