Driving circuit, backlight device, and data transmission direction control method

Abstract

A driving circuit, an electronic device, and a data transmission direction control method. The driving circuit comprises a control chip (10) and M driving modules (20), wherein each driving module (20) comprises N driving chips (201). Interface modules of the control chip (10) comprise control-end parallel data ports (DIPm) and control-end serial data ports (DISm). Each control-end parallel data port (DIPm) is separately coupled to parallel data ports (DIP) of N driving chips (201) corresponding thereto, and each control-end serial data port (DISm) is coupled to a first serial data port (DIS) of a first driving chip (201) in a driving module (20) corresponding thereto. By coupling a first serial data port (DIS) of an i-th driving chip (201) to a second serial data port (DOS) of an (i-1)-th driving chip (201), each interface module requires only two terminals to control forward communication or backward communication among the corresponding N driving chips (201), and the required communication line wiring is short, thereby improving the communication quality between the control chip (10) and the driving chips (201).

Description

Drive circuit, backlight device, and data transmission direction control method Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a driving circuit, a backlight device, a display system, an electronic device, and a method for controlling the direction of data transmission. Background Technology

[0002] With the development of display technology, mini-LED backlighting has been increasingly used in LCD display systems. The number of zones in backlight display systems is getting higher and higher. In order to accurately control the brightness of the LEDs in these zones, several LED driver chips need to be connected in series to adjust the current and duty cycle of the LEDs.

[0003] In practical applications, the backlight system of a display allocates the positions of LED driver chips according to the location of the LED beads, and controls these LED driver chips through a backlight controller (BCON), including configuring LED driver chip addresses, sending dimming data, and reading the status of LED driver chips. For example, if the backlight system requires 512 LED driver chips, they can be grouped into sets of 16, and the backlight controller needs to allocate 32 sets of terminals to correspond to the communication LED driver chip groups.

[0004] Therefore, how to reduce the number of backlight controller terminals required by each LED driver chip while improving the communication quality between the backlight controller and each LED driver chip has become a pressing technical problem that the industry needs to solve. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This invention provides a driving circuit, a backlight device, a display system, an electronic device, and a data transmission direction control method to solve the technical problem of how to reduce the number of terminals required by each LED driver chip in the backlight controller while improving the communication quality between the backlight controller and each LED driver chip.

[0006] According to a first aspect of the present invention, a driving circuit is provided, comprising:

[0007] The system includes a control chip and M drive modules, each drive module comprising N drive chips, where M and N are both integers greater than or equal to 1.

[0008] Each driving chip includes a first serial data port, a second serial data port, and a parallel data port. The first serial data port of the i-th driving chip is coupled to the second serial data port of the (i - 1)-th driving chip, where i is an integer and 1 < i ≤ N. Forward communication or reverse communication occurs among the N driving chips. During forward communication, the first serial data port of the i-th driving chip acquires data from the second serial data port of the (i - 1)-th driving chip. During reverse communication, the second serial data port of the (i - 1)-th driving chip acquires data from the first serial data port of the i-th driving chip;

[0009] The control chip includes M interface modules. Each interface module is coupled to a corresponding driving module for communicating with the N driving chips in the corresponding driving module. The interface module includes a control-end parallel data port and a control-end serial data port. The control-end parallel data port is respectively coupled to the parallel data ports of the N driving chips corresponding to it, and each control-end serial data port is coupled to the first serial data port of the first driving chip in the corresponding driving module;

[0010] The control-end serial data port is configured as:

[0011] When the N driving chips perform forward communication, send first data to the first driving chip;

[0012] When the N driving chips perform reverse communication, receive second data sent by the first driving chip.

[0013] Optionally, the control chip is configured as:

[0014] Send broadcast communication commands to the N driving chips in the corresponding driving module through the control-end parallel data port;

[0015] Send direction control commands to the N driving chips in the corresponding driving module through the control-end parallel data port to make the N driving chips perform forward communication or reverse communication.

[0016] Optionally, the direction control command includes a forward control signal and a reverse control signal; the N driving chips are used to perform forward communication after acquiring the forward control signal; the N driving chips are used to perform reverse communication after acquiring the reverse control signal.

[0017] Optionally, the control chip is further configured as:

[0018] Send addressing data to the N driving chips in the corresponding driving module through the control-end serial data port;

[0019] Receive read-back data sent by the corresponding driving chip.

[0020] According to a second aspect of the present invention, a backlight device is provided, comprising:

[0021] The driving circuit as described in any of the first aspects of the present invention;

[0022] At least one display device, each of the display devices corresponding to one of the driver chips.

[0023] Optionally, the display device is an LED device or a Mini LED device.

[0024] Optionally, the control chip is a backlight control chip, and the backlight control chip is configured to:

[0025] Send corresponding dimming signals to each of the M drive modules.

[0026] According to a third aspect of the present invention, a display system is provided, including a backlight device as provided in any of the second aspects of the present invention.

[0027] According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, an electronic device is provided, comprising a driving circuit as provided in any of the first aspects of the present invention.

[0028] According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a data transmission direction control method for a driving circuit as provided in any of the first aspects of the present invention is provided, comprising:

[0029] The direction control command is sent to N driver chips in the corresponding driver module through the parallel data port of the control terminal of the control chip to change the data transmission direction between the N driver chips.

[0030] When the direction control command is characterized as controlling forward communication between the N driver chips, the following steps are performed:

[0031] The first serial data port of the N driver chips is controlled to be in input mode and its second serial data port is in output mode. The first serial data port of the i-th driver chip obtains data from the second serial data port of the (i-1)-th driver chip.

[0032] Send the first data to the first driver chip in the corresponding driver module;

[0033] When the direction control command is characterized as controlling reverse communication between the N driver chips, the following steps are performed:

[0034] The second serial data port of the N driver chips is controlled to be in input mode, and its first serial data port is in output mode. The second serial data port of the (i-1)th driver chip obtains data from the first serial data port of the ith driver chip.

[0035] Receive the second data sent by the first driver chip in the corresponding driver module.

[0036] Compared with the prior art, the technical solution of the embodiments of the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0037] In the driving circuit, electronic device, and data transmission direction control method of the present invention, the interface module of the control chip includes a control-end parallel data port and a control-end serial data port. The control-end parallel data port is coupled to the parallel data ports of its corresponding N driving chips. Each control-end serial data port is coupled to the first serial data port of the first driving chip in its corresponding driving module. The first serial data port of the i-th driving chip is coupled to the second serial data port of the (i-1)-th driving chip. This way, each interface module only needs two terminals to control the forward or reverse communication between the corresponding N driving chips, and the required communication lines are shorter, thus improving the communication quality between the control chip and each driving chip.

[0038] In the backlight device and display system of the present invention, by corresponding each display device to a driver chip and using the aforementioned driver circuit to drive the corresponding display device, the number of terminals of the control chip required by the display device in the backlight device is reduced, the cost is reduced, and the required communication lines are shorter, while also improving the communication quality between the backlight controller (or control chip) and each driver chip. Attached Figure Description

[0039] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0040] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the communication circuit between the backlight controller and each LED driver chip in the prior art;

[0041] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the driving circuit in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0042] Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating the data transmission direction control method in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0043] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the backlight device in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0044] Explanation of reference numerals in the attached figures:

[0045] BCON - Backlight Controller;

[0046] 10-Control chip;

[0047] 20-Driver Module;

[0048] 201 - Driver chip;

[0049] 30 - Display device;

[0050] DIPm - Control Terminal Parallel Data Port;

[0051] DISm - Control terminal serial data port;

[0052] DIP - Parallel Data Port;

[0053] DIS - First Serial Data Port;

[0054] DOS - Second Serial Data Port. Detailed Implementation

[0055] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0056] The terms “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth,” etc. (if present) in the specification, claims, and accompanying drawings of this invention are used to distinguish similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that such data can be interchanged where appropriate so that embodiments of the invention described herein can be implemented in orders other than those illustrated or described herein. Furthermore, the terms “comprising” and “having,” and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion; for example, a process, method, system, product, or apparatus that comprises a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units explicitly listed, but may include other steps or units not explicitly listed or inherent to such processes, methods, products, or apparatus.

[0057] The technical solution of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments. These specific embodiments can be combined with each other, and the same or similar concepts or processes may not be described again in some embodiments.

[0058] Prior to this application, the applicant conducted thorough research on the communication method between the backlight controller and each LED driver chip. As described in the background section, the existing technology suffers from the problem that each group of LED driver chips requires a large number of terminals on the backlight controller, resulting in poor communication quality between the backlight controller and each LED driver chip. A detailed description will follow with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0059] Please refer to Figure 1, which shows a communication circuit between the backlight controller BCON and each LED driver chip. It uses a simplex bus transmission method, wherein:

[0060] The serial communication input terminal of the backlight controller BCON, the two serial communication ports of each LED driver chip 201, and the serial communication output terminal of the backlight controller BCON are connected in series; the broadcast communication terminal of the backlight controller BCON sends commands through the broadcast communication terminals of each LED driver chip 201.

[0061] DIS and DOS are the serial communication input and serial communication output terminals of the LED driver chip 201, respectively, and the direction of the arrow indicates the direction of signal transmission; DIP is the broadcast communication terminal of the LED driver chip 201.

[0062] However, in actual implementation, a relatively long communication line is connected between the serial communication port of the last LED driver chip 201 and the serial communication output terminal of the backlight controller BCON. This results in higher manufacturing costs and can easily affect communication quality. At the same time, each group of LED driver chips 201 requires three terminals of the backlight controller BCON. When there are a large number of groups of LED driver chips 201, more terminals need to be occupied on the corresponding chip of the backlight controller BCON, which imposes greater restrictions on the selection of BCON and increases costs.

[0063] To address the aforementioned problems, this invention provides a novel driving circuit that replaces the communication between the driving chips 201 from simplex serial communication to full-duplex serial communication, thereby resolving the problems.

[0064] To make the above-mentioned objectives, features and beneficial effects of the present invention more apparent and understandable, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0065] Please refer to Figure 2. An embodiment of the present invention provides a driving circuit, where the arrows in Figure 2 indicate the direction of signal transmission. The driving circuit includes:

[0066] The system includes a control chip 10 and M drive modules 20, each drive module 20 including N drive chips 201, where M and N are both integers greater than or equal to 1.

[0067] Each driving chip 201 includes a first serial data port DIS, a second serial data port DOS, and a parallel data port DIP. The first serial data port DIS of the i-th driving chip 201 is coupled to the second serial data port DOS of the (i - 1)-th driving chip 201, where i is an integer and 1 < i ≤ N. Forward communication or reverse communication is performed among the N driving chips 201. During forward communication, the first serial data port DIS of the i-th driving chip 201 obtains data from the second serial data port DOS of the (i - 1)-th driving chip 201. During reverse communication, the second serial data port DOS of the (i - 1)-th driving chip 201 obtains data from the first serial data port DIS of the i-th driving chip 201;

[0068] The control chip 10 includes M interface modules. Each interface module is coupled to a corresponding driving module 20 and is used to communicate with the N driving chips 201 in the corresponding driving module 20. The interface module includes a control-end parallel data port DIPm and a control-end serial data port DISm. The control-end parallel data port DIPm is respectively coupled to the parallel data ports DIP of its corresponding N driving chips 201, and each control-end serial data port DISm is coupled to the first serial data port DIS of the first driving chip 201 in its corresponding driving module 20; where m is an integer and 1 ≤ m ≤ M;

[0069] The control-end serial data port DISm is configured as:

[0070] When the N driving chips 201 perform forward communication, it sends first data to the first driving chip 201 (i.e., ID = 1);

[0071] When the N driving chips 201 perform reverse communication, it receives second data sent by the first driving chip 201 (i.e., ID = 1).

[0072] Thus, the technical solution of the present invention multiplexes the serial data port, enabling the driving circuit to achieve duplex serial communication, so that each interface module only needs two terminals to control forward communication or reverse communication between the corresponding N driving chips 201, and the required communication line wiring is shorter, taking into account improving the communication quality between the control chip 10 and each driving chip 201.

[0073] In actual work, in a specific implementation manner, the control chip 10 can be configured as:

[0074] Send a broadcast communication command to the N driving chips 201 in the corresponding driving module 20 through the control-end parallel data port DIPm;

[0075] The control terminal sends direction control commands to the N drive chips 201 in the corresponding drive module 20 through the parallel data port DIPm, so that the N drive chips 201 can perform forward or reverse communication.

[0076] The direction control command includes a forward control signal and a reverse control signal; the N drive chips 201 are used to perform forward communication after acquiring the forward control signal; the N drive chips 201 are used to perform reverse communication after acquiring the reverse control signal.

[0077] Specifically, when the N driving chips 201 perform forward or reverse communication, the control chip 10 is further configured as follows:

[0078] Addressing data is sent to the N driver chips 201 in the corresponding driver module 20 through the serial data port DISm of the control terminal.

[0079] Receive the readback data sent by the corresponding driver chip 201.

[0080] In one specific implementation, the aforementioned control terminal parallel data port DIPm can be considered to correspond to the SPB parallel bus, and the control terminal serial data port DISm can correspond to the serial bus. Thus, the technical solution of the present invention can send control commands through the SPB parallel bus to change the transmission direction of serial communication.

[0081] Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention also provide a data transmission direction control method for the above-mentioned driving circuit, comprising:

[0082] The control chip 10 sends a direction control command to the N drive chips 201 in the corresponding drive module 20 through the parallel data port DIPm of the control terminal, thereby changing the data transmission direction between the N drive chips 201.

[0083] When the direction control command is characterized as controlling forward communication between the N driver chips 201, the following steps are performed:

[0084] The first serial data port DIS of the N driver chips 201 is controlled to be in input mode and its second serial data port DOS is in output mode. The first serial data port DIS of the i-th driver chip 201 obtains data from the second serial data port DOS of the (i-1)-th driver chip 201.

[0085] Send the first data to the first driver chip 201 in the corresponding driver module 20;

[0086] When the direction control command is characterized as controlling reverse communication between the N driver chips 201, the following steps are performed:

[0087] The second serial data port DOS of the N driver chips 201 is controlled to be in input mode, and its first serial data port DIS is in output mode. The second serial data port DOS of the (i-1)th driver chip 201 obtains data from the first serial data port DIS of the ith driver chip 201.

[0088] Receive the second data sent by the first driver chip 201 in the corresponding driver module 20.

[0089] In one specific implementation, the aforementioned control terminal parallel data port DIPm can be considered to correspond to the SPB parallel bus, and the control terminal serial data port DISm can correspond to the serial bus. Thus, the technical solution of the present invention can send control commands through the SPB parallel bus to change the transmission direction of serial communication.

[0090] As a specific implementation method, please refer to Figure 3, which shows a flowchart of the above-described data transmission direction control method. In actual use, the data transmission direction control of the drive circuit shown in Figure 2 includes the following steps:

[0091] S31: Power on;

[0092] The drive circuit operates normally after power-on;

[0093] S32: Control the first serial data port of the N driver chips to be in input mode and its second serial data port to be in output mode, and the first serial data port of the i-th driver chip obtains data from the second serial data port of the (i-1)-th driver chip;

[0094] In practical use, the transmission direction of the serial bus is assumed to be forward communication. Specifically, the first serial data port DIS of the N driver chips 201 is controlled to be in input mode, and its second serial data port DOS is controlled to be in output mode. The first serial data port DIS of the i-th driver chip 201 obtains data from the second serial data port DOS of the (i-1)-th driver chip 201.

[0095] S33: Send the first data to the first driver chip in the corresponding driver module;

[0096] Specifically, the control chip 10 sends first data to the first driver chip 201 in the corresponding driver module 20.

[0097] S34: Send direction control commands to N driver chips in the corresponding driver module through the parallel data port of the control terminal of the control chip.

[0098] Specifically, when reverse communication is required, the control terminal parallel data port DIPm of the control chip 10 sends a direction control command to the N drive chips 201 in the corresponding drive module 20 to change the data transmission direction between the N drive chips 201.

[0099] S35: Control the second serial data port of the N driver chips to be in input mode and its first serial data port to be in output mode, and the second serial data port of the (i-1)th driver chip obtains data from the first serial data port of the ith driver chip;

[0100] Specifically, the second serial data port DOS of the N driver chips 201 is controlled to be in input mode, and its first serial data port DIS is in output mode. The second serial data port DOS of the (i-1)th driver chip 201 obtains data from the first serial data port DIS of the ith driver chip 201.

[0101] S36: Receive the second data sent by the first driver chip in the corresponding driver module;

[0102] Specifically, the control chip 10 receives second data sent by the first driver chip 201 in the corresponding driver module 20.

[0103] Furthermore, referring to Figure 4, this embodiment of the invention also provides a backlight device, including:

[0104] The aforementioned driving circuit;

[0105] At least one display device 30, each of the display devices 30 corresponding to one of the driving chips 201.

[0106] For example, the display device 30 is an LED device or a Mini LED device.

[0107] In this case, the control chip 10 can be a backlight control chip (BCON), which is configured to:

[0108] The corresponding dimming signal is sent to each of the M drive modules 20.

[0109] Therefore, the backlight device using the driving circuit provided by the present invention reduces the number of control terminals used by the backlight control chip; at the same time, it reduces the selection of backlight control chips and the total number of control chip 10 terminals required by the display device 30, so that one backlight control chip can control more driving chips 201, reducing costs, and only requires communication lines between driving chips 201, improving the communication quality between the backlight control chip (or backlight controller BCON) and each driving chip 201.

[0110] Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention also provide a display system including the aforementioned backlight device. As an example, this system can be an LED display system, etc., and of course, it can also be other systems requiring backlighting.

[0111] In addition, embodiments of the present invention also provide an electronic device including the aforementioned driving circuit. For example, the device can be a microcontroller, a display screen, etc., or other devices that require single-chip control of multiple chips.

[0112] In summary, in this embodiment of the invention, the interface module of the control chip includes a parallel data port and a serial data port. The parallel data port is coupled to the parallel data ports of its corresponding N driver chips. Each serial data port is coupled to the first serial data port of the first driver chip in its corresponding driver module. The first serial data port of the i-th driver chip is coupled to the second serial data port of the (i-1)-th driver chip. This arrangement allows each interface module to control the forward or reverse communication between the corresponding N driver chips with only two terminals. The required communication lines are shorter, which improves the communication quality between the control chip and each driver chip.

[0113] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, and not to limit them; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications can still be made to the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or equivalent substitutions can be made to some or all of the technical features; and these modifications or substitutions do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A driving circuit, characterized in that, Comprising: A control chip and M driving modules, each driving module includes N driving chips, where both M and N are integers greater than or equal to 1; Each driving chip includes a first serial data port, a second serial data port, and a parallel data port. The first serial data port of the i-th driving chip is coupled to the second serial data port of the (i - 1)-th driving chip, where i is an integer and 1 < i ≤ N. Forward communication or reverse communication occurs between the N driving chips. During forward communication, the first serial data port of the i-th driving chip obtains data from the second serial data port of the (i - 1)-th driving chip. During reverse communication, the second serial data port of the (i - 1)-th driving chip obtains data from the first serial data port of the i-th driving chip; The control chip includes M interface modules, each interface module is coupled to a corresponding driving module for communicating with the N driving chips in the corresponding driving module. The interface module includes a control end parallel data port and a control end serial data port. The control end parallel data port is respectively coupled to the parallel data ports of the N driving chips in its corresponding driving module, and each control end serial data port is coupled to the first serial data port of the first driving chip in its corresponding driving module; The control end serial data port is configured to: Send a first data to the first driving chip when the N driving chips are in forward communication; Receive a second data sent by the first driving chip when the N driving chips are in reverse communication.

2. The driving circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that, The control chip is configured to: Send broadcast communication commands to the N driving chips in the corresponding driving module through the control end parallel data port; Send direction control commands to the N driving chips in the corresponding driving module through the control end parallel data port to make the N driving chips perform forward communication or reverse communication.

3. The driving circuit according to claim 2, characterized in that, The direction control commands include a forward control signal and a reverse control signal; the N driving chips are used to perform forward communication after obtaining the forward control signal; the N driving chips are used to perform reverse communication after obtaining the reverse control signal.

4. The driving circuit according to claim 3, characterized in that, The control chip is further configured to: Send addressing data to the N driving chips in the corresponding driving module through the control end serial data port; Receive read-back data sent by the corresponding driving chip.

5. A backlight device, characterized in that, Comprising: The driving circuit according to any one of claims 1 - 4; At least one display device, each display device corresponds to one of the driving chips.

6. The backlight device according to claim 5, characterized in that, The display device is an LED device or a Mini LED device.

7. The backlight device according to claim 6, characterized in that, The control chip is a backlight control chip, and the backlight control chip is configured to: Send corresponding dimming signals to the M driving modules respectively.

8. A display system, characterized in that, Comprising the backlight device according to any one of claims 5 - 7.

9. An electronic device, characterized in that, Comprising the driving circuit according to any one of claims 1 - 4.

10. A data transmission direction control method for a driving circuit as described in any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, Comprising: Send a direction control command to the N driving chips in the corresponding driving module through the control end parallel data port of the control chip to change the data transmission direction between the N driving chips; When the direction control command is characterized as controlling forward communication between the N driver chips, the following steps are performed: The first serial data port of the N driver chips is controlled to be in input mode and its second serial data port is in output mode. The first serial data port of the i-th driver chip obtains data from the second serial data port of the (i-1)-th driver chip. Send the first data to the first driver chip in the corresponding driver module; When the direction control command is characterized as controlling reverse communication between the N driver chips, the following steps are performed: The second serial data port of the N driver chips is controlled to be in input mode, and its first serial data port is in output mode. The second serial data port of the (i-1)th driver chip obtains data from the first serial data port of the ith driver chip. Receive the second data sent by the first driver chip in the corresponding driver module.

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