Control methods for matrix LED lights

Abstract

A control method for a matrix LED light includes: a light controller sending a predetermined image control command or an image dynamic rendering command to a light driver; upon receiving the predetermined image control command, the light driver retrieves pre-stored image data corresponding to the image number of the predetermined image control command from its own memory, and drives the matrix LED light to operate and display the corresponding image based on the image data and image display position information; upon receiving the image dynamic rendering command, the light driver retrieves pre-stored graphic rendering rules corresponding to the graphic number of the image dynamic rendering command from its own memory, and drives the matrix LED light to operate and display the corresponding graphic image based on the graphic rendering rules and graphic attribute information. This invention can reduce the communication load between the light controller and the light driver.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to lighting technology. Background Technology

[0002] Vehicle headlights typically consist of a headlight controller (usually a logic control unit that outputs logic control signals), a headlight driver (usually a power control unit that provides drive current / voltage and control commands), a light source, and optical equipment. With the continuous advancement of LED miniaturization technology and the increasing demands for lighting accuracy in motor vehicle lighting units, higher resolution lighting devices (containing more independently controllable LEDs, ranging from 1 million to 1 million individual LEDs) are beginning to be used in automotive headlights.

[0003] A common control method involves encoding each individual LED control command and sending it from the headlight controller to the headlight driver, which then drives the matrix LED light source. This places high demands on the communication bandwidth between the headlight controller and the driver (potentially requiring up to 100 Mbps). Consequently, commonly used automotive buses such as the CAN bus (less than 4 Mbps) struggle to meet this requirement. It may be necessary to introduce a higher bandwidth data bus, which would inevitably increase the cost of the equipment and the number of wiring harnesses between devices. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a control method for matrix LED lights, which can reduce the communication load between the lamp controller and the lamp driver, thereby enabling real-time control of matrix LED lights using a low-bandwidth, low-cost bus communication scheme.

[0005] A further technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a control method for matrix LED lights that can dynamically adjust the display image of matrix LED lights.

[0006] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a control method for a matrix LED lamp is provided, wherein the matrix LED lamp is driven by a lamp driver, and the lamp driver communicates with a lamp controller via a bus; the control method for the matrix LED lamp includes the following steps:

[0007] The lamp controller sends a predetermined image control instruction or an image dynamic drawing instruction to the lamp driver. The predetermined image control instruction includes an image number and image display position information, and the image dynamic drawing instruction includes a graphic number and graphic attribute information.

[0008] When the lamp driver receives a predetermined image control command, it retrieves the pre-stored image data corresponding to the image number of the predetermined image control command from its own memory, and drives the matrix LED lamps to work based on the image data and image display position information to display the corresponding image.

[0009] When the lamp driver receives an image dynamic drawing instruction, it looks up the pre-stored graphic drawing rule corresponding to the graphic number of the image dynamic drawing instruction in its own memory, and drives the matrix LED lamp to work based on the graphic drawing rule and graphic attribute information to display the corresponding graphic image.

[0010] According to another embodiment of the present invention, a control method for a matrix LED lamp is provided, wherein the matrix LED lamp is driven by a lamp driver, and the lamp driver communicates with a lamp controller via a bus; the control method for the matrix LED lamp includes the following steps:

[0011] The lamp controller sends information to the lamp driver, which includes multiple image control instructions and the superposition method between the corresponding image data of the multiple image control instructions. Each image control instruction is a predetermined image control instruction or an image dynamic drawing instruction. The predetermined image control instruction includes image number and image display position information, and the image dynamic drawing instruction includes graphic number and graphic attribute information.

[0012] The lamp driver retrieves the pre-stored image data corresponding to the image number in its own memory according to the image number of each predetermined image control instruction, generates target display image data corresponding to the predetermined image control instruction based on the image data and image display position information, and retrieves the pre-stored graphic drawing rules corresponding to the graphic number in its own memory according to the graphic number of each image dynamic drawing instruction, and generates target display image data corresponding to the image dynamic drawing instruction based on the graphic drawing rules and graphic attribute information.

[0013] The lamp driver performs superposition processing on the target display image data corresponding to multiple image control commands according to the superposition method, and drives the matrix LED lamps to work based on the image data obtained after superposition processing to display the corresponding image.

[0014] The present invention has at least the following advantages:

[0015] 1. The control method for matrix LED lights according to an embodiment of the present invention displays image data, the correspondence between display image data and image numbers, graphic drawing rules, and the correspondence between graphic drawing rules and graphic numbers, which are pre-stored in the lamp driver. This allows the lamp controller to control the lighting of the matrix LED lights by sending control commands with a small transmission amount to the lamp driver, thereby effectively reducing the communication bandwidth requirements between the controller and the lamp driver and reducing the investment in equipment costs.

[0016] 2. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the control method for matrix LED lights achieves dynamic adjustment of the display image of matrix LED lights by superimposing multiple image data. Attached Figure Description

[0017] Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating a control method for a matrix LED lamp according to a first embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0018] Figure 2 The illustration shows a display image generated according to a specific example of a first embodiment of the present invention.

[0019] Figure 3 A flowchart illustrating a control method for a matrix LED lamp according to a second embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0020] Figure 4 The image shown is a display image generated when the image dynamic drawing instruction according to the second embodiment of the present invention is a rectangle drawing instruction.

[0021] Figure 5 The image shown is a display image generated when the image dynamic drawing instruction according to the second embodiment of the present invention is a circular drawing instruction.

[0022] Figure 6 A flowchart illustrating a control method for a matrix LED lamp according to a third embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0023] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of a matrix LED vehicle light according to a second application example of the present invention is shown.

[0024] Figure 8 The image shown is a display image on a matrix LED vehicle headlight according to a predetermined image control command based on a second application example of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 9 The image shown is a display image of a matrix LED vehicle headlight based on the image dynamic drawing instructions according to a second application example of the present invention.

[0026] Figure 10The image shown is a display image of superimposed image data on a matrix LED headlight according to a second application example of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0027] The control method for a matrix LED lamp according to a first embodiment of the present invention includes the following steps:

[0028] The lamp controller sends a predetermined image control command to the lamp driver, which includes an image number and image display position information;

[0029] When the lamp driver receives a predetermined image control command, it retrieves the pre-stored image data corresponding to the image number of the predetermined image control command from its own memory, and drives the matrix LED lamps to work based on the image data and image display position information to display the corresponding image.

[0030] The aforementioned matrix LED light consists of n rows and m columns of LED light sources, which are driven by a lamp driver. The lamp driver communicates with the lamp controller via a bus, such as a CAN bus.

[0031] The aforementioned pre-stored image data (which may or may not be compressed) is stored in the memory of the headlight driver. This image data corresponds to the display image required for high-resolution automotive lighting. The image data includes grayscale values ​​(or RGB values). Whether RGB or grayscale values ​​are used generally depends on the requirements of the LED light source; currently, grayscale values ​​are the mainstream. The image data may also include an alpha channel (i.e., transparency value). The headlight controller sends a series of predefined image control command information to the headlight driver. Based on the image data and image display position information, the headlight driver generates target display image data corresponding to the predetermined image control commands. The headlight driver then controls the brightness of each LED (i.e., each pixel in the matrix LED light) according to the target display image data to achieve the desired display effect.

[0032] The first embodiment will be further explained below with reference to a specific example.

[0033] Assume that the lamp driver's memory stores several sets of grayscale image data. Each set of image data has a unique image number and height (h) and width (w) information. The display image corresponding to each set of image data is represented by an h*w grayscale matrix, where each element of the matrix represents the brightness value of a pixel.

[0034] The predetermined image control command sent by the lamp controller is as follows:

[0035] Image ID: 001 (001 is a unique image ID pre-existing in the lamp driver)

[0036] The bottom left vertex of the image is located at (a, b).

[0037] The lower left vertex position information of the above image is the image display position information for the predetermined image control command. The matrix LED lights generate [the display position] according to this predetermined image control command. Figure 2 The image shown, Figure 2 In the diagram, an n*m rectangle represents a matrix LED light composed of n rows and m columns of LEDs. Each small square represents an LED pixel, and shaded squares represent pixels without image data. The darker the square color, the higher the brightness.

[0038] Please see Figure 3 The control method for a matrix LED lamp according to a second embodiment of the present invention includes the following steps:

[0039] The lamp controller sends an image dynamic drawing instruction to the lamp driver. The image dynamic drawing instruction includes the graphic number and graphic attribute information.

[0040] When the lamp driver receives an image dynamic drawing instruction, it looks up the pre-stored graphic drawing rule corresponding to the graphic number of the image dynamic drawing instruction in its own memory, and drives the matrix LED lamp to work based on the graphic drawing rule and the graphic attribute information to display the corresponding graphic image.

[0041] The aforementioned graphic attribute information includes graphic display position, graphic size, and graphic brightness. Further, the graphic attribute information also includes one or more of the following: graphic rotation angle, transparency, brightness gain, brightness weight value, and scaling ratio.

[0042] In the second embodiment, the lamp driver can drive the matrix LED lights to display some typical images according to the image dynamic rendering instructions. The lamp controller sends a series of image dynamic rendering instructions to the lamp driver, and the lamp driver generates target display image data corresponding to the image dynamic rendering instructions based on the graphic rendering rules and graphic attribute information. The brightness of each LED in the matrix LED lights is controlled according to the target display image data.

[0043] In a specific example, the image dynamic drawing instruction is a rectangle drawing instruction, which is shown below:

[0044] Graphic number: 101 (101 is the graphic number for a rectangle)

[0045] The bottom left vertex of the rectangle is located at (a, b).

[0046] Vertical length (unit: pixels): c

[0047] Horizontal length (unit: pixels): d

[0048] Graphic brightness: e

[0049] Transparency: f

[0050] The lower left vertex position of the rectangle mentioned above serves as the graphic display position information in the graphic attribute information, indicating the relative position of the lower left vertex of the rectangle within the n*m ​​dimensional brightness matrix of the LED. The vertical and horizontal lengths of the rectangle serve as the graphic size information in the graphic attribute information. The lamp driver first finds the graphic drawing rules for this rectangle drawing instruction (in this embodiment, the graphic drawing rules for the rectangle drawing instruction are to start drawing the rectangle from the lower left vertex position), and then draws the rectangle as shown in the image below, based on the graphic drawing rules and graphic attribute information. Figure 4 The diagram shown.

[0051] In another specific example, the image dynamic drawing instruction is a circle drawing instruction, which is shown below:

[0052] Graphic number: 102 (102 is the number of the circular graphic)

[0053] Center position (in pixels): (a, b)

[0054] Radius (unit: pixels): c

[0055] Image brightness: e

[0056] Transparency: f

[0057] The aforementioned center position serves as the graphic display position information in the graphic attribute information, indicating the relative position of the center within the n*m ​​dimensional brightness matrix of the LED. The pixel size of the circle's radius serves as the graphic size information in the graphic attribute information. Because the edge of a circle does not always cover the entire pixel, the graphic drawing rule for the circle drawing instruction in this example is defined as follows: any edge of a pixel covered by the circle is considered to be covered by the circle. Based on this circle drawing instruction, an image like this can be drawn. Figure 5 The diagram shown.

[0058] In other examples, image dynamic drawing commands can also be used to draw other shapes such as polygons.

[0059] Please refer to Figure 6 The control method for a matrix LED lamp according to a third embodiment of the present invention includes the following steps:

[0060] The lamp controller sends information to the lamp driver, which includes multiple image control instructions and the superposition method between the corresponding image data of the multiple image control instructions. Each image control instruction is a predetermined image control instruction or an image dynamic drawing instruction. The predetermined image control instruction includes image number and image display position information, and the image dynamic drawing instruction includes graphic number and graphic attribute information.

[0061] The lamp driver finds the pre-stored image data corresponding to the image number in its own memory according to the image number of each predetermined image control instruction, generates target display image data corresponding to the predetermined image control instruction based on the image data and image display position information, and finds the pre-stored graphic drawing rules corresponding to the graphic number in its own memory according to the graphic number of each image dynamic drawing instruction, and generates target display image data corresponding to the image dynamic drawing instruction based on the graphic drawing rules and graphic attribute information.

[0062] The lamp driver superimposes the target display image data corresponding to multiple image control commands in a superposition manner, and drives the matrix LED lamps to work based on the image data obtained after superposition processing to display the corresponding image.

[0063] In the first and second embodiments, the lamp controller sends separate predefined image control commands and image motion drawing commands to control the display effect of the matrix LED lights. In this third embodiment, the lamp controller controls the display effect of the matrix LED lights by sending multiple predefined image control commands, multiple image motion drawing commands, or a combination of predefined image control commands and image motion drawing commands.

[0064] In the third embodiment, the aforementioned overlay method includes one or more of the following three overlay strategies: arithmetic overlay strategy, layer overlay strategy, and Alpha channel weighted overlay strategy. Different overlay strategies can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the desired display effect.

[0065] The arithmetic superposition strategy (denoted by the + symbol) refers to directly adding the brightness values ​​of corresponding pixels in two image data sets to obtain the brightness value of the pixel in the superimposed image data. A+B means: if the brightness value of pixel (i, j) in the target display image data generated according to image control instruction A is A(i, j), and the brightness value of pixel (i, j) in the target display image data generated according to image control instruction B is B(i, j), then the brightness value of pixel (i, j) in the image data C obtained after superimposing these two target display image data sets is A(i, j) + B(i, j).

[0066] The layer overlay strategy (denoted by the symbol ^) refers to using the brightness value of the pixel with the higher layer level among the corresponding pixels of two image data as the brightness value of the pixel in the overlay image data. A^B means: the brightness value of pixel (i, j) in the target display image data generated according to image control instruction A is A(i, j), and the layer level is 1. The brightness value of pixel (i, j) in the target display image data generated according to image control instruction B is B(i, j), and the layer level is 2. Then, the brightness value of pixel (i, j) in the image data C obtained after overlaying these two target display image data is the brightness value of the pixel of the image data with the larger layer level value, B(i, j).

[0067] The Alpha (symbol #) channel weighted overlay strategy refers to multiplying the brightness values ​​of corresponding pixels in two image data by their respective Alpha values ​​and then adding them together to obtain the brightness value of the pixel in the overlay image data. A#B means: the brightness value of pixel (i, j) in the target display image data generated according to image control instruction A is A(i, j), and the Alpha value is a; the brightness value of pixel (i, j) in the target display image data generated according to image control instruction B is B(i, j), and the Alpha value is b. Then the brightness value of pixel (i, j) in the image data C obtained after overlaying these two target display image data is a*A(i, j) + b*B(i, j).

[0068] Overlay strategies can be combined, for example: A+B^C#D. A, B, C, and D are predefined image control commands or dynamic image rendering commands, respectively. During calculation, the target display image data generated according to image control command A is first arithmetically overlaid with the target display image data generated according to image control command B. The overlaid image data is then layered with the target display image data generated according to image control command C. Finally, the overlaid image data is weighted with the target display image data generated according to image control command D using an alpha channel.

[0069] The following two application examples further illustrate the above-described embodiments of the present invention. In these two application examples, the matrix LED light is an automotive headlight, and the headlight controller and headlight driver are respectively a headlight controller and a headlight driver.

[0070] Application Example 1: Welcome Light Mode

[0071] The vehicle light driver pre-stores image data of typical welcome light patterns. The image data of the welcome light patterns pre-stored in the vehicle light driver's memory corresponds to the image number 002.

[0072] To control the matrix LED headlights to operate in welcome light mode, the headlight controller sends a predetermined image control command to the headlight driver. This predetermined image control command includes:

[0073] Image ID: 002

[0074] The bottom left vertex of the image is located at (a, b).

[0075] After receiving a predetermined image control command, the headlight driver reads the grayscale value of each pixel in image data with image number 002 from the memory. Assuming the grayscale value of pixel (i, j) is g, it is converted to the corresponding position (a+i, b+j) of the matrix LED headlight. Following this method, each pixel of image number 002 can be converted into an n*m brightness matrix of the matrix LED headlight (assuming the matrix LED headlight consists of n rows and m columns of LEDs). Areas not covered by image data number 002 are considered to have no brightness. The headlight driver drives the matrix LED headlight based on the calculated complete n*m ​​brightness matrix to achieve the desired welcome light display effect.

[0076] Application Example 2: High Beam Anti-Glare

[0077] The headlight driver pre-stores images of typical high beam modes. The headlight controller, by sensing the external scene, needs to adjust the brightness of a rectangular area within the high beam mode image region—comprising the lower left vertex (a2, b2), a vertical length of c (in pixels), and a horizontal length of d (in pixels)—to 0, while keeping the brightness of other areas unchanged. The headlight controller then sends the following information to the headlight driver: A^B.

[0078] Wherein: A is a predetermined image control instruction, which includes:

[0079] Image ID: 003 (003 is an image in high beam mode)

[0080] The position of the bottom left vertex of the image: (a1, b1)

[0081] B is the image dynamic drawing instruction, and the image dynamic drawing instruction B includes:

[0082] Graphic number: 101 (101 is the graphic number for a rectangle)

[0083] The position of the bottom left vertex of the rectangle (in pixels): (a2, b2)

[0084] Vertical length (unit: pixels): c

[0085] Horizontal length (unit: pixels): d

[0086] Image brightness: 0

[0087] After receiving the above information, the headlight driver first parses the predetermined image control instruction A. It reads the grayscale value of each pixel in image number 101 from memory. Assuming the grayscale value of pixel (i, j) is g, it converts this to the corresponding position (a1+i, b1+j) in the matrix LED headlight. Following this method, each pixel of image number 101 can be converted into the n*m ​​brightness matrix of the matrix LED headlight (assuming the matrix LED headlight consists of n rows and m columns of LEDs, such as...). Figure 7 As shown), areas not covered by image number 101 are considered to have no brightness (e.g., Figure 8 (As shown). Then the headlight driver parses the image dynamic drawing instruction B. First, it calculates the corresponding position of each pixel covered by the rectangle in the matrix LED headlight. Assuming that the position of a pixel of the rectangle relative to the lower left vertex of the rectangle is (i, j), then the corresponding position of this pixel in the matrix LED headlight is (a2+i, b2+j), and the brightness of this pixel is 0. In this way, each pixel of the entire rectangular graphic can be converted into the n*m ​​brightness matrix of the matrix LED headlight (e.g., Figure 9 (As shown). Then, the headlight driver confirms that the overlay method is a layer overlay strategy based on the overlay symbol bit ^. Therefore, Figure 9 The brightness values ​​of the area covered by the rectangle shown are overwritten as 0. This ultimately yields a complete n*m ​​brightness matrix (e.g., ...). Figure 10 (As shown). The headlight driver drives the matrix LED headlights according to this brightness matrix to achieve the desired anti-glare display effect.

[0088] The matrix LED light control method of this invention stores display image data, the correspondence between display image data and image numbers, graphic drawing rules, and the correspondence between graphic drawing rules and graphic numbers in the lamp driver in advance. This allows the lamp controller to control the lighting of the matrix LED light by sending control commands with a small transmission amount to the lamp driver, thereby effectively reducing the communication bandwidth requirements between the controller and the lamp driver and reducing equipment cost.

[0089] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations to this invention without departing from its spirit and scope. Therefore, if these modifications and variations fall within the scope of the claims of this invention and their equivalents, this invention also intends to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A control method for a matrix LED light, wherein the matrix LED light is driven by a lamp driver, and the lamp driver communicates with a lamp controller via a bus; characterized in that, The control method for the matrix LED lights includes the following steps: The lamp controller sends a predetermined image control instruction or an image dynamic drawing instruction to the lamp driver. The predetermined image control instruction includes an image number and an image display position information, and the image dynamic drawing instruction includes a graphic number and graphic attribute information. When the lamp driver receives the predetermined image control command, it retrieves the pre-stored image data corresponding to the image number of the predetermined image control command from its own memory, and drives the matrix LED lamps to work based on the image data and the image display position information to display the corresponding image. When the lamp driver receives the image dynamic drawing instruction, it looks up the pre-stored graphic drawing rule corresponding to the graphic number of the image dynamic drawing instruction in its own memory, and drives the matrix LED lamp to work based on the graphic drawing rule and the graphic attribute information to display the corresponding graphic image.

2. The control method for matrix LED lights as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The graphic attribute information includes the graphic display position, graphic size, and graphic brightness.

3. The control method for matrix LED lights as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The graphic attribute information also includes one or more of the following: graphic rotation angle, transparency, brightness gain, brightness weight value, and scaling ratio.

4. The control method for matrix LED lights as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The matrix LED lights mentioned are automotive headlights.

5. A control method for a matrix LED lamp, wherein the matrix LED lamp is driven by a lamp driver, and the lamp driver communicates with a lamp controller via a bus; characterized in that, The control method for the matrix LED lights includes the following steps: The lamp controller sends information to the lamp driver, including multiple image control instructions and the superposition method between the corresponding image data of the multiple image control instructions. Each image control instruction is a predetermined image control instruction or an image dynamic drawing instruction. The predetermined image control instruction includes an image number and image display position information, and the image dynamic drawing instruction includes a graphic number and graphic attribute information. The lamp driver retrieves pre-stored image data corresponding to the image number in its own memory according to the image number of each predetermined image control instruction, generates target display image data corresponding to the predetermined image control instruction based on the image data and the image display position information, and retrieves pre-stored graphic drawing rules corresponding to the graphic number in its own memory according to the graphic number of each image dynamic drawing instruction, and generates target display image data corresponding to the image dynamic drawing instruction based on the graphic drawing rules and the graphic attribute information. The lamp driver performs superposition processing on the target display image data corresponding to multiple image control commands according to the superposition method, and drives the matrix LED lamps to work based on the image data obtained after superposition processing to display the corresponding image.

6. The control method for matrix LED lights as described in claim 5, characterized in that, The graphic attribute information includes graphic position, graphic size, and graphic brightness.

7. The control method for matrix LED lights as described in claim 6, characterized in that, The graphic attribute information also includes one or more of the following: graphic rotation angle, transparency, brightness gain, brightness weight value, and scaling ratio.

8. The control method for matrix LED lights as described in claim 5, characterized in that, The overlay method includes one or more of the following overlay strategies: arithmetic overlay strategy, layer overlay strategy, and alpha channel weighted overlay strategy; The arithmetic superposition strategy refers to directly adding the brightness values ​​of corresponding pixels in two image data to obtain the brightness value of the pixel in the superimposed image data. The layer overlay strategy refers to using the brightness value of the pixel with the higher layer level in the corresponding pixels of two image data as the brightness value of the pixel in the overlay image data. The alpha channel weighted overlay strategy refers to multiplying the brightness values ​​of corresponding pixels in two image data by their respective alpha values ​​and then adding them together to obtain the brightness value of the pixel in the overlay image data.

9. The control method for matrix LED lights as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The matrix LED lights mentioned are automotive headlights.

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