Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09G—ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION
  • G09G3/00—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes
  • G09G3/20—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters
  • G09G3/34—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters by control of light from an independent source
  • G09G3/36—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters by control of light from an independent source using liquid crystals
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09G—ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION
  • G09G3/00—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes
  • G09G3/20—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters
  • G09G3/34—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters by control of light from an independent source
  • G09G3/3406—Control of illumination source
  • G09G3/342—Control of illumination source using several illumination sources separately controlled corresponding to different display panel areas, e.g. along one dimension such as lines
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
  • G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
  • G02F1/01—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour 
  • G02F1/13—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour  based on liquid crystals, e.g. single liquid crystal display cells
  • G02F1/133—Constructional arrangements; Operation of liquid crystal cells; Circuit arrangements
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09G—ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION
  • G09G3/00—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes
  • G09G3/20—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09G—ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION
  • G09G3/00—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes
  • G09G3/20—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters
  • G09G3/34—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters by control of light from an independent source
  • G09G3/36—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters by control of light from an independent source using liquid crystals
  • G09G3/3611—Control of matrices with row and column drivers
  • G09G3/3648—Control of matrices with row and column drivers using an active matrix
  • G09G3/3659—Control of matrices with row and column drivers using an active matrix the addressing of the pixel involving the control of two or more scan electrodes or two or more data electrodes, e.g. pixel voltage dependant on signal of two data electrodes
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09G—ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION
  • G09G3/00—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes
  • G09G3/20—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters
  • G09G3/34—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters by control of light from an independent source
  • G09G3/36—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters by control of light from an independent source using liquid crystals
  • G09G3/3611—Control of matrices with row and column drivers
  • G09G3/3648—Control of matrices with row and column drivers using an active matrix
  • G09G3/3666—Control of matrices with row and column drivers using an active matrix with the matrix divided into sections
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09G—ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION
  • G09G2330/00—Aspects of power supply; Aspects of display protection and defect management
  • G09G2330/08—Fault-tolerant or redundant circuits, or circuits in which repair of defects is prepared
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09G—ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION
  • G09G2360/00—Aspects of the architecture of display systems
  • G09G2360/02—Graphics controller able to handle multiple formats, e.g. input or output formats
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09G—ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION
  • G09G2380/00—Specific applications
  • G09G2380/12—Avionics applications

Definitions

• the field of the invention is that of electronic display devices used on aircraft, and more particularly of securing the electronic architectures composing them.
• a display device comprises the sub-assemblies represented in FIG. 1. These are:
• a power supply unit 23 The interface electronics 21 dialogue with the aircraft bus 3 common to the various display devices and recover the parameters necessary for the display device. These parameters are processed by the electronic unit 22 which generates the image which is then displayed on the display device 1.
• An electrical power supply unit 23 supplies, from the on-board network (not shown in FIG. 1) the various supplies necessary for the computer and the display device.
• the arrows appearing on figure 1 indicate the directions of the connections between the various elements.
• the single arrows represent single command links, the double arrows represent command or dialog links.
• the invention proposes: on the one hand, to structure the electronic architecture of each display device in two independent electronic sub-assemblies and, on the other hand, to structure the display area in two areas independent such that the loss of any one of the different electronic sub-assemblies or of one of the two display zones results in no more than the loss of half of the display device.
• the diagram of Figure 2 sets out the general principle of the invention.
• a single display screen 1 is structured in two independent zones 11 and 12, each of the zones 11 or 12 is controlled by a sub-unit for calculating and generating images 221 or 222 which is dedicated to it.
• This sub-unit is supplied by its own power supply unit 231 or 232.
• the interface unit 21 is common to the two calculation and image generation sub-units 221 or 222.
• the matrix structure of the device 'display allows it to be structured in two independent areas.
• This type of device ensures the required reliability and security at the cost of a marginal additional cost.
• the calculation unit is often built around two calculation sub-units so as to be able to generate the image with a sufficient refresh rate, of the order of 20 ms. Consequently, the separation of the electronic unit into two independent sub-assemblies results in only minor modifications.
• the subject of the invention is a display device, for aeronautical applications, comprising an electronic computer controlling a display device, said display device being organized in a matrix of N rows of M columns of dots; said computer essentially comprising a first electronic assembly for interface with the outside, a second electronic assembly for calculating and generating images and a third electrical supply assembly, characterized in that the display device is structured in two independent display areas, the second electronic calculation and image generation is structured in two independent electronic sub-assemblies, the third power supply assembly is also structured in two independent electronic sub-assemblies such that the failure of any one of these different sub-assemblies does not, at the plus, the loss of only one of the two display areas.
• the method can be applied to monochrome displays containing a single type of dot, however, the vast majority of current displays are color displays.
• the dots are organized into identical triplets called pixels, each pixel comprising three dots each emitting in a different spectral band.
• the method can be applied to all types of matrix displays such as, for example, electroluminescent displays, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays or plasma screens.
• matrix displays such as, for example, electroluminescent displays, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays or plasma screens.
• OLED organic light-emitting diode
• AMLCD Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Display
• the display device is composed of an active matrix with liquid crystals and an illumination composed of aligned fluorescent tubes, said active matrix essentially comprising:
• a first polarizer called an analyzer
• a first glass slab comprising at least one transparent counter electrode, a layer of liquid crystal, generally of the nematic type,
• a second glass slab comprising a matrix of rows and control columns; at each intersection of a line and a column containing a switch controlling an elementary electrode,
• the transparent counter-electrode of the first glass slab of the active matrix comprises a regular tiling of three types of color filters, each elementary electrode being placed under a color filter, each set consisting of an elementary electrode, of the associated colored filter, parts of the liquid crystal layer and of the transparent counter-electrode situated above said elementary electrode constituting a colored dot, each pixel being made up of three adjacent dots of different color.
• the two display areas are geometrically separated without a common covering surface. More precisely, for a display device of rectangular shape, the two display areas are also rectangles of identical shape, the area of each of said rectangles being equal to half of the total area of the display device. For example, in the case of a rectangular landscape-oriented screen, the two zones generally occupy respectively the right and left parts of the display rectangle. In the event of a simple failure, only one half of the display device is therefore lost, the second half remaining functional.
• the first glass slab of the active matrix comprises two independent counter-electrodes, the first corresponding to the first zone of the display device, the second corresponding to the second zone of said device;
• the first electronic driving set of the lines of the active matrix comprises two independent sub-sets such that the first sub-set controls the lines of the first zone and the second subset the lines of the second zone; • the fluorescent tubes are controlled by two independent electronic supply sub-assemblies, the first of said sub-assemblies supplying the lighting tubes situated under the first zone of the display device, the second of said sub-assemblies supplying the tubes of lighting located under the second area of the display device.
• the first glass slab of the active matrix has a single counter-electrode supplied by the two independent power supply sub-assemblies. The common supply of voltage by two different power sources does not affect the operation of this single electrode.
• the fluorescent tubes corresponding to the lost display area are automatically switched off by the electronic sub-assembly corresponding to this lost area.
• the active matrices are transparent (State known as Nomnally White) when no tension is applied on the matrix of lines and columns. This arrangement gives optimal contrasts and also makes it easy to spot broken down dots which automatically appear in white on the generally black background of the display screens. In the event of a breakdown, in particular in the event of a partial breakdown of electrical power supplies, the affected area of the matrix can therefore be transparent.
• the information necessary for piloting said to be of Primary Flight Display is automatically displayed in the display area still functional by a reconfiguration electronics present in the electronic calculation and generation of images serving said display area.
• the information presented to the pilot does not, in fact, have the same criticality.
• the information in the Primary Flight Display which in particular includes information on attitude, altitude, speed, heading and flight directors, must in particular be able to continue to be displayed, including in the event of a partial failure.
• the active matrix comprises two independent subsets of dots, each of the two subsets being composed of columns of dots controlled by a subset of control columns, each subset of columns depending on '' a subset of independent driving, the two subsets of control columns being interleaved, the command lines common to the two zones being controlled on either side of the matrix by two subsets of driving independent and controlled each by one of the two electronic sub-assemblies for calculating and generating different images, the lighting of the two zones being provided by two rows of fluorescent tubes also interleaved, each of the two rows being powered by an electronic sub-assembly of independent power supply.
• each color pixel is composed of three colored dots which are very conventionally green, red and blue.
• the three dowies are generally placed in line, so they are controlled by three different columns. To achieve the interlacing of the columns, there are then three main options possible.
• the interleaving of the control columns is carried out every other column. In this case, in the event of a display zone failure, one in two control columns will be affected.
• control columns are interleaved every two control columns.
• interleaving of the control columns is carried out every three control columns. In the latter case, one pixel out of two is affected by the failure.
• the two driving subsets of the columns of the active matrix have an electronic function such that, in the event of the loss of one of the two subsets of dots making up the active matrix, the control columns of the subset of lost dots are addressed at a voltage such that the transmission of the dots of said lost subset is minimal.
• the active matrices for aeronautical applications are generally Normally White. In this case, a failure in one area of the display can cause, by the absence of voltage on the columns, maximum transparency on the dots controlled by these columns, thus causing a large increase in the luminance of the image presented and a deterioration. of its contrast. To avoid this problem, it is necessary to force the control voltage of the columns of the faulty zone to a value such that the transmission of the dots is minimal.
• the information displayed is composed of characters whose size and thickness of the lines are sufficient so that in the event of loss of one of the display areas, the information remains easily readable.
• This thickness must correspond to at least two pixels.
• the luminance of the fluorescent tubes is automatically doubled.
• the contrast of the information displayed is kept. They are, however, on average half as bright. To find the initial luminance, it is then necessary to double the luminance of the fluorescent tubes.
• the luminance of the tubes of the row still operating is automatically doubled.
• This arrangement makes it possible to keep the same final luminance of the image.
• the different controls in each row lighting tubes are provided by an electronic control function specific to each electronic sub-assembly for image calculation and generation.
• FIG. 1 shows the block diagram of a display device according to the prior art.
• FIG. 2 represents the block diagram of a display device according to the invention.
• FIG. 3 represents an exploded view of part of a display device with a color active matrix according to the prior art.
• the liquid crystal layer located between the two glass slabs is not shown for the sake of clarity.
• FIG. 4 represents an exploded view of a part of a color active matrix device according to a first embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 5 represents an exploded view of a part of a color active matrix device according to a second embodiment of the invention. The addressing of the control columns is shown in a first variant in this view.
• FIG. 6 shows a second variant of the addressing mode of the control columns.
• FIG. 7 shows a third variant of the addressing mode of the control columns.
• FIG. 3 represents a simplified exploded view of a part of a color active matrix display device according to the prior art. Three rows and three columns are shown delimiting a total of nine dots.
• the device essentially comprises a liquid crystal matrix and a lighting 7 with fluorescent tubes 71.
• the matrix essentially comprises a first glass slab 5 and a second glass slab 6.
• the slabs 5 and 6 are planar and parallel to each other.
• a layer of liquid crystal (not shown in the figure) is inserted into the space between these two tiles 5 and 6.
• the set of two tiles is between two linear polarizers 40 and 41.
• Slab 5 is located on the side of the observer and slab 6 is located on the side of the lighting tubes.
• the slab 5 comprises a single transparent counter-electrode 51 and in the case of a color matrix, a tiling of colored filters 520, 521 and 522. Each filter corresponds to a dot of color. Three adjacent dots of different color correspond to a colored pixel.
• the panel 6 comprises an electronic circuit essentially composed of control lines 61 and control columns 62. An electronic switch 63 of TFT (Thin Film Transistor) type is installed at each intersection of a line and a column. This switch controls an elementary electrode 64. All of the control lines are controlled by a first electronic driving assembly not shown in the figure. The set of control columns is also controlled by a second set of driving.
• TFT Thin Film Transistor
• the matrix acts as an optical valve.
• the light coming from the fluorescent tubes 71 polarized by the linear polarizer 41 passes through the layer of liquid crystal.
• the direction of polarization of the light then undergoes a rotation of ninety degrees due to the natural birefringence of the layer of liquid crystal.
• the polarization direction of the analyzer is oriented so that the polarized light passes through it without attenuation.
• the matrix is then called Normally White.
• the liquid crystal layer is subjected to a potential difference, its birefringence changes and consequently, the direction of polarization of the light which crosses the layer also. This variation in polarization is transformed into a variation in light intensity by the polarizer 40. For a given potential difference, a determined transmission is thus obtained.
• Any color image can be represented in the form of a matrix of N rows of colored pixels ordered in M columns.
• Each pixel can decompose, according to the classical laws of visual trivariance, in the form of three colored dots.
• the pixel's color and luminance are obtained by combining the three light intensities of each dot.
• each control line 61 of the matrix is addressed successively at a certain voltage. This addressing can be done either on one side of the line, or by these two ends by two separate commands. This voltage is sufficient to close all the switches 63 of the requested line. The switches of the other lines remain open.
• all of the control columns 62 are subjected to voltage levels representative of the transmissions of the elementary dots of the line of the corresponding image. These voltage levels are applied only to the electrodes 64 of the control line solicited via the switches 63 closed. One and only one line of dots is thus generated, the light transmission of which corresponds to the corresponding line of the image.
• the next line is then requested and, by scanning the matrix, line by line, the colored image.
• FIG. 4 represents a simplified exploded view of a part of a color active matrix display device according to a first embodiment of the invention.
• the display device consists of a zone occupying the right part of the display and a zone occupying the left part of the display. Three rows and six columns are shown delimiting a total of eighteen dots. To obtain the independence of the two right and left display areas, the following adjustments have been made:
• the counter-electrode 51 of the slab 5 has been replaced by two independent counter-electrodes 511 and 512 supplied by two different supplies.
• Each control line 61 has been replaced by two control lines 611 and 612, the first line 611 serving the right part of the screen, the second line 612 serving the left part of the screen. All lines
• the six driving electronics are independent and controlled by two different computer sub-assemblies. • The control columns serving the right area of the screen are controlled by a first driving 651 electronics and the control columns serving the left area of the screen are controlled by a second driving 652 electronics.
• the lighting 7 is replaced by two independent lights 71 and 72, respectively placed under the right zone of the screen and under the left zone of the screen.
• the screen is separated into two completely independent zones so that the failure, either of an electrical supply, or of a driving electronics, or even of a lighting zone cannot affect only one of the two viewing areas, the second area remaining functional.
• the first glass slab of the active matrix comprises a single counter-electrode supplied by the two independent power supply sub-assemblies.
• the common supply of voltage by two different power sources does not affect the operation of this single electrode.
• FIG. 5 represents a simplified exploded view of a part of an active matrix color display device according to a second embodiment of the invention.
• the display device consists of two independent zones each consisting of columns of interlaced dots 621 and 622. Three rows and six columns are shown delimiting a total of eighteen dots. To obtain the independence of the two display areas, the following adjustments have been made:
• the control columns 621 and 622 are controlled by two independent driving electronics 651 and 652. Each of the driving driver electronics every second column as shown in Figure 5. So, for example, the first driving driver electronics the first, the third and more generally all the odd order columns. And, the second driving electronics drive the second, the fourth and more generally all the even order columns.
• control lines 61 common to the two zones are controlled on either side of the matrix by two driving subsets 661 and 662. These two driving electronics are independent and controlled by two different computer subsets.
• the lighting 7 is replaced by two independent lights 71 and 72 composed of interlaced fluorescent tubes 70.
• Each of these two lights is powered by an independent power supply.
• the screen is separated into two completely independent zones so that the failure of one zone cannot affect the other zone.
• FIG. 6 shows two possible variants of this embodiment in the case of a color matrix. In these figures, only the slab 6 is shown. These variants differ from each other by the addressing mode of columns 621 and 622.
• each of the driving electronics 651 and 652 controls the columns two by two. For example, the first driving 651 electronics drive the first and second columns, then the fifth and sixth columns. The second driving 652 electronics drive the third and fourth columns, then the seventh and eighth columns.
• each of the driving 651 and 652 electronics drives the columns three by three. So, for example, the first driving 651 electronics drive the first, second and third columns. The second driving 652 electronics drive the fourth, fifth and sixth columns.
• the control voltage of the columns in the faulty zone is brought to a value such that the transmission of the dots controlled by these columns is minimal. In this case, we keep the contrast of the information displayed. They are, however, on average half as bright.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Crystallography & Structural Chemistry (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Nonlinear Science (AREA)
• Mathematical Physics (AREA)
• Optics & Photonics (AREA)
• Control Of Indicators Other Than Cathode Ray Tubes (AREA)
• Liquid Crystal (AREA)
• Control Of El Displays (AREA)
• Liquid Crystal Display Device Control (AREA)
• Devices For Indicating Variable Information By Combining Individual Elements (AREA)

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• 2002
  • 2002-08-13 FR FR0210275A patent/FR2843646B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2003
  • 2003-08-11 JP JP2004528521A patent/JP2005535925A/ja active Pending
  • 2003-08-11 EP EP03787816A patent/EP1529277A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2003-08-11 WO PCT/EP2003/050371 patent/WO2004017294A1/fr not_active Ceased
  • 2003-08-11 KR KR1020057002520A patent/KR20050065530A/ko not_active Withdrawn
  • 2003-08-11 US US10/524,102 patent/US20050284984A1/en not_active Abandoned

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