Addressing Circuit and Method for Obtaining Spatial Positions of Light-emitting Modules of an LED String

Abstract

An addressing circuit and method for obtaining the spatial positions of each light-emitting module of an LED light string, which is simple to operate and can perform quick addressing after the LED light strip is installed and used. The detection signal unit is made into a standard module to detect the correlation between the address code of each LED light-emitting module in the LED light strip and the spatial sorting position of the LED light-emitting module in the LED light strip. It enables customers to easily know the spatial position of each LED light-emitting module in the LED light strip, and thus easily compile a main control signal that enables each LED light-emitting module to work in sequence. For the LED light strip using this circuit, customers do not need to use complex detection means and tools to find the above-mentioned correlation. Customers only need to write a program according to the protocol of the LED light-emitting module, and the detection signal unit completes the relevant addressing task. It is simple, practical, convenient and can perform the operation of addressing the above-mentioned correlation in any situation before and after the installation of the LED light strip.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an LED light strip, and particularly to an addressing circuit and an addressing method capable of quickly obtaining the spatial sorting positions of each light-emitting module in the LED light strip in the LED light strip. Background Art

[0002] In the lighting engineering of cities, LED light strips are widely used. Whenever night falls, these LED light strips flash different patterns, texts, and flowing colors (flowing colors mean: flowing color bars or ribbons, patterns, texts, or scenic backgrounds) under the control of different signals (hereinafter referred to as colored light signals), thus making the city more beautiful at night.

[0003] Generally, an LED light strip is formed by connecting several groups of LED light-emitting components in parallel between the positive and negative terminals of a power supply. Each group of LED light-emitting components includes a single LED lamp bead or a single group of three-primary-color LED lamp beads and a control chip disposed in the LED light-emitting component. When manufacturing the LED light strip, an ID address is built into the control chip of each group of LED light-emitting components. However, during the manufacturing process of the light strip, due to the random soldering of LED lamp beads and control chips, all the LED light-emitting components cannot be arranged in sequence according to the order of the ID addresses of the control chips in terms of spatial sorting, that is, all the LED light-emitting components are not easily arranged in sequence from near to far from the control power supply according to the order of the ID addresses. Therefore, before the control unit sends a colored light signal, it is necessary to know the correspondence between the address codes of the ID addresses of each group of LED light-emitting components connected in sequence from near to far from the control power supply and their spatial positions. After knowing the address codes, by transmitting relevant control signals, the correct designed patterns, texts, or flowing colors can be presented on the LED light strip in the order of the spatial positions of each LED light-emitting component.

[0004] A Chinese invention patent discloses a technical solution (the name of the patent is "A Method for Generating Single-Monomer Color Changes in an LED Lamp String", the application date is September 25, 2015, and the publication number is: CN105307326A). This solution uses two wires (positive and negative power supply wires) to supply electrical energy to the LED lamp string and complete the task of data signal transmission. In order to obtain the relationship between the address codes of each LED light-emitting module in the LED lamp string and the sorting positions of the corresponding LED light-emitting modules in the LED lamp string, the address codes of each LED light-emitting component and the address codes in the main control command of the main controller are both set to three segments (the first 4-bit code elements + the second 8-bit code elements + the lower 8-bit code elements). During addressing, a preset addressing software is used in cooperation with a photodiode for addressing comparison. First, the lower 8-bit address is detected. If it does not match, the second 8-bit address is compared. If it still does not match, finally, the first 4-bit address is compared. The comparison is cycled in sequence until all the monomer address codes are confirmed. Its advantage is that it is not necessary to compare one by one, and the addressing time is shortened.

[0005] However, the above solutions have the following deficiencies:

[0006] 1) When performing the addressing operation, it is necessary to use the cooperation of camera video recognition or photosensitive triode recognition. That is to say, special tools are required for addressing, and at the same time, operators with a relatively high professional level are also needed.

[0007] 2) The addressing operation needs to be carried out when the LED light string is not installed in the use position (such as the outer surface of a building, a construction site building, etc.).

[0008] 3) Since a segmented address reading method is adopted, the number of addresses will inevitably decrease. Otherwise, the segmented reading method cannot be used. When dividing into three segments to read each segment of the address code, the other segments need to be covered with 0 codes.

[0009] 4) Using 5V and 3V as the logic level recognition, the difference between 5V and 3V is 2V. When the wire is lengthened, the voltage will drop. When the voltage is not enough for 5V, the level difference that the intelligent chip needs to recognize will be even smaller (less than 2V). At this time, it is very easy to have the phenomenon of signal misjudgment.

[0010] 5) When in use, when one or some of the LED light-emitting modules in the LED light string are damaged and do not emit light, the relationship information between the address codes of each LED light-emitting module obtained by the first addressing and the sorting position of the corresponding LED light-emitting module in the LED light string is disrupted. When addressing again, the entire LED light string needs to be disassembled and returned to the factory for repair and detection. The damaged lamp beads also need to be tracked and inspected by a video addressing instrument, which increases the operation difficulty. Summary of the Invention

[0011] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an addressing circuit and method for obtaining the spatial positions of each light-emitting module of an LED light string, which are simple to operate and can perform quick addressing after the LED light strip is installed and used.

[0012] To solve the above technical problems, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is as follows:

[0013] The addressing circuit for obtaining the spatial sorting positions of each light-emitting module of an LED light string according to the present invention includes a plurality of intelligent LED light-emitting modules. Each LED light-emitting module includes a single-body control chip and at least one group of three-primary-color LED lamp beads. An address code for identifying the LED light-emitting module is built into the single-body control chip. All the LED light-emitting modules are connected in parallel across the positive and negative power supply lines of the power supply. Its characteristic lies in that: the detection signal unit of this addressing circuit includes a start addressing module and an addressing signal transceiver module, wherein,

[0014] Start the addressing module, and send a start signal indicating the start of the addressing mode to all LED lighting modules through the positive and negative power supply lines. The start signal is a serial signal of 16-bit binary code. Among them,

[0015] The "0" code is: a high level of 12V and a low level of 8V, the width of the high level is 6μs, and the width of the low level is 1μs;

[0016] The "1" code is: a high level of 12V and a low level of 8V, the width of the high level is 12μs, and the width of the low level is 1μs;

[0017] The addressing signal transceiver module, after the start signal is acquired and confirmed by all LED lighting modules, sends an addressing signal through the positive and negative power supply lines. The addressing signal is a number of square waves. The total number of square waves is greater than or equal to the total number of LED lighting modules in the LED light strip. The period and amplitude of each square wave are the same, and the time interval between two adjacent square waves is slightly greater than the time required for a single square wave to travel back and forth along the full length of the LED light strip;

[0018] Each single control chip in each LED lighting module accumulates the number of the received square waves. When the accumulated value is the same as the value of the address code built in the single control chip, the single control chip outputs a feedback signal with a set current value to the addressing signal transceiver module.

[0019] The number of the square waves is 2 5 -2 20 pieces, the high level of each square wave is 12V, and the low level is 8V.

[0020] The address code is a 20-bit binary code.

[0021] The current value of the feedback signal is 20mA.

[0022] The detection signal unit is also provided with a signal amplification circuit and an A / D conversion module. Among them, the signal amplification circuit amplifies the feedback signal and transmits it to the A / D conversion module. The A / D conversion module converts the amplified feedback signal into a digital signal and transmits it to the control unit that sends a display text / pattern / color signal to the LED light strip.

[0023] The addressing method for obtaining the spatial sorting positions of each lighting module of the LED light string in the present invention. The LED light strip is composed of a number of intelligent LED lighting modules connected in parallel across the positive and negative power supply lines of the power supply. The specific steps are as follows:

[0024] 1) Start the addressing mode. The detection signal unit sends a start signal indicating the start of the addressing mode to all LED lighting modules through the positive and negative power supply lines. This start signal is a serial signal of 16-bit binary code. When the single control chip in each LED lighting module receives this start signal, it enters the addressing mode;

[0025] 2) After all LED lighting modules enter the addressing mode, the detection signal unit sends a square wave sequence to all LED lighting modules. The number of square waves in this square wave sequence is greater than or equal to the total number of LED lighting modules in the LED light strip. The single control chip in each LED lighting module accumulates the received square waves one by one. When the accumulated value is the same as the value of the address code built in this LED lighting module, this single control chip outputs a feedback signal to the detection signal unit;

[0026] 3) The detection signal unit stores the matching information of the time when the received feedback signal of this LED lighting module is paired with the corresponding address code in the memory;

[0027] 4) When the detection signal unit receives all the matching information output by all LED lighting modules in this LED light strip, the detection signal unit gives the distance ranking position of each LED lighting module from the detection signal unit according to the length of time of the received feedback signal of each LED lighting module;

[0028] 5) The detection signal unit pairs the address code of each LED lighting module with its distance ranking position, and sends this paired information to the control unit of this LED light strip. The control unit sends an electrical signal for displaying text / pattern / color to this LED light strip according to the distance ranking position of each LED lighting module.

[0029] In the method of the present invention, the number of square waves in the square wave sequence is 2 5 -2 20 pieces, and the frequency of the square wave satisfies the following conditions:

[0030] f = c / 2S, where f is the frequency of the square wave sequence, c is the propagation speed of electromagnetic waves in the wire, and S is the maximum length of this LED light strip.

[0031] In the method of the present invention, when the last LED lighting module in this LED light strip outputs a feedback signal, the addressing mode automatically ends.

[0032] In the method of the present invention, the high level of the square wave is 12V and the low level is 8V.

[0033] In the method of the present invention, after the addressing mode automatically ends, the control unit sequentially sends colored light signals combining display text, patterns, colors or text, patterns, and colors from the head end to the tail end of the LED light strip through the positive and negative power supply lines.

[0034] For the convenience of customers, the present invention makes the detection signal unit into a standard module to detect the correlation between the address codes of each LED light-emitting module in the LED light strip and the spatial sorting position of the LED light-emitting module in the LED light strip. In this way, customers can easily know the spatial position of each LED light-emitting module in the LED light strip, and thus can easily compile a main control signal that enables each LED light-emitting module to work in sequence.

[0035] For the LED light strip using the addressing circuit of the present invention, customers do not need to use complex detection means and tools to find the above-mentioned correlation. Customers only need to write a program according to the protocol of the LED light-emitting module, and the detection signal unit completes the relevant addressing tasks. It is simple, practical, convenient and can perform the operation of addressing the correlation in any case before and after the installation of the LED light strip. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0036] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the addressing circuit of the present invention.

[0037] Figure 2 It is a block schematic diagram of the detection signal unit. Detailed Embodiment

[0038] I. Application and Usage Characteristics of the Present Invention

[0039] The addressing circuit for obtaining the spatial positions of each light-emitting module of the LED lamp string of the present invention is applied to an LED light strip (also called an LED lamp string). The LED light strip refers to a lighting display product that can be applied to Christmas lamp products, strip light products or other various products that require a number of LED lamp beads to be combined in parallel. The product can be extended to the application of alternating current, and customers can also use the product to control street lights or more products with parallel connections.

[0040] The LED light strip is composed of a main control circuit and several groups of LED light-emitting modules. All LED light-emitting modules are connected in parallel between the positive and negative wires. The positive and negative wires that supply power to each group of LED light-emitting modules share two power supply lines with the signal control lines for each group of LED light-emitting modules to receive the main control signal sent by the main control circuit.

[0041] Generally, each LED lighting module in an LED light strip is built-in with an address code that identifies the identity of the LED lighting module. This address code can be a natural number or a binary code equivalent to a natural number. Usually, the address code consists of a 20-bit binary code. The address code is programmed by means of fusing or laser trimming. Since the address has 20 bits, there are 2 to the 20th power of addresses, that is, 1,048,576 address codes, thus ensuring that the address codes of each LED lighting module on an intelligent LED light strip are different.

[0042] In the production and assembly process of the LED light strip, in order to improve the assembly efficiency, the LED lighting modules in a finished LED light strip are often not assembled in the order of their address codes. Therefore, the spatial sorting positions of the LED lighting modules in an assembled LED light strip are disordered. That is, for the LED lighting module arranged at the first position from the head end of the LED light strip, the built-in address code is not necessarily the first code. Therefore, in order to enable each LED lighting module in the LED light strip to receive relevant main control signals in sequence normally, it is necessary to accurately master the correlation between the address code of each LED lighting module and its spatial sorting position set in the LED light strip before use, and then store this correlation in the single-chip microcomputer of the main control circuit.

[0043] The addressing circuit of the present invention can quickly determine the above-mentioned correlation, and it can be applied to the following situations:

[0044] 1) Before the LED light strip leaves the factory

[0045] The manufacturer uses the addressing circuit of the present invention to obtain the correlation between the address code and its spatial sorting position in each LED lighting module before the finished LED light strip leaves the factory, and provides it to the user.

[0046] 2) Before installing the LED light strip

[0047] Before the user installs the finished LED light strip on the target building or structure, the user obtains the above-mentioned correlation through the addressing circuit of the present invention.

[0048] 3) During use

[0049] During the use of an LED strip light, sometimes one or some of the LED lighting modules fail to emit light. At this time, if the main control circuit of the LED strip light still sends main control signals to each LED lighting module according to the associated relationship detected initially, the lighting effect of the LED strip light will show a discontinuous display screen. Therefore, through the addressing circuit of the present invention, without the need to disassemble the LED strip light from the target building or structure, the associated relationship between the address codes of each LED lighting module in the normal state and their new spatial sorting positions can be re-detected (the faulty LED lighting modules will not send feedback signals back to the main control circuit of the LED strip light).

[0050] The LED lighting module referred to in the present invention is an intelligent lighting module composed of a single control chip and at least one group of trichromatic LED lamp beads, and the address code is built into the single control chip.

[0051] II. Composition of the Present Invention

[0052] As Figure 1 、 2 shown, the addressing circuit of the present invention includes a detection signal unit and a control unit arranged in the main control circuit of the LED strip light.

[0053] 1. Detection signal unit

[0054] The detection signal unit includes a start addressing module and an addressing signal transceiver module.

[0055] 1) Start addressing module

[0056] Send a start signal indicating the start of the addressing mode to all LED lighting modules through a two-wire line (i.e., the positive and negative power supply lines). When the single control chip in each LED lighting module receives this start signal, it enters the addressing mode. At this time, the accumulated number of the counter in the single control chip is reset to zero and is ready for re-counting.

[0057] The start signal is a serial signal of 16-bit binary code. The "0" code adopted in the present invention is: a high level of 12V and a low level of 8V, the width of the high level is 6 μs, and the width of the low level is 1 μs; the "1" code adopted is: a high level of 12V and a low level of 8V, the width of the high level is 12 μs, and the width of the low level is 1 μs.

[0058] 2) Addressing signal transceiver module

[0059] After the start signal is acquired and confirmed by all the LED light-emitting modules, the addressing signal transceiver module sends an addressing signal through the positive and negative power lines. The addressing signal is a sequence of square waves, and in this sequence, the total number of square waves is greater than or equal to the total number of LED light-emitting modules in the LED strip. The period and amplitude of each square wave are the same. In the present invention, the high level of the square wave is 12V and the low level is 8V.

[0060] The number of the square waves is 2 5 -2 20 pieces, that is, the number of LED light-emitting modules that can be included in an LED strip is between 32 and 1,048,576.

[0061] Each single control chip in the LED light-emitting module starts to accumulate the number of the received square waves. When the accumulated value is the same as the value of the address code built in the single control chip, the single control chip outputs a feedback signal (also called SPI feedback signal) with a set current value to the addressing signal transceiver module. In the present invention, the current value of this feedback signal is selected as 20mA.

[0062] When the last LED light-emitting module in the LED strip outputs a feedback signal, the addressing mode automatically ends. The last LED light-emitting module refers to the LED light-emitting module corresponding to the last square wave that can obtain a feedback signal in the square wave sequence.

[0063] The time interval between two adjacent square waves is slightly greater than the time required for a single square wave to travel back and forth along the full length of the LED strip. That is, when the first square wave is sent out, the second square wave needs to be sent out after the time when the first square wave travels back and forth along the full length of the LED strip and returns to the detection signal unit. This design can effectively prevent the addressing signal transceiver module from receiving feedback signals output from two different LED light-emitting modules at the same time, which may cause the detection signal unit to be unable to accurately determine the spatial sorting position of a certain LED light-emitting module. For example, when the addressing signal transceiver module sends the nth square wave and then sends the (n + t)th square wave before receiving the corresponding feedback signal, it is easy to get an undetermined result;

[0064] Suppose: The LED light-emitting module corresponding to the nth square wave is at the mth position farther from the head end in the LED strip, and the LED light-emitting module corresponding to the (n + t)th square wave is at the rth position closer to the head end in the LED strip. When the difference between the time taken for the feedback signal output by the LED light-emitting module corresponding to the nth square wave to return to the addressing signal transceiver module from the mth position minus the time required for this square wave to travel from the mth position to the rth position is equal to the time required for the (n + t)th square wave to travel from the addressing signal transceiver module to the rth position, the above-mentioned undetermined result will occur.

[0065] The frequency of the square wave satisfies the following conditions:

[0066] f = c / 2S, where f is the frequency of the square wave, c is the propagation speed of the electromagnetic wave in the wire, and S is the maximum length of the LED light strip.

[0067] The addressing signal transceiver module records and calculates the addressing information related to each sent square wave to obtain the pairing and association relationship (also known as matching information) between the spatial sorting position of each LED lighting module in the LED light strip and its address code. The addressing information includes the sequence number of the square wave, the time when the square wave is sent, the time when the feedback signal output by the LED lighting module corresponding to the square wave is received, and the address code of the LED lighting module.

[0068] The distance between a certain LED lighting module and the head end of the LED light strip in the LED light strip is:

[0069] Sn = c·Tn / 2

[0070] c is the propagation speed of the electromagnetic wave in the wire, and Tn is the time used from when the addressing signal transceiver module sends the nth square wave until the feedback signal output by the LED lighting module with the address code of the nth one is received.

[0071] The addressing signal transceiver module sends the pairing and association relationship related to all LED lighting modules in the LED light strip to the control unit and stores it in the memory of the control unit.

[0072] The detection signal unit is also provided with a signal amplification circuit (for the main chip in it, the time amplifier chip with the model number GP22 or MS1022 is selected in the present invention) and an A / D conversion module. Among them, the signal amplification circuit amplifies the feedback signal and transmits it to the A / D conversion module, and the A / D conversion module converts the amplified feedback signal into a digital signal and transmits it to the control unit.

[0073] 2. Control unit

[0074] The control unit will wait for the detection signal unit to complete the detection task, and then receive the pairing and association relationship related to all LED lighting modules that has been rearranged and sent by the detection signal unit.

[0075] The control unit sends the required display text, pattern, color, or a combination of text, pattern, and color, i.e., a color main control signal, to the LED light strip according to the sorting position of each LED lighting module from far to near.

Claims

1. An addressing circuit for obtaining the spatial sorting positions of each light-emitting module in an LED light string, comprising a number of intelligent LED light-emitting modules. Each LED light-emitting module includes a single-body control chip and at least one set of tri-color LED lamp beads. An address code for identifying the LED light-emitting module is built into the single-body control chip. All the LED light-emitting modules are connected in parallel across the positive and negative power supply lines of the power supply. Characterized in that: The detection signal unit of this addressing circuit includes a start addressing module and an addressing signal transceiver module. Among them, The start addressing module sends a start signal indicating the start of the addressing mode to all LED light-emitting modules through the positive and negative power supply lines. This start signal is a serial signal of 16-bit binary code. Among them, The "0" code is: a high level of 12V and a low level of 8V, the width of the high level is 6 μs, and the width of the low level is 1 μs; The "1" code is: a high level of 12V and a low level of 8V, the width of the high level is 12 μs, and the width of the low level is 1 μs; The addressing signal transceiver module, after the start signal is acquired and confirmed by all LED light-emitting modules, sends an addressing signal through the positive and negative power supply lines. This addressing signal is a number of square waves. The total number of square waves is greater than or equal to the total number of LED light-emitting modules in the LED light strip. The period and amplitude of each square wave are the same. The time interval between two adjacent square waves is greater than the time required for a single square wave to travel back and forth along the full length of the LED light strip; The single-body control chip in each LED light-emitting module accumulates the number of the received square waves. When the accumulated value is the same as the value of the address code built into the single-body control chip, the single-body control chip outputs a feedback signal with a set current value to the addressing signal transceiver module; The addressing signal transceiver module records and calculates the addressing information related to each sent square wave to obtain the pairing and correlation relationship between the spatial sorting position of each LED light-emitting module in the LED light strip and its address code; the addressing information includes the sequence number of the square wave, the time when the square wave is sent, the time when the feedback signal output by the LED light-emitting module corresponding to the square wave is received, and the address code of the LED light-emitting module; the detection signal unit gives the distance sorting positions of each LED light-emitting module from the detection signal unit according to the length of time from when the square wave is sent until the feedback signal output by the LED light-emitting module corresponding to the square wave is received.

2. The addressing circuit for obtaining the spatial sorting positions of each light-emitting module in an LED light string according to claim 1, Characterized in that: The number of the square waves is 2 5 -2 20 and the high level of each square wave is 12V while the low level is 8V.

3. The addressing circuit for obtaining the spatial sorting positions of each light-emitting module in an LED light string according to claim 2, Characterized in that: The address code is a 20-bit binary code.

4. The addressing circuit for obtaining the spatial sorting positions of each light-emitting module in an LED light string according to claim 1, Characterized in that: The current value of the feedback signal is 20 mA.

5. The addressing circuit for obtaining the spatial sorting positions of each light-emitting module in an LED light string according to claim 4, Characterized in that: The detection signal unit is further provided with a signal amplification circuit and an A / D conversion module. Among them, the signal amplification circuit amplifies the feedback signal and transmits it to the A / D conversion module, and the A / D conversion module converts the amplified feedback signal into a digital signal and transmits it to the control unit that sends display text, patterns or color signals to the LED light strip.

6. An addressing method for obtaining the spatial sorting positions of each light-emitting module of an LED light string. The LED light strip is composed of a number of intelligent LED light-emitting modules connected in parallel across the positive and negative power supply lines of the power supply. The specific steps are as follows: 1) Start the addressing mode. The detection signal unit sends a start signal indicating the start of the addressing mode to all LED light-emitting modules through the positive and negative power supply lines. This start signal is a serial signal of 16-bit binary code. When the single control chip in each LED light-emitting module receives this start signal, it enters the addressing mode. 2) After all LED light-emitting modules enter the addressing mode, the detection signal unit sends a square wave sequence to all LED light-emitting modules. The number of square waves in this square wave sequence is greater than or equal to the total number of LED light-emitting modules in the LED light strip. The period and amplitude of each square wave are the same, and the time interval between two adjacent square waves is greater than the time required for a single square wave to travel back and forth along the full length of the LED light strip. The single control chip in each LED light-emitting module accumulates the received square waves one by one. When the accumulated value is the same as the value of the address code built in this LED light-emitting module, this single control chip outputs a feedback signal to the detection signal unit. 3) The detection signal unit stores the matching information of the time of the feedback signal received from this LED light-emitting module and the corresponding address code in the memory. 4) After the detection signal unit receives all the matching information output by all LED light-emitting modules in the LED light strip, the detection signal unit gives the distance sorting positions of each LED light-emitting module from the detection signal unit according to the length of time from the start of sending this square wave to the receipt of the feedback signal output by the LED light-emitting module corresponding to this square wave. 5) The detection signal unit pairs the address code of each LED light-emitting module with its distance sorting position and sends the paired information to the control unit of the LED light strip. The control unit sends electrical signals for displaying text, patterns or colors to the LED light strip according to the distance sorting positions of each LED light-emitting module.

7. The addressing method for obtaining the spatial sorting positions of each light-emitting module of an LED light string according to claim 6, characterized in that: The number of square waves in the square wave sequence is 2 5 -2 20 pieces, and the frequency of the square wave satisfies the following conditions: f = c / 2S, where f is the frequency of the square wave sequence, c is the propagation speed of electromagnetic waves in the wire, and S is the maximum length of the LED light strip.

8. The addressing method for obtaining the spatial sorting positions of each light-emitting module of an LED light string according to claim 6, characterized in that: When the last LED light-emitting module in the LED light strip outputs a feedback signal, the addressing mode automatically ends.

9. The addressing method for obtaining the spatial sorting positions of each light-emitting module of an LED light string according to claim 7, characterized in that: The high level of the square wave is 12V, and the low level is 8V.

10. The addressing method for obtaining the spatial sorting positions of the light-emitting modules of the LED light string according to claim 7, characterized in that: After the addressing mode automatically ends, the control unit sequentially sends colored light signals combining display texts, patterns, colors or texts, patterns and colors from the head end to the tail end of the LED light strip through the positive and negative power supply lines.

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