JP4602646B2 - Information display device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the present invention, a plurality of display units in which display elements such as light emitting diodes are arranged in a vertical and horizontal matrix are connected in series, and each display element in the display unit is controlled to be turned on by a control device, whereby a series of characters and figures are displayed. The present invention relates to an information display device for display.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The basic configuration of this type of information display apparatus is shown in FIGS.
In FIG. 7, 51 is a control device that performs lighting control of the entire device, and 52 _{1 to} 52 _n are n display units connected in series to the control device 51. As shown in FIG. 8, each display unit 52 includes a display element array 53 in which a plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged in a vertical and horizontal matrix, a driver 54 that controls lighting of each light emitting diode in the display element array 53, and display data. It comprises a latch circuit 55 that temporarily stores for lighting control, and a shift register 56 that receives display data sequentially sent through the data transfer line and sequentially transfers it to the next display unit.
[0003]
When the display data of each of the display units 52 _{1 to} 52 _n is sequentially sent from the control device 51, the shift register 56 in each display unit sequentially receives the display data in synchronization with the transfer pulse, and receives the received data next. Transfer sequentially to the display unit of the stage. When the display data for each display unit is stored in the shift register 56 of each of the units 52 _{1 to} 52 _n, a latch signal is output from the control device 51, and the display stored in each shift register 56 is displayed. Data is taken into each latch circuit 55 and stored. The latch circuit 55 displays the series of characters and figures on each display element array 53 by sending the latched display data to the driver 54 and controlling lighting of the light emitting diodes of the display element array 53.
[0004]
By the way, in the information display apparatus as described above, when the shift register 56 in the display unit 52 breaks down, conventionally, for example, a shift register disconnection circuit and a display data transfer unit are provided inside the display unit 52 to display the display. By detouring the shift register of the display unit in which the data has failed and transferring it to the next display unit (see Patent Document 1), the display unit 52 has a data bypass function and a transfer clock disconnection function corresponding to the transfer pulse. The display data is transferred by dividing it into the front side and the rear side of the failure part (see Patent Document 2).
[0005]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-338412 (all pages, all figures)
[Patent Document 2]
JP 2000-98965 A (all pages, all figures)
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
According to the technical means described in Patent Document 1, it is possible to perform display with only the remaining display units by disconnecting the shift register of the failed display unit and transferring the display data by detouring. Every time the display data is sent, the display data for the display unit where the failure has occurred must be thinned out and output. For this reason, a display data re-editing means must be provided in the control device, and the display data must be re-edited and sent each time display data is sent, resulting in a considerable burden on the control device. In particular, in the case of scroll display or moving image display in which the display image moves, the burden on the control device becomes considerably large, and the CPU, memory, and peripheral circuits constituting the control device must be enhanced in accordance with the burden. This is a factor of cost increase.
[0007]
Further, according to the technical means described in Patent Document 2, it is not necessary to re-edit the display data. However, since the display data is transferred separately to the front side and the rear side of the failed unit, the display data bypass function or The transfer clock disconnection function and the like need to be set at least twice for all units, and there is a drawback that it takes time to transfer display data. This display data bypass and transfer clock disconnection setting must be done every time display data is rewritten, so in the case of scroll display and video display that must be transferred at high speed, a heavy burden is placed on the control device, depending on the transfer speed There was a problem that smooth scrolling display and video display became difficult.
[0008]
The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problem. When the display unit breaks down, it eliminates the need for processing such as re-editing display data or transferring the data in multiple times, and scroll display that requires high-speed transfer. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information display device that enables high-speed transfer of display data while suppressing an increase in the burden on the control device even in the case of video display.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In the information display device of the present invention, a plurality of display units in which display elements such as light-emitting diodes are arranged in a matrix are connected in series, and each display element in the display unit is controlled to be turned on by a control device, so that a series of An information display device for displaying characters and graphics, which is connected to the control device and generates a transfer pulse for instructing to take display data into a shift register and transfer processing to the next stage in each display unit A transfer pulse control circuit including a circuit and a circuit for temporarily stopping a transfer pulse for sending display data to the failed display unit according to a signal of the control device that detects a failure of any shift register of the display unit; The corresponding shift register is disconnected from the data transfer line by the disconnection signal from the control device, and directly to the next stage. More configuration shift register disconnect circuit to bypass connected to the shift register, by a detecting a failed shift register said shift register disconnect circuit of the display unit failed with bypass directly connected to the next stage of the display unit of the data transfer line Display data is not captured in any shift register at the timing when the display data is captured in the shift register of the failed display unit by temporarily stopping the transfer pulse at the display data transmission position for Thus, the problem is solved.
[0010]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the display unit is divided into a plurality of display areas, and the display area is set as one display unit unit, and the shift register of the display unit unit is transferred from the transfer line when a failure occurs. It is characterized by separating.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 to 3 show an embodiment of an information display device according to the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the information display device, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a transfer pulse control circuit built in the control device, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a display unit.
[0012]
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a control device that controls the operation of the entire device, and 12 _{1 to} 12 _{n denote n} display units connected in series to the control device 11. Then, provided with a transfer pulse control circuit 13 to the controller 11 in the present invention, the shift register disconnection circuit 14 to the display unit 12 within _one to 12 _n provided.
[0013]
The transfer pulse control circuit 13 is a circuit for generating a transfer pulse for instructing the transfer processing to uptake and next display data in the shift register of each display unit 12 ₁ to 12 _n, one of the display units When the shift registers 12 _{1 to} 12 _n fail, the transfer clock is temporarily stopped during the transmission period of the display data to the failed display unit. For example, as shown in FIG. Inverter (inverting circuit) 132, m divider circuit 133 (m: number of shift stages of shift register in display unit), n + 1 counter 134 (n: number of display units), transfer permission pulse generation circuit 135, failure unit setting register 136, It comprises a comparator 137. The transfer pulse control circuit 13 may be integrated into the control device 11 as shown in FIG. 1 or may be provided as an independent circuit located outside the control device 11.
[0014]
Further, the shift register disconnecting circuit 14 disconnects the shift register of the display unit 12 ₁ to 12 _n that occurrence of a failure from the data transfer line, a circuit for directly bypassing connected to the next shift register.
[0015]
Next, FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of the display unit 12 provided with the shift register disconnecting circuit 14. As shown in FIG. 3, the display unit 12 includes a display element array 121 in which a plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged in a vertical and horizontal matrix, a driver 122 that controls lighting of each light emitting diode of the display element array 121, and a lighting control. The latch circuit 123 temporarily stores display data, and a shift register 124 that receives display data sequentially sent through the data transfer line and sequentially transfers the display data to the next display unit.
[0016]
The shift register disconnecting circuit 14 is located in front of the shift register 124, and by switching the data transfer line to which display data is transferred to the bypass line 15 side, the shift register 124 is disconnected from the data transfer line and bypassed. The display data is detoured directly to the next display unit via the line 15. The shift register disconnection circuit 14 is operated by a faulty unit disconnection signal sent from the control device 11.
[0017]
Next, the display operation of the information display device will be described.
In the following, for simplicity of explanation, the number of display units is n = 4, and the number of shift stages of each shift register 124 of the _four display units 12 _{1 to} 12 ₄ is m. A case will be described as an example.
[0018]
First, the display operation in the case where there is no failure in any of the display units 12 _{1 to} 12 ₄ will be described with reference to the time charts of FIGS.
[0019]
When no failure has occurred in any of the display units 12 _{1 to} 12 _4, the failure unit disconnection signal is not output from the control device 11, and the shift register disconnection circuit 14 in all the display units 12 _{1 to} 12 ₄ is output. Are connected to the shift register 124 side.
[0020]
The fault unit detection method is not the gist of the present invention and will not be described in detail. For example, a display once read by a shift register that can be shifted to the left and right as in Japanese Patent No. 2742754, for example. A known method may be used in which the data is returned and collated with the transmitted display data, and a defective display unit is detected from the position where the data does not match.
[0021]
When the transfer start signal shown in FIG. 4A is sent from the control device 11, the transfer pulse control circuit 13 sends the basic clock shown in FIG. 4B as the basis of the transfer pulse to the AND gate 131 at the same time. , And also sent to the m frequency divider 133 via the inverter 132.
[0022]
As for the method of disconnecting the failed display unit, a method of disconnecting the failed display unit by outputting a failed unit disconnection signal to a signal line separately connected to the shift register disconnecting circuit 14, or the above-mentioned patent document or Japanese Patent No. 2742754. Any known method may be used, such as a method in which a pulse signal corresponding to the number of stages up to the failed shift register is signaled as a failure unit disconnection signal and separated, as in the case of No.
[0023]
Incidentally, in FIGS. 1 and 3, the failure unit disconnection signal is output as a pulse signal, and the shift register disconnection circuit 14 is disconnected when the number of pulses corresponding to individual addresses preset in the shift register disconnection circuit 14 is counted. The latter form of performing is shown.
[0024]
When the transfer start signal shown in FIG. 4A is sent from the control device 11, the transfer pulse control circuit 13 outputs the basic clock shown in FIG. 4B as the basis of the transfer pulse to the AND gate 131 at the same time. The output is also output to the m frequency divider 133 via the inverter 132.
[0025]
When no failure has occurred in any of the display units 12 _{1 to} 12 ₄ , the transfer permission pulse generation circuit 135 and the comparator 137 output the Hi level output “1” as shown in FIGS. And the AND gate 131 is closed when the n + 1 counter 134 counts 5 (n = 4) from the frequency-divided output of the m-frequency divider 133 shown in FIG. Therefore, while the AND gate 131 is open, a transfer pulse is sent from the AND gate 131 toward the display units 12 _{1 to} 12 ₄ as shown in FIG.
[0026]
On the other hand, simultaneously with the transmission of the transfer start signal, the control device 11 starts to sequentially transfer the display data 1 to display data 4 for each of the display units 12 _{1 to} 12 ₄ as shown in FIG. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 4 (j), the shift register 124 of each of the display units 12 _{1 to} 12 ₄ sequentially reads the display data 1 to display data 4 in synchronization with the transfer pulse, while sequentially reading the next stage. Transfer to shift register. When the control unit 11 of the display data 1 to the display data 4 from the delivery is completed, the shift register 124 of each display unit 12 ₁ to 12 _4, as shown in FIG. 4 (j), the display for each display unit Data is stored.
[0027]
When the transmission of the display data 1 to display data 4 is completed, the control device 11 sends a latch signal shown in FIG. 4 (k) to the latch circuit 123 of each of the display units 12 _{1 to} 12 ₄ . Thus, the first display unit 12 ₁ of the latch circuit 123 displays data 1 for the first display unit, the second display unit 12 ₂ of the latch circuit 123 the display data for the second display unit 2, the third latch circuit 123 of the display unit 12 ₃ of the latch circuit 123 of the third display data 3 for the display unit, and the fourth display unit 12 ₄ display for the fourth display unit Data 4 is latched and stored as data for display.
[0028]
Each of the display units 12 _{1 to} 12 ₄ sends the latched display data to the respective drivers 122, and lights up the respective display element arrays 121 during the time when the lighting power (not shown) is supplied to the drivers 122. As a result, information according to the display data sent from the control device 11 is displayed on the display element arrays 121 of the display units 12 _{1 to} 12 ₄ .
[0029]
Next, the display operation when the shift register 124 of the _third display unit 12 ₃ out of the _four display units 12 _{1 to} 12 ₄ fails will be described with reference to the time charts of FIGS. I will explain.
[0030]
When the shift register 124 of the third display unit 12 ₃ fails, the control unit 11 by using a known detection method for detecting a failure of the third display unit 12 _3. Then, the control unit 11 outputs a failure unit disconnect signal to the display unit 12 _3, the fault unit number setting signal indicating that the third display unit 12 ₃ is faulty to the transfer pulse control circuit 13 This is sent to the failure unit setting register 136.
[0031]
Note that the failed unit disconnection signal and the failed unit number setting signal are signals of different formats, and it is not necessary to output signals simultaneously. At the same time as detecting the failed unit, a failed unit disconnection signal is sent and the shift register is disconnected. May be.
[0032]
Next, when receiving the failed unit number setting signal, the transfer pulse control circuit 13 stores the failed unit information in the failed unit setting register 136. Then, as shown in FIG. 5G, the failure unit number “3” from the failure unit setting register 136 is continuously input to one side of the comparator 137, and the other side of the comparator 137 is changed to FIG. When the counter numbers “1” to “4” of e) are sequentially input and the numbers match, as shown in FIG. 5 (h), the low level “0” output is output from the comparator 137 to the AND circuit 131. Send it out. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 5 (i), the AND gate 131 sends a transfer pulse in which the sending of the pulse is temporarily stopped during the sending period of the display data 3.
[0033]
On the other hand, the display unit 12 ₃ received the fault unit disconnect signal, actuates the shift register disconnection circuit 14 on the basis of the failure unit disconnect signal, switching the shift register disconnecting circuit 14 to the bypass line 15 side, causing a malfunction The shift register 124 of the _third display unit 123 is disconnected, and the display data sent from the previous display unit is set to be directly transferred to the next shift register. Further, the display unit 12 ₃ that has received the fault unit disconnect signal to the display element array 121 to stop the function of the driver 122 by a signal line (not shown) and turned off.
[0034]
Thus, the display data transmitted, as shown in FIG. 5 (j), are sequentially transferred to a subsequent stage of the display unit while bypassing the third display unit 12 ₃ is defective, further, a third display the delivery position of the display data 3 for the unit 12 _3, since the transfer pulse is paused, the display data 3 not incorporated in any of the shift register.
[0035]
As a result, at the time that all the display data 1 transmission of the display data 4 is completed, as shown in FIG. 5 (j), the first display shift register 124 of the unit 12 ₁ for the first display unit display data 1, the second display shift register 124 of unit 12 ₂ is the display data 2 for the second display unit, and the shift register 124 of the fourth display unit 12 ₄ for the fourth display unit Display data 4 is latched and stored. On the other hand, the display data 3 for the third display unit 12 ₃ is faulty, is discarded without being incorporated in any of the shift register.
[0036]
Then, the normal display units 12 ₁ , 12 ₂ , and 12 ₄ send the latched display data to the respective drivers 122 and light up the respective display element arrays 121. On the other hand, the failed third display unit 12 ₃ is turned off, and no information is displayed on the display element array 121 of the display unit 12 ₃ .
[0037]
As apparent from the above operation, in the case of the present invention, even if any display unit fails, display data can be transferred while avoiding the failed display unit. Display data can be sent in the same state as normal without any processing or changes. For this reason, it is not necessary to re-edit or process the display data as in the conventional information display device.
[0038]
In addition, since it is not necessary to perform processing such as transferring display data multiple times separately on the front side and rear side of the faulty unit, the burden on the control device can be reduced, and scrolling display that must be transferred at high speed or There is no reduction in display speed even when displaying moving images.
[0039]
In the above embodiment, the unit of failure has been described with the display unit as a unit. However, as shown in FIG. 6, the display unit 12 is divided into a plurality of parts, for example, the display area is divided into eight parts 12a to 12h. By performing the same control as that of the form , the display unit can be reduced, and the influence caused by the reduced reading of characters and figures due to the non-displayed portion can be reduced.
[0040]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, the information processing apparatus of the present invention is provided with the transfer pulse control circuit for temporarily stopping the transfer pulse during the display data transmission period for the display unit in which the failure occurs, and in each display unit, A shift register disconnect circuit is provided that disconnects the shift register from the data transfer line in the event of a failure and bypasses the data transfer line directly to the next display unit. Even in the case of scroll display or moving image display that requires high-speed transfer, display data can be transferred at high speed while suppressing an increase in the burden on the control device.
[0041]
Further, by controlling the display unit with a small display area as a unit, it is possible to reduce the influence of a decrease in interpretation of characters and the like due to separation of the display unit.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an information display device according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a transfer clock control circuit built in the control device.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a display unit.
FIG. 4 is a time chart of a display operation when there is no failure in any of the display units.
FIG. 5 is a time chart of a display operation when a display unit fails.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a manner of division of the display unit showing another embodiment of the information display device according to the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a conventional information display device.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a display unit in a conventional information display device.
[Explanation of symbols]
11 Control Device 12 Display Unit 13 Transfer Pulse Control Circuit 14 Shift Register Disconnect Circuit 15 Detour Line 124 Shift Registers 12a to 12h Display Area

Claims (2)

Information display that displays a series of characters and figures by connecting a plurality of display units in which display elements such as light emitting diodes are arranged in a matrix, and controlling the lighting of each display element in the display unit by a control device. A device,
A circuit that is connected to the control device and generates a transfer pulse for instructing the display data to be taken into the shift register and the transfer process to the next stage in each display unit; and any one of the shift registers of the display unit A transfer pulse control circuit including a circuit for temporarily stopping a transfer pulse for sending display data to the failed display unit according to a signal of the control device that has detected a failure;
The shift register is disconnected from the data transfer line by a disconnection signal from the control device, and includes a shift register disconnecting circuit for making a detour connection directly to the next-stage shift register ,
When a failed shift register is detected, the shift register disconnection circuit bypasses the data transfer line directly to the next display unit and the transfer pulse is temporarily stopped at the display data transmission position for the failed display unit. The display data is not taken into any shift register at the timing when the display data is taken into the shift register of the failed display unit.   2. The information display device according to claim 1, wherein the display unit is divided into a plurality of display areas, and the shift register of the display unit unit is separated from the transfer line when a failure occurs with the display area as one display unit unit. .

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