In-vehicle intelligent ambient light driver and driving method

Abstract

The present invention provides an in-vehicle intelligent ambient light driver and a driving method. The in-vehicle intelligent ambient light driver includes: a microprocessor for receiving control instructions through an in-vehicle bus, processing them, and feedbacking the status of the ambient light driver; a high-speed light effect processor connected to the microprocessor for generating multiple parallel light effect control signals based on the light effect control data and control instructions sent by the microprocessor to achieve parallel control of multiple groups of intelligent ambient light strips; and a power supply module for supplying power to the ambient light driver and the intelligent ambient light strips. It effectively solves the technical problems of low refresh rate and poor control effect when controlling intelligent ambient light strips composed of a large number of lamp beads.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of control technology, and in particular, to an in-vehicle intelligent ambient light driver and a driving method thereof. Background Art

[0002] With the development of automobiles, the requirements for interior decoration are getting higher and higher. Ambient lights are one of them, which are used to create an in-vehicle atmosphere and reflect personality. In order to further add emotional interaction during driving, intelligent ambient lights have emerged. They are standard equipment for modern mid-to-high-end vehicles and are increasingly popular among young people.

[0003] To achieve various cool lighting effects, in addition to having good designs of ambient lights and ambient light strips, an efficient and intelligent ambient light driver is also indispensable. Currently, existing ambient light drivers generally directly drive ambient lights through an internal MCU module. However, the number of ambient lights that the MCU module can drive and control at the same time is limited. When there are a large number of ambient lights to be controlled in the vehicle, problems such as low refresh efficiency and poor control effect will occur. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In view of the above problems, the present invention provides an in-vehicle intelligent ambient light driver and a driving method thereof, which effectively solve the technical problems of low refresh rate and poor control effect when controlling an intelligent ambient light strip composed of a large number of lamp beads.

[0005] The technical solutions provided by the present invention are as follows:

[0006] On the one hand, the present invention provides an in-vehicle intelligent ambient light driver, including:

[0007] A microprocessor, configured to receive a control instruction through an in-vehicle bus, process it, and feedback the status of the ambient light driver;

[0008] A high-speed lighting effect processor, connected to the microprocessor, configured to generate multiple parallel lighting effect control signals based on the lighting effect control data and control instructions sent by the microprocessor, so as to achieve parallel control of multiple groups of intelligent ambient light strips; and

[0009] A power supply module, configured to supply power to the ambient light driver and the intelligent ambient light strip.

[0010] On the other hand, the present invention provides an in-vehicle intelligent ambient light driving method, which is applied to the above in-vehicle intelligent ambient light driver. The driving method includes:

[0011] The microprocessor receives a control instruction through the in-vehicle bus and processes it;

[0012] The high-speed lighting effect processor receives the lighting effect control data and control instructions sent by the microprocessor and generates multiple parallel lighting effect control signals;

[0013] The differential communication circuit transmits the lighting effect control signals generated by the high-speed lighting effect processor to the corresponding intelligent environment light strips in parallel over a long distance, achieving parallel control of the lighting effects of multiple intelligent environment light strips. Among them, the differential communication circuit is communicatively connected to the intelligent environment light strips one by one.

[0014] The in-vehicle intelligent environment light driver and driving method provided by the present invention achieve parallel control of a large number of ambient lights through a high-speed lighting effect processor, solving the problems of low refresh rate and poor control effect when controlling intelligent environment light strips composed of a large number of ambient lights. When controlling a large number of ambient lights simultaneously, only one ambient light driver can achieve the purpose, without the need to configure multiple ambient light drivers, greatly saving resources and avoiding waste. In addition, a differential communication circuit is configured in the ambient light driver to solve the problem of difficult structural design caused by the short communication distance of the driver in the prior art, which must be close to the light strip. Description of the Drawings

[0015] The following will further illustrate the above-mentioned characteristics, technical features, advantages and their implementation manners in a clear and understandable manner in combination with the drawings of the preferred embodiments.

[0016] Figure 1 It is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of the in-vehicle intelligent environment light driver of the present invention;

[0017] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of a microprocessor in an example of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 3 It is a CAN transceiver chip and its peripheral circuit diagram in an example of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of an FPGA chip in an example of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 5 It is a circuit diagram of a power supply module in an example of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 6 It is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of the in-vehicle intelligent environment light driver of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 7 It is a differential communication circuit diagram in an example of the present invention.

[0023] Description of the Reference Numerals:

[0024] 10 - Microprocessor, 20 - High-speed lighting effect processor, 30 - Differential communication circuit, 40 - Intelligent environment light strip. Detailed Embodiments

[0025] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the following will describe the specific embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the accompanying drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, without creative efforts, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings, and other embodiments can also be obtained.

[0026] The first embodiment of the present invention is an in-vehicle intelligent ambient light driver, as Figure 1 shown, including: a microprocessor 10, configured to receive control instructions via the in-vehicle bus for processing and feedback of the status of the ambient light driver; a high-speed light effect processor 20, connected to the microprocessor, configured to generate multiple parallel light effect control signals based on the light effect control data and control instructions sent by the microprocessor to achieve parallel control of multiple groups of intelligent ambient light strips; and a power supply module (not shown in the figure), configured to supply power to the ambient light driver and the intelligent ambient light strips.

[0027] In this embodiment, the ambient light driver relates to fields such as intelligent ambient light driving, automotive lighting, and automotive electronics, and is used to control in-vehicle functional lights and ambient lights (collectively referred to as ambient lights for convenience of description). Specifically, during the control process, the microprocessor receives control instructions sent via the in-vehicle bus (such as the body controller bus) and performs logical processing to further generate control instructions and send them to the high-speed light effect processor; after receiving the control instructions, the high-speed light effect processor performs fast algorithm calculations to generate multiple light effect control signals to control different groups of intelligent ambient light strips to achieve different lighting effects. Here, the high-speed light effect processor outputs the corresponding number of light effect control signals according to the number of intelligent ambient light strips. For example, in an instance, the ambient lights (light beads) to be controlled in the vehicle are configured on 3 intelligent ambient light strips (the light beads in each intelligent ambient light strip are connected in series), then the high-speed light effect processor is controlled to output three parallel light effect control signals to achieve control of all ambient lights. Compared with the existing method of directly controlling the ambient lights through the microprocessor, the refresh rate is greatly improved, and the control effect is enhanced. It should be noted that here the intelligent ambient light strip can also be represented as an intelligent ambient light group in some applications. The light beads in the intelligent ambient light group are connected in series with each other. Multiple intelligent ambient light groups can even be installed on the same intelligent ambient light strip, and different intelligent ambient light groups can be controlled through different interfaces in the high-speed light effect processor 20. For example, in an instance, all the ambient lights to be controlled on the intelligent ambient light strip are divided into 3 groups (the light beads in each intelligent ambient light group are connected in series), and parallel control is performed through three parallel equivalent control signals output by the high-speed light effect processor.

[0028] Specifically, the microprocessor includes: a control chip, an external storage chip, and a CAN transceiver chip. Among them, the external storage chip and the CAN transceiver chip are respectively connected to the control chip. The external storage chip is used to store lighting effect data (including pre-stored or later edited effect data) and temporary files for OTA upgrade. The CAN transceiver chip is used to implement communication with the vehicle's CAN bus. The control chip conducts data communication with the external storage chip through the SPI peripheral, communicates with the CAN transceiver chip through the CAN peripheral, and communicates with the high-speed lighting effect processor through a parallel bus composed of multiple general-purpose IO ports of the control chip. The external storage chip is configured with an SPI communication interface connected to the control chip, and realizes a file system under the drive of the control chip to store lighting effect data and temporary files for OTA upgrade. One end of the CAN transceiver chip is connected to the CAN peripheral interface of the control chip, and the other end is connected to the in-vehicle CAN bus to realize data interaction between the control chip and the actual in-vehicle bus. In practical applications, the control chip, the external storage chip, and the CAN transceiver chip can all be selected according to requirements. For example, in one instance, the model of the control chip is S32K144 (as Figure 2 shown), the model of the external storage chip is W25Q128, and the model of the CAN transceiver chip is TJA1044 (the CAN transceiver chip and its peripheral circuit diagram are as Figure 3 shown, where the TXD port and RXD port of the TJA1044 chip are respectively connected to the PTC17 and PTC16 ports in the S32K144 chip).

[0029] The high-speed lighting effect processor includes an FPGA chip and its peripheral circuit. Among them, the FPGA chip is configured with multiple general-purpose IO ports, and communicates with the microprocessor through a parallel bus composed of multiple general-purpose IO ports, receiving the control instructions and lighting effect control data processed by the microprocessor. In practical applications, the FPGA chip can also be selected according to requirements. For example, in one instance, the model of the FPGA chip is LCMXO3D-9400, as Figure 4 shown. Through Verilog language programming, it becomes a dedicated chip for fast algorithm calculation to achieve different lighting effects.

[0030] The power supply module is a high-power power conversion circuit that provides power for the entire driver and the intelligent environment light strip hung below. For example, in one instance, the XR76117 chip and its peripheral circuit included in the high-power power supply module are as Figure 5 shown, converting the 12V power supply to 5V for output.

[0031] In another embodiment of the present invention, in addition to a microprocessor, a high-speed lighting effect processor, and a power supply module, the intelligent ambient light driver further includes at least one differential communication circuit, which is respectively connected to each output interface of the high-speed lighting effect processor and is used for remotely and parallelly transmitting the lighting effect control signals generated by the high-speed lighting effect processor to the corresponding intelligent ambient light strips, so as to realize the parallel control of the lighting effects of multiple intelligent ambient light strips.

[0032] Specifically, the intelligent ambient light driver includes at least two differential communication circuits. As the transmitting end, each differential communication circuit consists of two differential chips and forms a differential communication group with the differential circuit on the corresponding intelligent ambient light strip connected by communication to ensure the reliability of long-distance data transmission. To achieve communication, one differential communication circuit (including two differential chips) is also configured on each intelligent ambient light group. In practical applications, the differential communication circuits are communicatively connected to the intelligent ambient light strips one by one. That is, if all the ambient lights are divided into 3 groups of intelligent ambient light strips, then three differential communication circuits need to be configured in the corresponding intelligent ambient light driver. To match this, one differential communication circuit is configured in each group of ambient light groups and is communicatively connected one by one.

[0033] To achieve the purpose of differential communication, a single light strip has two communication pins, CLK and DATA, and each pin is transmitted through a differential chip. Each differential chip requires three control IO ports, TX, RX, and RE (such as Figure 7 , U9 chip). That is, on the FPGA chip of the high-speed lighting effect processor, every 6 general-purpose IO ports can be used to control one intelligent ambient light strip, realizing the long-distance and highly reliable transmission of the atmosphere light control signal, as shown in Figure 6 (the intelligent ambient light driver includes a microprocessor 10, a high-speed lighting effect processor 20, a power supply module 40, and three differential communication circuits 30). In one example, each differential communication circuit consists of two differential chips of model XR33202, as shown in Figure 7 .

[0034] The present invention also provides a method for driving an in-vehicle intelligent ambient light, which is applied to the above-mentioned in-vehicle intelligent ambient light driver. The driving method includes:

[0035] S10 The microprocessor receives a control instruction through the in-vehicle bus and processes it;

[0036] S20 The high-speed lighting effect processor receives the lighting effect control data and control instruction sent by the microprocessor and generates multiple parallel lighting effect control signals;

[0037] The S30 differential communication circuit transmits the lighting effect control signals generated by the high-speed lighting effect processor over a long distance in parallel to the corresponding intelligent environment light strips, realizing the parallel control of the lighting effects of multiple intelligent environment light strips. Among them, the differential communication circuit is communicatively connected to the intelligent environment light strips one by one.

[0038] In this embodiment, the microprocessor receives the control instructions sent via the in-vehicle bus (such as the body controller bus) and performs logical processing to further generate control instructions and send them to the high-speed lighting effect processor. After receiving the control instructions, the high-speed lighting effect processor performs fast algorithm calculations to generate multiple lighting effect control signals, and then sends them to the corresponding intelligent environment light strips through the differential communication circuit for control, realizing different lighting effects. Compared with the existing method of directly controlling the ambient lights by the microprocessor, the refresh rate is greatly improved and the control effect is enhanced.

[0039] Although the present invention has been described in detail above with general descriptions and specific embodiments, based on the present invention, some modifications or improvements can be made, which are obvious to those skilled in the art. Therefore, these modifications or improvements made without departing from the spirit of the present invention all fall within the scope of protection required by the present invention.

Claims

1. An in-vehicle intelligent ambient light driver, characterized in that, Including: A microprocessor for receiving control instructions through an in-vehicle bus for processing and feedback of the status of the ambient light driver; A high-speed light effect processor connected to the microprocessor for generating multiple parallel light effect control signals based on the light effect control data and control instructions sent by the microprocessor to achieve parallel control of multiple groups of intelligent ambient light strips; And A power supply module for supplying power to the ambient light driver and the intelligent ambient light strips; The microprocessor includes a control chip, an external storage chip, and a CAN transceiver chip. Among them, the external storage chip and the CAN transceiver chip are respectively connected to the control chip. The external storage chip is used to store light effect data and temporary files for OTA upgrade, and the CAN transceiver chip is used to realize communication with the CAN bus of the vehicle; The high-speed light effect processor includes an FPGA chip and its peripheral circuit. Among them, the FPGA chip is configured with multiple general-purpose IO ports, and a parallel bus is formed by the multiple general-purpose IO ports to communicate with the microprocessor; The intelligent ambient light driver further includes: At least one differential communication circuit respectively connected to each output interface of the high-speed light effect processor for remotely and parallelly transmitting the light effect control signal generated by the high-speed light effect processor to the corresponding intelligent ambient light strip to achieve parallel control of the light effects of multiple intelligent ambient light strips. The differential communication circuit is in one-to-one communication connection with the intelligent ambient light strip; Each differential communication circuit consists of two differential chips and forms a differential communication group with the differential circuit on the intelligent ambient light strip connected in corresponding communication; In the FPGA chip included in the high-speed light effect processor, every 3 general-purpose IO ports are grouped and connected to a differential chip, and each differential communication circuit is connected and controlled by 6 general-purpose IO ports.

2. The in-vehicle intelligent ambient light driver according to claim 1, wherein In the microprocessor, the control chip performs data communication with the external storage chip through the SPI peripheral, communicates with the CAN transceiver chip through the CAN peripheral, and communicates with the high-speed light effect processor through a parallel bus formed by multiple general-purpose IO ports of the control chip.

3. The in-vehicle intelligent ambient light driver according to claim 2, characterized in that, The external storage chip is configured with an SPI communication interface connected to the control chip, and realizes a file system under the drive of the control chip to store light effect data and temporary files for OTA upgrade.

4. An in-vehicle intelligent ambient light driving method, characterized in that, Applied to the in-vehicle intelligent ambient light driver according to any one of claims 1-3, the driving method includes: The microprocessor receives control instructions through the in-vehicle bus and processes them; The high-speed light effect processor receives the light effect control data and control instructions sent by the microprocessor and generates multiple parallel light effect control signals; The differential communication circuit remotely and parallelly transmits the light effect control signal generated by the high-speed light effect processor to the corresponding intelligent ambient light strip to achieve parallel control of the light effects of multiple intelligent ambient light strips, where the differential communication circuit is in one-to-one communication connection with the intelligent ambient light strip.

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