Bi-directional Serial Controller for LED Lighting
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Solution Overview
Problem
In serial RGB clusters, the driving clock signal experiences waveform distortion due to capacitance and accumulative effects, leading to inefficient error detection and reduced illumination quality, especially in long-distance connections where errors must be pulled back to the first stage.
Innovation Solution
A serial controller comprising an inverter, serial position detector, synchronous clock generator, serial register, and half-cycle delay unit ensures synchronous transmission of data signals across all stages by inverting and synchronizing the clock signals, and a bi-directional serial controller enables bi-directional data transmission using an input contact, identification unit, and data directing unit.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If spot lights are connected in series to form a long string for large-scale illumination, then the illumination coverage and design flexibility are improved, but the driving clock signal experiences waveform distortion due to capacitance and accumulative effects
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the long serial string into multiple stages, with each stage containing spot lights and a local clock signal generator. Each stage independently generates its own clock signal, preventing the accumulative distortion that occurs when a single clock signal is transmitted through the entire long string. This segmentation maintains waveform accuracy while enabling large-scale illumination coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent generates clock signals in advance at each stage before data transmission occurs. By pre-generating synchronized clock signals at all stages simultaneously, the system eliminates the need to transmit the clock signal through the entire serial chain, thereby preventing waveform distortion from capacitance and accumulative effects while maintaining synchronization across all spot lights.
2Length of stationary object
If the driving clock is transmitted through multiple stages in series, then the system can support long-distance connections, but the duty cycle offsets due to capacitance effect and accumulative effect cause severe waveform distortion
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the long transmission distance into multiple independent stages, each with its own clock signal generator. This prevents the clock signal from being transmitted through the entire long distance, eliminating the accumulative distortion effect while still supporting long-distance illumination applications through multiple serially connected stages.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where each stage receives the data signal from the previous stage and generates its own clock signal based on this feedback. This ensures that each stage operates with synchronized timing information without requiring the clock signal to be transmitted through the entire chain, maintaining signal reliability over long distances.
3Reliability
If data signal is pulled back to the first stage for error handling, then the system can detect and correct errors, but the error detection efficiency is reduced and the response time is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the error detection function into multiple independent stages, with each stage capable of detecting and handling errors locally. This eliminates the need to pull back data signals to the first stage for error handling, significantly reducing error detection time while maintaining comprehensive error detection capability across the entire system.
Solution Approach 2:
Each stage in the patent is equipped with error detection and handling capabilities, enabling self-service error management. When an error occurs, the affected stage can detect and handle it independently without requiring intervention from other stages or pulling back signals to the first stage, thus improving error detection efficiency and reducing response time.
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
A serial controller is adapted to receive an external clock and an input data, and output an inverted clock and an output data. The serial controller includes an inverter, a serial position detector, a synchronous clock generator, a serial register, and a half-cycle delay unit. Thereby, through the serial controller, the problem that the data signal and the driving clock are not synchronous when the clock series are inverted is avoided. Besides, a bi-directional serial controller further includes an identification unit and a data directing unit, and the serial controller is enabled to return the current status to a central control unit to serve as the reference for error detection.