Scroll Engine Chunk Multiplexing for Smooth Display

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current passenger information systems face challenges in achieving smooth scrolling of data content over displays while maintaining acceptable processor load, particularly in applications where limited heat and power dissipation are required, and existing solutions fail to provide flexible and consistent scrolling with frame-level accuracy.

Innovation Solution

A system comprising a video source that divides data into chunks with added synchronization markers, a scroll engine that stores and multiplexes these chunks with background data, and a memory controller for controlled data forwarding, allowing for synchronized scrolling without the need for high bandwidth communication channels, thus reducing processor load and ensuring smooth movement.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If smooth scrolling is implemented using existing solutions, then scrolling capability is achieved, but processor load becomes excessive and heat/power dissipation increases beyond acceptable limits

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesmooth scrolling capabilityVSAvoidprocessor load and heat dissipation
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The display area is segmented into a background area and one or more banner areas. The background video data and banner data are processed and stored separately in different memory buffers, allowing independent handling of each segment without requiring the processor to continuously manage the entire display area, thus reducing overall processor load while maintaining smooth scrolling in the banner regions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Banner data is pre-rendered and stored in a dedicated buffer memory before being displayed. The system prepares scrolling data in advance and loads it into memory, so that during actual display the processor only needs to manage the background video stream while the banner scrolling is handled by simpler memory operations, significantly reducing real-time processor requirements.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Ease of operation

If high bandwidth communication channels are added to enable smooth scrolling, then scrolling smoothness is improved, but device complexity and cost increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvescrolling smoothnessVSAvoidcommunication channel requirements
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system combines background video data and banner data into a single integrated display output stream. By merging these data types and using a unified memory management approach with double buffering, the system achieves smooth scrolling without requiring separate high-bandwidth communication channels for different data types, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining visual smoothness.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

3Reliability

If frame-level synchronization is implemented for banner appearance and disappearance, then visual consistency is improved, but processor timing requirements become more stringent

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvevisual consistencyVSAvoidtiming control requirements
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system uses periodic double buffering where two buffer memory areas alternate between writing and reading operations synchronized to the display refresh rate. This periodic action ensures that banner data appears and disappears exactly at frame boundaries, providing frame-level synchronization and visual consistency while the periodic nature of the operation simplifies timing control compared to arbitrary timing requirements.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #19Periodic action

Data Source

PatentEP2962470B1System for visualizing data
Publication Date: 2020.09.09 TELEVIC RAIL
  • EP2962470B1 patent drawingFigure 1~3
  • EP2962470B1 patent drawingFigure 4~6
  • EP2962470B1 patent drawingFigure 7

AI summary

The present invention relates to a system for visualising data comprising - a video source (100) arranged for dividing first data to be visualized in one or more banner areas in a plurality of chunks and arranged for outputting the plurality of chunks of the first data to be displayed and for outputting second data to be visualized as a background, - a display (200) for visualizing the first and second data, said display being adapted for having information scrolling in the one or more banner areas of the display, - storage means (800), and - a scroll engine (300) arranged for receiving the first and the second data from the video source and arranged for grabbing chunks of the first data of the plurality of chunks and for storing the grabbed chunks in the storage means, said scroll engine comprising multiplexing means for multiplexing the second data with stored chunks of the first data, said scroll engine arranged for forwarding the multiplexed first and second data to the display.