Screen control system

Abstract

The invention discloses a screen control system. The screen control system comprises a source controller, a plurality of serial connection units, a plurality of transmission channels and a plurality of feedback channels. The series connection units are connected in series step by step and coupled to the source controller, and are used for controlling a display screen. Each transmission channel is coupled between two of the plurality of tandem units or between one of the plurality of tandem units and the source controller, and the plurality of transmission channels are used for transmitting video data and an instruction from the source controller to the plurality of tandem units. Each feedback channel is coupled between two of the plurality of tandem units or between one of the plurality of tandem units and the source controller, and the plurality of feedback channels are used for transmitting feedback data from one of the plurality of tandem units to the source controller.

Description

[0001] The original application date is September 7, 2022, the original application number is 202211091845.7, and the original application invention name is "screen control system". TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to a screen control system, in particular to a screen control system composed of a plurality of serial units. BACKGROUND

[0003] In recent years, large-sized display screens are commonly implemented by splicing screens, which can adopt display technologies such as liquid crystal display (LCD) or light-emitting diode (LED), and can simultaneously broadcast information to a large number of people. For example, a digital billboard composed of a light-emitting diode splicing screen can be set in a crowded place to display various information such as advertisements, movies, traffic conditions, etc. to people. The splicing screen is usually composed of a plurality of light boxes, each of which has a display screen, a data splitter, and / or one or more drivers and controllers. The drivers and controllers can be used to drive and control the display screen to display images. The data splitter, which can be implemented in each light box or in a video source that transmits video data, can be used to split and distribute video data to each segment on the splicing screen for display.

[0004] A source controller (such as a video source or a computer) can transmit a series of instructions to set the controllers in each light box to control the splicing screen, and after the setting is complete, the light box can start receiving video data. The instruction string can be transmitted in any way, for example, the instruction string can be transmitted through a low-speed interface, while the video data is transmitted using a relatively faster high-speed interface. The two interfaces are independent of each other and have different transmission speeds. The low-speed instruction interface usually adopts a half-duplex transmission mode (which can only perform one of read and write operations at the same time point), so that the transmission speed of the instruction string is slow and requires a long transmission time, especially when the overall screen size is large and composed of a large number of light boxes.

[0005] In another example, a bus can be used to connect all the light boxes on the tiled screen to transmit the command string to the light boxes. In a large tiled screen with a large number of light boxes, the physical length of the bus can be extremely long, and there are a large number of capacitive and resistive loads, which limits the transmission speed of the command string. Another transmission scheme is to use Ethernet to transmit the command string and video data. However, due to the bandwidth limitation of Ethernet, a large number of wires are needed to achieve sufficient transmission capacity, which increases the overall system cost and causes the operation speed of the command transmission to decrease.

[0006] With the trend of high resolution and large size of liquid crystal display screens / LED screens, the number of light boxes will inevitably increase. In this case, more time is needed to perform the command transmission and parameter setting of the controller for the light boxes. Therefore, how to improve the transmission speed of the command string has become an important issue in the field. SUMMARY

[0007] Therefore, the main purpose of the present application is to provide a screen control system that can integrate the command string and video data in the same high-speed transmission interface to speed up the command transmission and reduce the number of additional I / O pins to reduce the circuit cost.

[0008] One embodiment of the present application discloses a screen control system, which includes a source controller, a plurality of serial units, a plurality of transmission channels, and a plurality of feedback channels. The plurality of serial units are serially connected and coupled to the source controller for controlling a display screen. Each of the plurality of transmission channels is coupled between two of the plurality of serial units or between one of the plurality of serial units and the source controller, and the plurality of transmission channels are used to transmit a video data and a command from the source controller to the plurality of serial units. Each of the plurality of feedback channels is coupled between two of the plurality of serial units or between one of the plurality of serial units and the source controller, and the plurality of feedback channels are used to transmit a feedback data from one of the plurality of serial units to the source controller.

[0009] Another embodiment of the present application discloses a screen control system, which includes a source controller, a plurality of serial units, and a plurality of transmission channels. The plurality of serial units are serially connected and coupled to the source controller for controlling a display screen. Each of the plurality of transmission channels is coupled between two of the plurality of serial units or between one of the plurality of serial units and the source controller, and the plurality of transmission channels are used to transmit a video data and a command from the source controller to the plurality of serial units. The plurality of transmission channels are coupled between the source controller and the plurality of serial units to form a closed loop.

[0010] Another embodiment of the present application discloses a screen control system, which comprises a source controller, a plurality of cascaded units and a plurality of transmission channels. The plurality of cascaded units are cascaded step by step and coupled to the source controller for controlling a display screen. Each of the plurality of transmission channels is coupled between two of the plurality of cascaded units or between one of the plurality of cascaded units and the source controller, and the plurality of transmission channels are used for transmitting a video data and a command from the source controller to the plurality of cascaded units. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0011] Figure 1 Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a screen control system according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0012] Figure 2 Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a screen control system according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0013] Figure 3 Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a feedforward circuit of a cascaded unit according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0014] Figure 4 Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a feedback circuit of a cascaded unit according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0015] Figure 5 Fig. 5 is a timing diagram example of a display screen.

[0016] Figure 6 Fig. 6 shows a command string transmitted in a blank gap.

[0017] Figure 7 Fig. 7 shows several command format examples applicable to the screen control system.

[0018] Figure 8 Fig. 8 shows a command string transmitted in a blank gap and an active interval.

[0019] Figure 9 Fig. 9 shows a command string arranged in a valid data bit in a blank gap and an invalid data bit in an active interval.

[0020] Figure 10 Fig. 10 shows a packet format example for the screen control system.

[0021] Figure 11 Fig. 11 shows another packet format example for the screen control system.

[0022] Figure 12 Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of a command string arrangement in a blank gap according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0023] Figure 13 Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of a command string arrangement in a plurality of sub-channels of a blank gap according to an embodiment of the present application. Figure 14 Fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of a command string arrangement in a plurality of sub-channels of a blank gap according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0024] Figure 15 This is a flowchart of a first embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 16 This is a schematic diagram of the instruction string arrangement within the effective range of an embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] Figure 17 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the arrangement of instruction strings within multiple sub-channels according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0027] Figure 18 This is a schematic diagram of another instruction string arrangement according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0028] Figure 19 This shows an extended valid range that includes all segments of the instruction string.

[0029] Figure 20 This shows the allocation of instruction string segments to different extended valid ranges.

[0030] The reference numerals in the attached figures are explained as follows: Detailed Implementation

[0031] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a screen control system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 As shown, the screen control system 10 includes multiple serial units, each of which can be a light box, comprising a display screen, a data splitter, and / or one or more drivers and controllers. The display screens in the serial units can be used to construct a splicing screen; that is, the splicing screen is composed of multiple display screens respectively contained in multiple serial units. For example, if the splicing screen is a light-emitting diode (LED) splicing screen, each serial unit on the display screen may include an array of LED pixels as part of the screen.

[0032] The screen control system 10 further comprises a source controller 100, which can transmit instruction strings to configure the cascaded units and transmit video data to be displayed on the screen. The instruction strings can be used to configure a controller in the cascaded units, which can be a control circuit (e.g., an integrated circuit (IC)) disposed in one or more chips. The controller needs to be configured by the received instructions so as to normally operate and process the video data after the configuration is completed. The source controller 100 can be implemented by a video board, which can include a main controller and / or be connected to a computer. The video board can receive video content through a video interface and convert the video content into video data that can be received by the controller of the cascaded units. The video interface can be, for example, a digital visual interface (DVI), a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI), a video graphics array (VGA), or a display port (DP). Thus, the video data can be transmitted to each cascaded unit through a high-speed transmission interface.

[0033] In this example, the source controller 100 is coupled to the cascaded units in a cascaded manner through a plurality of transmission channels and a plurality of feedback channels, wherein each two adjacent cascaded units are coupled to each other through a transmission channel and a feedback channel, and the source controller 100 is coupled to the first cascaded unit (i.e., the cascaded unit at the first stage) through a transmission channel and a feedback channel. The first cascaded unit is further coupled to the second cascaded unit (i.e., the cascaded unit at the second stage) through a transmission channel and a feedback channel, the second cascaded unit is coupled to the third cascaded unit (i.e., the cascaded unit at the third stage) through a transmission channel and a feedback channel, and so on. Thus, the cascaded units are cascaded to form a daisy chain, and each cascaded unit is directly coupled between a previous cascaded unit and a subsequent cascaded unit, except that the last cascaded unit (i.e., the cascaded unit at the last stage) is only coupled to the previous cascaded unit, and the first cascaded unit is coupled between the subsequent cascaded unit and the source controller 100. Under such a connection manner, the cascaded units can process and transmit the instructions to the next stage, and the number of the cascaded units can be increased without limit through appropriate clock feedback and instruction processing. In this way, high-speed instruction and data transmission can be achieved on a large-size and high-resolution tiled screen.

[0034] As Figure 1As shown, the cascading units used to construct the tiled screen can be arranged in an array form and coupled in any manner to form a daisy chain. For example, the cascading units can be connected in an S-shape or sequentially from outside to inside. As long as all the cascading units on the display screen are sequentially connected to form a daisy chain, the related embodiments shall fall within the scope of the present application.

[0035] In the screen control system 10, both the video data and the instruction string can be transmitted through the transmission channel, and the feedback channel can be used to transmit feedback data from any cascading unit to the source controller 100.

[0036] The transmission channel can include various suitable high-speed transmission interfaces, such as a V-by-One interface, a DisplayPort interface, a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), a Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI), and / or the like. The source controller 100 can send the video data and the related instructions through the high-speed transmission interface on the transmission channel. More specifically, the source controller 100 can send the video data and the instructions to the cascading unit at the first stage through the transmission channel, and each cascading unit (except the last one) can send the video data and the instructions to the cascading unit at the next stage through the transmission channel. In this case, the video data transmission and the instruction transmission can be embedded in the same high-speed transmission interface, so that the instructions are quickly transmitted to each cascading unit.

[0037] Generally, the instructions can be divided into two types: "write" and "read". The "write" instruction can write instruction data to one or more target cascading units to control the operation of the target cascading units; the "read" instruction allows the source controller 100 to read the specific status of one or more target cascading units. For example, the source controller 100 can send a "read" instruction to a target cascading unit to instruct the target cascading unit to return specific data, which can be, for example, temperature, humidity, and / or the light-emitting status on the panel of the cascading unit, but is not limited thereto.

[0038] When a cascading unit receives an instruction, it can determine whether the instruction is for itself and correspondingly receive and decode the instruction data to perform the corresponding operation (such as returning data in response to the "read" instruction or modifying part of the settings in response to the "write" instruction), or simply pass the instruction to the subsequent cascading unit. In this case, the feedback channel can be used to return feedback data from the cascading unit to the source controller, so that the transmission channel is dedicated to instruction / data transmission. More specifically, each cascading unit can send feedback data to the previous cascading unit through the feedback channel, and the source controller 100 can receive the feedback data from the cascading unit at the first stage through the feedback channel. The feedback channel can be implemented through any suitable transmission interface, which can be the same as or different from the transmission interface of the transmission channel.

[0039] In this example, the transmission channel and the feedback channel are separate unidirectional channels. Thus, the instructions and the feedback data can be transmitted simultaneously through different channels to improve the transmission speed of the instructions, and a large size tiled screen with a larger number of tiled units can be implemented.

[0040] It is worth noting that, Figure 1 Only one embodiment of the connection mode of the screen control system is shown. In another embodiment, in order to further reduce the circuit cost, the feedback channel can be omitted, and the feedback data can be transmitted through the transmission channel.

[0041] Figure 2 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a screen control system according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 1, the screen control system 10 includes a source controller 100 and a plurality of tiled units, each of which is coupled to the source controller 100 in a cascaded manner. In the screen control system 10, the tiled units and the source controller 100 operate similarly to the tiled units and the source controller 100 in the screen control system 10, and thus are not described in detail herein. The difference between the screen control system 10 and the screen control system 20 is that the screen control system 10 includes a transmission channel and a feedback channel coupled between each two adjacent tiled units and between the source controller 100 and the first tiled unit (i.e., the tiled unit at the first stage), respectively. Figure 2

[0042] In this example, the tiled units are also cascaded in a daisy chain manner, in which each two adjacent tiled units are coupled to each other through a transmission channel, and the source controller 100 is coupled to the first tiled unit (i.e., the tiled unit at the first stage) through a transmission channel. In addition, the source controller 100 is also coupled to the last tiled unit (i.e., the tiled unit at the last stage) through a transmission channel. In this case, the transmission channels can sequentially cascade the source controller 100 and the tiled units to form a closed loop.

[0043] In Figure 2 the connection mode, the transmission channel is a unidirectional channel, and the feedback data can be transmitted through the transmission channel and returned to the source controller 100. More specifically, the source controller 100 can send video data and related instructions to the first tiled unit, and each tiled unit (except the last tiled unit) can send video data and related instructions to the tiled unit at the next stage. When a tiled unit receives a "read" instruction indicating that feedback data is needed, it can send the feedback data to the tiled unit at the next stage, and so on, and the last tiled unit returns the feedback data to the source controller 100. The above data / instruction transmission only needs to be implemented through the transmission channel, so the feedback channel and the related input / output port (I / O pin) can be removed to further reduce the cost of redundant wiring and ports.​

[0044] Similarly, in such a connection method, the serial units can be configured as an array and coupled in any manner. In one embodiment, if the serial units are connected to form a closed loop, the source controller 200 can transmit instructions to verify whether the connection path is operating normally, thereby improving the stability of the screen control system 20. For example, if the instruction transmitted to the first serial unit can be successfully and correctly received by the source controller 200 through the last serial unit, the source controller 200 can determine that the entire connection path is operating normally. In addition, the source controller 200 can also receive video data from the last serial unit after the video data has passed through the entire loop. In this way, the source controller 200 can verify the correctness of the video data (e.g., through a verification rule, such as a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC)) to determine whether the data transmission is proceeding normally.

[0045] To enable data / instruction transmission, the serial unit should be equipped with relevant control circuitry. Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of a feedforward circuit 300 in a serial unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. The feedforward circuit 300 can be disposed in any serial unit in the screen control system 10 or 20. Figure 3 As shown, the feedforward circuit 300 includes a receiver 302, an instruction processing circuit 304, a clock processing circuit 306, and a transmitter 308. The receiver 302 can be used to receive input signals from the preceding cascade unit (or the first cascade unit receives from the source controller) and extract instructions, video data, and / or clock signals from the input signals. The instruction processing circuit 304 can be used to process instructions or bypass instructions. More specifically, the instruction processing circuit 304 can decode the instruction and determine whether it performs any operation or is merely a bypass instruction based on the instruction content, and then send the instruction to the subsequent cascade unit. In one embodiment, the instruction processing circuit 304 can modify the instruction to generate a modified instruction specific to the subsequent cascade unit. The clock processing circuit 306 may include a phase-locked loop (PLL) or any other suitable clock recovery circuit, which can be used to remove clock jitter and / or restore the clock signal embedded in the input signals received by the cascade unit. Transmitter 308 can be used to transmit video data and commands to the next-level cascading unit. More specifically, transmitter 308 can combine a returned clock signal with commands and / or video data and send it to the subsequent cascading unit.

[0046] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of a feedback circuit 400 in a serial unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. The feedback circuit 400 can be disposed in any serial unit in the screen control system 10 including a feedback channel, and is used to transmit feedback data.Figure 4 As shown, the feedback circuit 400 includes a feedback receiver 402, an instruction processing circuit 404, a clock processing circuit 406, a feedback transmitter 408, and a multiplexer 410. The feedback receiver 402 can receive feedback data from the next-level cascade unit. The instruction processing circuit 404 can generate feedback data according to the received instruction. As described above, the cascade unit can generate feedback data in response to a "read" instruction, and the instruction processing circuit 404 can be used to achieve this. The instruction processing circuit 404 can be integrated with the instruction processing circuit 304 in the feedforward circuit 300, or it can be set up independently. The clock processing circuit 406 is similar to the clock processing circuit 306 in the feedforward circuit 300 and can be used to process and reply to clock signals. The feedback transmitter 408 can transmit feedback data to the previous-level cascade unit, wherein the feedback data includes at least one of the feedback data generated by that cascade unit and the feedback data received from the next-level cascade unit, and this feedback data can be integrated using the multiplexer 410.

[0047] It is worth noting that, Figure 1 The screen control system 10 includes a transmission channel and a feedback channel; therefore, the cascaded unit can simultaneously include a feedforward circuit 300 and a feedback circuit 400 for feedforward transmission and feedback transmission, respectively. On the other hand, Figure 2 The screen control system 20 in the middle only includes a transmission channel, so the serial unit only includes a feedforward circuit 300. In this example, the feedforward circuit 300 can be used to transmit feedback data in addition to transmitting video data and command strings.

[0048] As described above, the instruction string and video data are embedded in a high-speed transmission interface for transmission through the same transmission channel. The following examples illustrate how the instruction string and video data are integrated and embedded in the same high-speed transmission interface.

[0049] Figure 5This is an example timing diagram of a display screen, which can be a video wall, such as the screen control system described in this specification. Generally, each display line used to display a line of video data can be divided into an active interval and a blanking interval. Video data can be included within the active interval by the indication of the data enable signal DE. More specifically, a "high" level for the data enable signal DE represents an active interval, while a "low" level represents a horizontal blanking interval (H-blanking interval) or a vertical blanking interval (V-blanking interval). Horizontal blanking intervals are used to separate data from different lines, while vertical blanking intervals are used to separate data from different frames; they can be indicated by the horizontal sync signal H-sync and the vertical sync signal V-sync, respectively. Traditionally, no video data is transmitted within the horizontal and vertical blanking intervals, but these intervals still include transmission resources.

[0050] To effectively utilize these transmission resources, in one embodiment, blanking gaps (such as horizontal and / or vertical blanking gaps) can be used to transmit instruction strings. For example, in a screen control system, the transmission channel coupled between two serially connected units may include m sub-channels CH_1 to CH_m, such as... Figure 6 As shown. A blank gap has n time slots T_1 to T_n, where each symbol (such as I) indicates that one or more bits can be transmitted in each time slot T_1 to T_n through each subchannel CH_1 to CH_m.

[0051] like Figure 6 As shown, the symbol "I" represents an invalid data bit, indicating that no data bits are transmitted within a time slot included in the blank gap. According to traditional video data formats, the time slots in the blank gap are wasted transmission resources; however, in this invention, the time slots in the blank gap can be used to transmit instruction strings, while the valid interval can be used to transmit video data, allowing the instruction string and video data to be embedded in the same high-speed transmission interface for transmission through the transmission channel.

[0052] In one embodiment, the instructions have a specific format that can be recognized by the cascaded unit. Figure 7Several instruction format examples applicable to screen control systems are shown. Specifically, instruction formats (A) and (B) include a header, a function code, and instruction data. Instruction format (B) also includes an instruction check code. The cascading unit can identify the header to determine the start of an instruction string. The function code can be used to indicate the type of instruction, such as a "read" instruction, a "write" instruction, or any other possible type. The instruction data represents the content of the instruction; for example, in a "write" instruction, the instruction data may include the value to be written to a specific register in the destination cascading unit. The instruction check code can be used to check whether the instruction has been correctly received, thereby improving the accuracy of instruction transmission. Examples of instruction check codes include, but are not limited to, cyclic redundancy check, parity check, and checksum.

[0053] exist Figure 7 In the instructions, formats (C) and (D) include only instruction data and / or control parameters, excluding headers and function codes. Instruction format (D) also includes an instruction check code to verify the correctness of the instruction. Since no header is included in the instruction, the instruction string can be synchronized with the horizontal synchronization signal H-sync, the vertical synchronization signal V-sync, or any other time point recognizable by the cascaded unit. Therefore, the cascaded unit can determine the start of the instruction string based on the horizontal synchronization signal H-sync, the vertical synchronization signal V-sync, or other synchronization time points. Because no function code is present in the instruction, the instruction data may include continuously transmitted display control parameters and / or address parameters, which can be received and processed by all cascaded units in the screen control system. It should be noted that... Figure 7 The instruction format shown is only a partial embodiment that can be used in screen control systems and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

[0054] As described above, the instruction string can be transmitted within the blank intervals during the display line. In another embodiment, the instruction string can also be transmitted within the valid intervals during the display line, such as... Figure 8 As shown. Figure 8 The valid interval is shown to include several valid data bits (denoted by D) and several empty time slots (denoted by E). The valid data bits are the time slots used to transmit video data, while the empty time slots are additional time slots within the valid interval that do not transmit any video data. To make efficient use of transmission resources, these empty time slots can be arranged to transmit command strings.

[0055] Figure 9This diagram illustrates a command string arranged appropriately within empty time slots in a valid region and invalid data bits within blank gaps. In subchannels CH_0 to CH_m, one or more empty time slots and one or more invalid data bits can be selected to transmit the command string, where each selected time slot can carry one or more bits. Each instruction bit (denoted by C) in the command string can be transmitted sequentially within the selected time slots, such as... Figure 9 The middle arrow indicates the direction. It should be noted that... Figure 9 The transmission method is just one of many arrangements of command bits. In fact, the serial unit or source controller can select any available transmission resources within the valid interval and / or blank gap to perform command transmission, and the selected time slot can be located in the same sub-channel or different sub-channels. Correspondingly, the serial unit located at the receiving end should be able to collect the command bits in the selected time slot to receive the command string according to the appropriate communication and / or specifications in the screen control system.

[0056] In the above embodiments, video data transmission follows a proprietary data format defined by valid intervals and gaps, under which instructions can be transmitted within appropriate time slots. In another embodiment, video data is transmitted using packet transmission, where video data may be contained within packets, and the concatenation unit can receive the video data by identifying the packets (e.g., through the packet header). More specifically, video data transmission is not based on the timing defined by vertical and horizontal synchronization signals, but rather carries video data within one or more packets, which can be transmitted at any appropriate time. In this way, more video data can be transmitted per unit of time.

[0057] Figure 10 An example packet format for a screen control system is shown. Packet format (A) is a general packet that includes a packet header, a functional parameter, and a video data string transmitted sequentially. A data enable signal DE (when at a "high" level) indicates the transmission time of the video data. In one embodiment of the invention, the packet length (i.e., the effective data enable period) can be extended to produce an extended data enable period that is longer than the general data enable period in packet format (A). Figure 10 In the packet format (B) shown, the data enable signal DE is extended, and the instruction string is transmitted during the extended data enable period. More specifically, the instruction string can be encoded into a packet stream format to be embedded during the extended data enable period, thereby being transmitted after the video data string within the packet. When the concatenation unit receives the packet, it can decode it to separate the video data string and the instruction string, thereby executing the corresponding operation indicated by the instruction.

[0058] It is worth noting that the method of extending the data enable signal DE can also be applied to timing schemes where video data transmission is synchronized with both horizontal and vertical synchronization signals. In this case, the extended data enable signal DE can be used to define an extended effective interval, occupying a portion of the blank gap, thus reducing the length of the blank gap. The instruction string can be arranged in a format similar to video data for transmission within the extended effective interval, and its related implementation methods are as follows: Figure 11 As shown.

[0059] Figure 11 and Figure 10 The difference between the embodiments is that, Figure 11 This embodiment does not have any packet headers or functional parameters because the timing is defined by vertical and horizontal sync signals (not shown), and the source controller and serialization unit can perform video data transmission and reception according to the predetermined timing. Similarly, the source controller and serialization unit can also arrange instruction strings after the video data for transmission and reception according to the predetermined timing and the same encoding method.

[0060] The above operations can be implemented in some embodiments. Taking the V-by-One interface as an example, in the first embodiment, the blanking interval can be used to transmit instruction strings. Generally, a blanking interval may include 5 time slots T_B0 to T_B4, where each time slot can carry one bit of data (i.e., 8 data bits), such as... Figure 12 As shown.

[0061] In this example, time slots T_B0 and T_B1 are used to transmit the vertical synchronization signal V-sync and the horizontal synchronization signal H-sync, respectively. Therefore, the time resources of time slots T_B2 to T_B4 can be used to transmit the instruction string. More specifically, 24 instruction bits CTL[0] to CTL

[23] can be transmitted in the time slots T_B2 to T_B4 during this blank interval.

[0062] In some embodiments, the gaps may include multiple time slots located in different sub-channels, so the instruction strings can be arranged serially and simultaneously in parallel to accelerate instruction transmission. Figure 13 and Figure 14 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the arrangement of instruction strings within multiple sub-channels in the blanking gaps, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 13 As shown, at least three instruction strings CMD1 to CMD3 are transmitted within a gap, wherein each instruction bit is transmitted within a time slot. In this example, each instruction string CMD1 to CMD3 is transmitted through a separate sub-channel, while instruction bits within the same instruction string are transmitted sequentially through the same sub-channel. In another embodiment, as... Figure 14 As shown, instruction bits in the same instruction string (such as CMD1) can be assigned to different sub-channels for parallel transmission.

[0063] In embodiments where the instruction string is transmitted within gaps, the serialization unit can process the instruction string through a process 150, such as... Figure 15 As shown. Flow 150 can be implemented in the feedforward circuit of a series unit in a screen control system, such as... Figure 3 The feedforward circuit is 300. For example... Figure 15 As shown, process 150 includes the following steps: Step 1500: Receive instructions within the blank gap.

[0064] Step 1502: Confirm the header of the instruction.

[0065] Step 1504: Obtain the instruction data and check its correctness.

[0066] Step 1506: Perform the operation according to the instructions.

[0067] Step 1508: Embed the instruction into the blank space and transmit the instruction.

[0068] According to process 150, the serial unit can receive the instruction string within the gap through the receiver, and simultaneously identify and confirm the header to determine the start point of the instruction string. Next, the serial unit acquires the instruction data from the instruction string. After acquiring the complete instruction, the serial unit can check the correctness of the instruction (e.g., through an instruction check code). If the serial unit determines that the instruction is correct and that the instruction indicates its use for the current serial unit, the serial unit can perform the relevant operation according to the instruction (such as the "read" or "write" operation mentioned above). Then, the transmitter of the serial unit can embed the instruction into the gap and send the instruction to the subsequent serial unit.

[0069] In the second embodiment, empty transmission resources within the valid interval can also be used to transmit instruction strings. Figure 16 This is a schematic diagram of the instruction string arrangement within the effective range of an embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment uses the transmission timing of the V-by-One interface as an example for illustration, wherein video data of one pixel is allocated to five time slots T_A0 to T_A4 for transmission, and each time slot can carry one bit of data, so time slots T_A0 to T_A4 include a total of 40 bits of transmission resources.

[0070] In detail, one pixel consists of three sub-pixels, and each sub-pixel includes 12 bits of data (such as R[0:11], G[0:11], or B[0:11]), requiring a total of 36 bits of transmission resources. Time slots T_A0 to T_A4 include 40 bits of transmission resources. In this case, four additional bits (which can be considered as...) Figure 8 or Figure 9The empty time slots shown can be used to transmit instructions, represented as E[2:3] in time slot T_A3 and E[0:1] in time slot T_A4. This implementation can be combined with the above. Figures 12 to 14 The embodiments shown enable the transmission of instruction strings within valid regions and blank gaps, thereby improving transmission efficiency.

[0071] Figure 17 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the arrangement of instruction strings within multiple sub-channels according to an embodiment of the present invention. The instruction bits are allocated to time slots and blank gaps within the valid interval; these time slots are transmission resources available for transmitting instruction strings. Figure 17 As shown, each instruction string CMD1 to CMD3 is transmitted through a separate sub-channel. Those skilled in the art will understand that the instruction strings can also be arranged with the same instruction string's instruction bits placed on different sub-channels. Preferably, the screen control system should have a specific instruction arrangement setting, so that the serial unit can receive / transmit instruction strings according to the defined arrangement.

[0072] In addition, the cascading unit operation shown in process 150 can also be applied to embodiments that utilize empty time slots within a valid interval to transmit instruction strings. In this case, the cascading unit can collect bits of the instruction string from both the empty gaps and the empty time slots within the valid interval. The transmitter of the cascading unit can arrange instruction bits in any available transmission resource, which may be contained within the valid interval, the empty gaps, or both.

[0073] In the third embodiment, the effective interval defined by the data enable signal DE is extended, and the instruction string is transmitted within the extended effective interval (i.e., the extended data enable period), such as... Figure 11 As shown.

[0074] Figure 18 This is a schematic diagram of another instruction string arrangement according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 18 As shown, the pixel data format uses 3M bits per pixel, where M bits are allocated to each sub-pixel (R, G, or B). The instruction string can be encoded in 3M bit units to conform to the pixel data format, allowing it to be placed after the video data and carried over an extended valid interval. In this example, the instruction string includes a header, function code, instruction data, instruction check code, and footer, which can be arranged into n segments SEC_1 to SEC_n, each segment being 3M bits long. Assuming the instruction string is 60M bits in total, it can be encoded into 20 segments, i.e., n equals 20.

[0075] In one embodiment, the length of the extended valid interval can be adjusted accordingly to include the complete instruction string. For example, such as Figure 19As shown, the length of the valid interval is sufficient to include the instruction string segments SEC_1 to SEC_n.

[0076] It should be noted that the extended valid interval occupies part of the blank space, and the length of the blank space is limited, thus restricting the maximum length of the extended valid interval. In another embodiment, if the length of the instruction string exceeds the maximum possible length of the extended valid interval, a portion of the instruction string can be allocated to another extended valid interval, such as the extended valid interval during the next display line. Figure 20 As shown.

[0077] In addition, the cascading unit operation shown in process 150 can also be applied to embodiments that transmit instruction strings within an extended valid interval. In this case, the cascading unit can receive instruction string segments within the extended valid interval defined by the extended data enable signal DE, and the cascading unit can further encode the instruction format into a format conforming to pixel data. Therefore, the transmitter of the cascading unit can embed the instruction string into the extended valid interval for transmission.

[0078] In summary, this invention proposes a screen control system that can transmit video data and command strings through the same high-speed transmission interface, as well as a related method for connecting units to achieve data / command transmission. The screen control system may include a spliced ​​screen composed of multiple sequentially connected units. The source controller can output command strings to the first-level connected unit, and each connected unit then transmits the command strings to the next-level connected unit.

[0079] To integrate command strings and video data on a high-speed transmission interface, in one embodiment, commands can be arranged in empty transmission resources within gaps and / or effective intervals according to the video data transmission timing defined by horizontal and vertical synchronization signals. Alternatively, if video data is transmitted in packets, the packet length can be extended to include the command string. In one embodiment, a transmission channel and a feedback channel are provided between every two adjacent serialization units. The transmission channel is used to transmit video data and commands from the source controller to the serialization unit, and the feedback channel is used to transmit feedback data from the serialization unit to the source controller. In another embodiment, the source controller and serialization units can be interconnected to form a closed loop, and feedback data, video data, and commands can be transmitted to the source controller or any serialization unit through the transmission channel in the loop. This eliminates the need for the feedback channel and its associated input / output ports, further reducing circuit costs.

[0080] The above description is merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the invention. Various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention by those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A screen control system, characterized in that, include: One source controller; Multiple serially connected units are coupled to the source controller to control a display screen. as well as Multiple transmission channels, wherein each transmission channel is coupled between two of the multiple serial units or between one of the multiple serial units and the source controller, for transmitting video data and an instruction from the source controller to the multiple serial units. The multiple transmission channels are coupled to the source controller and the multiple serial units to form a closed loop.

2. The screen control system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The source controller is coupled to a first serial unit among the plurality of serial units and is used to send the video data and the instruction to the first serial unit.

3. The screen control system as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The source controller is also coupled to a second serial unit of the plurality of serial units for receiving feedback data from the second serial unit via one of the plurality of transmission channels.

4. The screen control system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, These multiple transmission channels are unidirectional channels.

5. The screen control system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, At least one of the plurality of series-connected units includes a feedforward circuit, the feedforward circuit comprising: A receiver for receiving the video data and the instruction from a previously serialized unit among the plurality of serialized units; An instruction processing circuit is used to process the instruction or bypass the instruction; and A transmitter is used to transmit the video data and the instruction to a subsequent serial unit among the plurality of serial units.

6. The screen control system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The instruction is transmitted in at least one of a blank interval during a display line period and a blank time slot during an effective interval.

7. The screen control system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The instruction includes a header that allows the plurality of serial units to determine the start of the instruction by recognizing the header.

8. The screen control system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The instruction is synchronized with a horizontal synchronization signal or a vertical synchronization signal for the display screen, so that the plurality of serial units determine the start of the instruction based on the horizontal synchronization signal or the vertical synchronization signal.

9. The screen control system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The instruction is contained within an extended data enable period indicated by a data enable signal, wherein the extended data enable period is longer than a normal data enable period that does not include any instruction.

10. The screen control system as described in claim 9, characterized in that, The instruction is encoded to conform to the one-pixel data format of the screen control system, so as to be included during the extended data enablement period.

11. The screen control system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The multiple transmission channels include at least one of a V-by-One interface, a display connection port interface, a high-definition multimedia interface, and a mobile industry processor interface.

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