Master-Slave Ring Frame Rate Synchronization
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electronic display systems for moving light displays, such as those used in automotive applications, face challenges in synchronizing digital signal frames across slave devices due to variations in internal clocks, leading to potential frame collisions and synchronization issues.
Innovation Solution
A master-slave communication ring system where a master device transmits digital signal frames at a constant rate to slave devices, which retransmit and latch these frames, using a first-in-first-out shift register and a latch timer to synchronize and adjust bit transmission times to maintain a clock oversampling ratio and avoid collisions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If internal clocks are used in slave devices for signal frame transmission, then each device can operate independently, but synchronization issues and frame collisions occur due to clock variations
Solution Approach 1:
A master device is introduced as an intermediary to coordinate signal frame transmission across all slave devices. The master device generates and distributes synchronized timing signals to all slave devices, eliminating the need for each slave device to rely on its own internal clock. This intermediary approach maintains independent operation of slave devices while ensuring system-wide synchronization accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The timing and synchronization functions previously distributed across multiple slave device internal clocks are merged into a single centralized timing source at the master device. This consolidation ensures that all slave devices operate from a common time reference, eliminating synchronization drift and frame collisions while preserving the modular structure of the system.
2Productivity
If signal frames are transmitted at high speed across the communication ring, then productivity increases, but frame collisions become more likely due to timing variations
Solution Approach 1:
The master device monitors the transmission status and timing of signal frames across the communication ring, and adjusts the transmission timing dynamically to prevent frame collisions. This feedback mechanism allows the system to maintain high transmission rates while actively correcting timing variations that could lead to collisions, ensuring both productivity and reliability.
3Device complexity
If each slave device uses its own internal clock for transmission timing, then device complexity is reduced, but manufacturing precision of synchronization is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The master device serves as a centralized timing intermediary that provides synchronized clock signals to all slave devices. This allows slave devices to maintain simple structures without complex internal timing mechanisms, while still achieving high synchronization precision through the master device's coordinated timing distribution.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes transmitting a plurality of signal frames from a master device over a serial communication bus at a constant rate to a first slave device from a set of slave devices. The set of slave devices and the master device are connected in series within a master-slave communication ring. The first slave device is coupled to at least one light source. The method further includes transmitting the plurality of signal frames from the first slave device to a second slave device from the set of slave devices.