KR101511110B1 - Method for Performance Monitoring LED System - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an operation monitoring method of an LED system which includes N number of LED panels, N number of section controllers which individually control the driving of the N number of LED panels, and a main controller which receives a display control signal from an external control device and transmits the display control signal to the N number of section controllers. The main controller is synchronized with the display control signal, multiplexes an LED driving signal including control data and image data, and successively transmits the multiplexed signal to the N number of section controllers through a forward optical link. The N number of section controller updates the control data by counting up board identification information and operates the LED panel by the image data. Therefore, the present invention collects board information about the whole section controllers by comprising a backward optical link.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for monitoring an operation of an LED system,

The present invention relates to an operation monitoring method of an LED system, and more particularly, to an operation monitoring method of an LED system capable of monitoring an optical link state during operation of an LED system or checking integrity of real time image data through an optical link.

LED (Light Emitting Diode) is a light emitting diode which is a semiconductor device that emits light. It emits light of various colors such as red, green, blue, and yellow, and is used as an electronic display board for various electronic products and instrument panels. An LED display unit may be implemented in such a manner that all or a part of the LEDs are lit after a plurality of LEDs are tiled.

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an electric signboard is a system for displaying various information in a visible state, and is widely used for commercial advertisement, stadium, multi-purpose, traffic signal, information and message delivery.

A plurality of LEDs are arranged in the form of a matrix and emit their colors according to signals input to the respective LEDs arranged in a matrix form to display various images and characters. The LED display panel system displays an image input from a video input source in real time on an LED display board installed in a remote place, and the display board includes a main controller, a plurality of section controllers, and a plurality of LED modules that each section controller takes charge of.

As a prior art, Korean Patent No. 10-1160998 discloses a technique for transmitting a high-speed serial-parallel cascade electric signboard using a small-capacity ring memory.

A conventional high-speed serial-parallel cascade electric sign board transmission device using a small-capacity ring memory has a structure in which data and clocks are transmitted from the main controller by connecting dozens of subcontrollers, Jitter components are cumulatively transmitted to the clock so that a lot of noise is generated on the display panel, thereby making it possible to prevent the smooth reproduction of the screen from being impossible.

In the conventional high-speed serial / parallel cascade electric sign board transmission device using a small-capacity ring memory, there is a disadvantage that a DIP switch is provided per sub-controller and the administrator has to individually specify the board ID while operating the DIP switch, Way communication is not performed, the main controller has a problem that there is no way to check the board disconnection information or the status information of the sub-controller.

On the other hand, Korean Prior Art Patent No. 10-0815587 and No. 10-0910593, which detect the defective LED module (or individual LED) in the LED display panel, detect the brightness of light emitted from the LED module, There is a problem in that a separate circuit structure for detecting the luminance is added and the added circuit is complicated and the cost is high.

In Korean Patent No. 10-1346587, a clock signal outputted from the LED bar is sampled so as to recover from a malfunction due to external environmental factors and to recover from a malfunction due to a boot error, and an error of the sampled clock signal The present invention provides an LED media facade for a landscape lighting device having an error recovery function including an error check section for detecting an error.

As described above, the conventional technology for detecting the LED module (or the individual LED) that has failed or failed in the LED display board uses the error check unit or the shift register transistor chipset to which the error detecting function is added. However, However, there is a problem that it is difficult to detect a real-time high-speed error when displaying an image or character at a high speed.

The error check section of the LED media facade with a conventional error recovery function compares and analyzes the sampled digital signal, which is the output data of the LED bar, to detect whether there is an error. The digital signal is composed of a number of low and high signals, It is practically difficult to compare the timing of the high signal's clock generation and the low or high duration with each other at real time and high speed.

In the LED electronic signboard system according to the related art, only the LED module in which the error has occurred is detected, but the status of the real-time optical link is monitored during the operation of the LED electronic signboard, or the integrity test is not performed on the currently displayed image or character display data There is a problem.

Korean Patent No. 10-1160998 "High-speed serial-parallel cascade display board transmission device using small capacity ring memory" Korean Patent No. 10-0815587 "Bad pixel detection method and bad pixel detection apparatus of LED electric sign board" Korean Patent No. 10-1346587, "LED media facade with an error recovery function"

The present invention monitors the status of an optical link in each section controller and reports it to the main controller, detects the position of an abnormal optical link, and reports the operation to an external control device operating the LED system in the main controller ≪ / RTI >

In addition, the present invention can test the integrity of image data in the main controller by the command of the external control device during the operation of the LED system, and thus can display the correct and complete data on a display panel such as an electric signboard, And provides a method for monitoring the operation of the system.

In an exemplary embodiment, an operation monitoring method of an LED system may include receiving a display control signal from an N LED panel, N section controllers separately controlling driving of the N LED panels, and an external control device, A) the main controller is synchronized with the display control signal, multiplexes the LED driving signal including the control data and the image data, and transmits the LED driving signal through the forward optical link to the N To be sequentially transmitted to the plurality of section controllers; b) the N section controller extracts board identification information from the control data, sets the board identification information as its own board identification information, counts up board identification information to update control data, Operating the panel, transmitting the image data and the updated control data to a next stage section controller; c) the N section controllers detect an optical link monitoring signal for the optical link, set the optical link status information in the control data when an abnormal optical link is detected by the optical link monitoring signal, Transmitting data and image data to a next stage section controller; And d) the main controller receives the control data through a reverse optical link, collects board information for the N section controllers through the control data, monitors the status of the N section controllers, And checking whether the optical link is abnormal based on the status information.

Wherein the step c) includes: a step in which the section controller in which the abnormal optical link is detected expresses a color designated in advance by the LED panel in charge of itself, or the section controller in the next stage of the section controller in which the abnormal optical link is detected And a method of displaying a predetermined color on an LED panel for displaying a predetermined color is performed.

The control data includes a section controller number field for setting the board identification information, a link fail field for setting the optical link status information, a frame number field for setting the number of frames, or a loopback And a test field.

In the step c), when the abnormal optical link is detected, the section controller abnormally displays the optical link status information in the link fail field, sets its own board identification information as an initial value, Counts up the board identification information, and sets the control data by setting the frame number field or the loopback test field as an initial value.

In the step d), when the main controller detects the link fail field of the control data and the optical link status information is abnormal, the main controller checks the optical link information of the section controller connected with the normal optical link through the collected board information And detects the position of the abnormal optical link by using the optical link information of the section controller.

Wherein the main controller is provided with at least one or more memory devices divided into a plurality of memory banks for each optical port, and sequentially stores the video data in the plurality of memory banks.

Wherein the control data includes a loopback test field for setting a data test command for the image data, and when the main controller receives a data test signal from the external control device, Transmitting through the forward optical link; The main controller extracting the image data when the loopback test field in which the flag is set is received through the reverse optical link; And the main controller further comprises checking integrity of the image data by comparing whether the extracted image data matches the image data stored in the memory device.

Wherein the step of comparing the extracted image data with the image data stored in the memory device and checking the integrity of the image data comprises the steps of comparing the extracted image data with the image data stored in the memory device, And reports a data error state to the external control device.

The operation monitoring method of the LED system of the present invention can collect the board information for the entire section controller by configuring a reverse optical link between the main controller and the N section controllers, And not only reports to the main controller but also detects the position of the abnormal optical link and reports it to an external control device operating the LED system in the main controller. As a result, in the external control device such as the operating PC of the operation room, An alarm is generated at the time of occurrence of a state, so that it is possible to promptly respond to an inspection.

In addition, the present invention can easily identify the position of an abnormal optical link even in a field where a display panel is installed by displaying a color predetermined by a user on an LED panel which is responsible for itself in a section controller in which an abnormal optical link is detected, It is possible to quickly grasp whether the optical link is normal or not, thereby shortening the installation and inspection time, and reducing installation and maintenance costs.

Also, the operation monitoring method of the LED system of the present invention can test the integrity of the image data in the main controller by the command of the external control device without affecting the display of the image data during the operation of the LED system, There is an effect that accurate and complete data can be displayed on a display panel such as an LED lighting.

1 is a view for explaining a configuration of an LED system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a view for explaining the data structure of the LED drive signal in Fig.
3 is a view for explaining a transmission method of the LED driving signal of FIG.
4 is a flowchart illustrating an identification information setting process of each section controller in an operation monitoring method of an LED system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart illustrating an optical link monitoring process in an operation monitoring method of an LED system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a data integrity test procedure of an operation monitoring method of an LED system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.
7 is a signal waveform diagram illustrating a transmission / reception synchronization process for the data integrity test of FIG.

The description of the present invention is merely an example for structural or functional explanation, and the scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited by the embodiments described in the text. That is, the embodiments are to be construed as being variously embodied and having various forms, so that the scope of the present invention should be understood to include equivalents capable of realizing technical ideas. Also, the purpose or effect of the present invention should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention, since it does not mean that a specific embodiment should include all or only such effect.

Meanwhile, the meaning of the terms described in the present invention should be understood as follows.

The terms "first "," second ", and the like are intended to distinguish one element from another, and the scope of the right should not be limited by these terms. For example, the first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, the second component may also be referred to as a first component.

It is to be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" to another element, it may be directly connected to the other element, but there may be other elements in between. On the other hand, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" to another element, it should be understood that there are no other elements in between. On the other hand, other expressions that describe the relationship between components, such as "between" and "between" or "neighboring to" and "directly adjacent to" should be interpreted as well.

It should be understood that the singular " include "or" have "are to be construed as including a stated feature, number, step, operation, component, It is to be understood that the combination is intended to specify that it does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof.

In each step, the identification code (e.g., a, b, c, etc.) is used for convenience of explanation, the identification code does not describe the order of each step, Unless otherwise stated, it may occur differently from the stated order. That is, each step may occur in the same order as described, may be performed substantially concurrently, or may be performed in reverse order.

All terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs, unless otherwise defined. Commonly used predefined terms should be interpreted to be consistent with the meanings in the context of the related art and can not be interpreted as having ideal or overly formal meaning unless explicitly defined in the present invention.

1 is a view for explaining a configuration of an LED system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the LED system includes N LED panels 100, N section controllers 200, a main controller 300, and an external controller 400. At this time, the LED system may be LED display board, LED lighting, landscape lighting, LED digital signage, and digital image device.

The N LED panels 100 constitute a display panel such as an illumination or an electric signboard, and each LED panel 100 is made up of a plurality of pixels arranged in row overheating, and each pixel is divided into RG -Green pixels, and Red-Green-Blue (RGB) pixels. A full-color LED consisting of RGB consists of a combination of R, G, and B lamps or a 3in1 RGB lamp.

The section controller 200 controls driving of the LED panel 100 and is provided in the number of the LED panels 100.

The main controller 300 receives the display control signal from the external control device 400 and transmits an LED driving signal including the control data and the image data to the N section controller 200 in synchronization with the display control signal.

The external control device 400 is equipped with an operating system for inputting a video to be displayed on a display panel or operating a display panel. The external control device 400 may be a communication device capable of network connection such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a smart phone, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a PMP (Portable Multimedia Player) none.

The external controller 400 is connected to the main controller 300 via a DVI cable and the main controller 300 is connected to the first section controller 200 through the optical cable and the remaining section controller 200 Is connected through the optical cable in a cascade manner, thereby forming a forward optical link between the main controller 300 and the N section controllers 200.

The optical output port of the last section controller 200 is connected to the optical input port of the main controller 300 through an optical cable to constitute a reverse optical link between the main controller 300 and the section controller 200.

FIG. 2 is a view for explaining the data structure of the LED drive signal of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a transmission method of the LED drive signal of FIG.

2, the LED drive signal is composed of control data and image data, and the control data includes a section controller number field for setting the board ID, a link fail field for setting the optical link status information, And a Loopback Test field for setting a loopback data test command for the video data.

3, the LED drive signal includes a vertical synchronization signal VSYNC, a data enable signal DE, and a clock signal for vertical synchronization. In the VSYNC period before the DE signal is activated, control data is transmitted When the DE signal is activated, the image data is transmitted.

The main controller 300 generates the VSYNC signal and the DE signal in synchronization with the VSYNC signal and the DE signal of the DVI signal which is the display control signal received from the external control device 400, respectively.

The main controller 300 sets a number of the section controllers 200 by the administrator and performs a fixed synchronization method of performing synchronization by the VSYNC signal irrespective of the reverse link, Is synchronized with the VSYNC signal according to the number of the section controllers 200, synchronization is performed in any one of the methods.

When the external control apparatus 400 is installed in the operation room, the operator can select any one of the fixed synchronization method and the adaptive synchronization method and transmit the selected synchronization method to the main controller 300.

The main controller 300 multiplexes the LED driving signals to transmit the control data and the image data to the first section controller 200 and each section controller 200 transmits the control data and the image data from the main controller 300 through the forward optical link And then retransmits the control data and the image data to the neighboring section controller 200 after storing the control data and the image data in the temporary buffer of a predetermined size. At this time, the temporary buffer can store 2048 words (Word).

Each of the section controllers 200 transmits the image data to the next section controller 200 without processing the image data, but the control data updates the contents of the field as necessary and transmits the updated data to the next section controller 200.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an identification information setting process of each section controller in an operation monitoring method of an LED system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4, when the main controller 300 receives the display control signal from the external control device 400, the process of setting the section information of each section in the operation monitoring method of the LED system, And transmits the control data to the first section controller 200 in the VSYNC interval and transmits the image data to the first section controller 200 in the DE interval.

At this time, the main controller 300 sets the section controller number field of the control data to '0' and sets the link fail field to '0' to indicate that the optical link is in a normal state.

The first section controller 200 extracts the section controller number field of the control data, sets the board controller number field of the control data to its board ID, counts up the board ID by '+1' to update the section controller number field, (S4, S5). Accordingly, the board ID of the first section controller 200 becomes '0', and the section controller number field is updated to '1'.

On the other hand, the first section controller 200 drives the LEDs so that the image data can be displayed on the first LED panel 100 which is in charge of the first section controller 200 itself.

In this manner, the remaining section controller 200 updates the section controller number field after setting its own board ID using the control data, and the image data is transmitted to the LED panel 100 in charge of itself and each LED is driven .

The N-th section controller 200, which is the last section controller, receives the image data and the control data from the N-1 section controller 200, extracts the section controller number field from the received control data, And the image data is displayed on the Nth LED panel 100. (S6) Then, the Nth section controller 200 counts up the +1 in the board ID of the section controller number field And transmits the updated control data to the main controller 300 through the reverse optical link (S7)

Accordingly, the main controller 300 receives the control data from the last section controller 200, and extracts the section controller number field of the control data to confirm that the total number of section controllers is 'N'.

The main controller 300 collects and stores the board information using the control data received through the reverse optical link.

5 is a flowchart illustrating an optical link monitoring process in an operation monitoring method of an LED system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, in the optical link monitoring process of the LED-system operation monitoring method, when the optical link is disconnected, the main controller 300 or the section controller 200 changes the voltage level to the optical input port to which the optical cable is connected, It is possible to recognize the normal or abnormal state of the optical link by recognizing the voltage level of the input port.

Each section controller 200 is mounted with an optical module capable of processing an optical signal, and when the optical signal is normally received at the previous stage, the optical link monitoring signal is detected as a low signal because the optical link is in a normal state, The optical link monitoring signal is detected as a high signal because the optical link is in an abnormal state.

When the optical link supervisory signal is detected as a high signal, the section controller 200 recognizes that the optical link connecting itself to the section controller 200 at the previous stage is in an abnormal state, and receives control data from the section controller 200 at the previous stage It generates a VSYNC signal of about 60 Hz itself (S51, S52, S53)

In addition, the section controller 200 sets its own board ID to '0' as an initial value to set a section controller number field, sets the link fail field to '1' to display an abnormal state, 0 ', and the remaining fields are set to' 0 'to newly configure the control data (S54).

The section controller 200 sets both the DE signal and the image data to '0', and then transmits the control data and the image data to the next section controller 200 (S55)

At this time, the section controller 200 detecting the abnormal optical link displays the color previously stored by the user on the LED panel 100 in order to visually inform the user that the optical link is in an abnormal state.

 In addition, the section controller 200 located at the next stage of the section controller that detects an abnormal optical link reads the link fail field of the control data, and when set to '1' To be displayed on the panel (100).

The section controller 200 located at the next stage of the section controller that detects an abnormal optical link transmits control data and image data to the next section controller 200 while increasing the number of board IDs in the section controller number field by one.

The last section controller 200 sets its own board ID to M-1 when the section control number field of the control data is M-1, sets the section control number field to M by setting the board ID to '+1' And transmits the control data to the main controller 300 through the reverse optical link.

Accordingly, the main controller 300 extracts the section controller number field of the control data to confirm that the total number of section controllers is M, and confirm that the number of normal optical links is M in the reverse direction to the main controller 300. [ The abnormal optical link becomes an optical link in front of the section controller 200 located at the M-th position in the reverse direction to the main controller 300.

The main controller 300 causes the position of the abnormal optical link to be displayed on the GUI of the external control device 400. [

In this way, the main controller 300 monitors the optical link through the reverse link and reports the normal or abnormal status of the optical link, thereby promptly determining whether or not the optical link is normal when installing or maintaining the display panel do.

In addition, when an optical link is broken due to breakage of the optical cable or malfunction of the optical module during operation of the LED system, the external control device 400 generates an alarm when an abnormal optical link is generated through the main controller 300 So that the operator can promptly respond to the inspection. At this time, the main controller 300 informs the position of the abnormal optical link, and since the position of the abnormal optical link is displayed on the display panel with the color predetermined by the operator, the operator can easily grasp the position of the abnormal optical link.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a data integrity test procedure of an operation monitoring method of an LED system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a signal waveform diagram illustrating a transmission / reception synchronization process for the data integrity test of FIG.

6 and 7, in the data integrity test process of the LED system operation monitoring method, the main controller 300 includes a dual port RAM (DPRAM) capable of storing 2048 words per one optical port for loopback test, And the DPRAM is divided into four memory banks by 512 words and operated.

When the DVI signal including the normal VSYNC signal and the DE signal is received from the external control device 400, the main controller 300 transmits the control data and the video data to the first section controller 200, Only the data is stored in the DPRAM sequentially.

The main controller 300 sets the number to four banks of bank 0, bank 1, bank 2 and bank 3, and sequentially outputs the DE signal to the DE signal after the VSYNC signal is transmitted, as shown in FIG. 7, And the number of the number is arbitrarily designated. The main controller 300 stores the video data of DE0 in the memory bank of the bank 1, the video data of the DE1 in the memory bank of the bank 2, the video data of the DE2 in the bank 2, and the video data of the DE3 in the memory bank of the bank 3 .

The number of section controllers 200 connected to the main controller 300 and the number of the connection between the main controller 300 and the section controller 200 are calculated by sequentially storing the image data in the four memory banks in synchronization with the DE signal, It is possible to prevent the loss of image data due to the transmission signal delay due to the length of the optical cable.

The image data transmitted from the main controller 300 to the first section controller 200 is retransmitted as it is from the second section controller 200 to the Nth section controller, Only the data is extracted and displayed on the LED panel 100.

When the main controller 300 receives the data test signal for the video data from the external control device 400 while the video data is being displayed on the display panel, the main controller 300 sets the loopback test field of the control data of the VSYNC section to '1'. (S61, S62)

The process of setting the loopback test field to '1' has no effect on the currently displayed image data, and the image data received by the main controller 300 through the reverse optical link is correctly And performs synchronization for comparison.

The main controller 300 transmits the control data and the image data to the section controller 200 by the VSYNC signal and the DE signal (S63)

When the main controller 300 receives the control data from the last section controller 200 through the reverse optical link, the main controller 300 extracts the loopback test field, and if the loop pack field is '1' (S64, S65)

The main controller 300 compares the extracted image data with the image data stored in the DPRAM, and if the two image data match, the image data is in an integrity state. However, if the two image data do not match, it is determined that one word is contaminated, To " 1 " (S66 to S69)

The external control device 400 can display the number of errors of the image data at the time when the frame is completed through the main controller 300. [

Since the integrity of the image data can be tested by the external control device 400 and the main controller 300 even when the LED system is operated, accurate and complete data can be displayed on the display panel.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims It can be understood that

100: N LED panels 200: N section controllers
300: main controller 400: external control device

Claims (8)

And a main controller for receiving the display control signal from the external control device and transmitting the received display control signal to the N section controllers. In this case,
a) the main controller is synchronized with the display control signal, multiplexes an LED driving signal including control data and image data, and sequentially transmits the LED driving signal to N section controllers through a forward optical link;
b) the N section controller extracts board identification information from the control data, sets the board identification information as its own board identification information, counts up board identification information to update control data, Operating the panel, transmitting the image data and the updated control data to a next stage section controller;
c) the N section controllers detect an optical link monitoring signal for the optical link, set the optical link status information in the control data when an abnormal optical link is detected by the optical link monitoring signal, Transmitting data and image data to a next stage section controller; And
d) the main controller receives the control data through an optical link on the backward direction, collects board information for the N section controllers through the control data, monitors the status of the N section controllers, And checking whether an optical link is abnormal based on the received information.
The method according to claim 1,
The step c)
A section controller in which the abnormal optical link is detected displays a color designated in advance in the LED panel in charge of itself or a section controller in the next stage of the section controller in which the abnormal optical link is detected, And a method of displaying a color is performed.
The method according to claim 1,
The control data includes a section controller number field for setting the board identification information, a link fail field for setting the optical link status information, a frame number field for setting the number of frames, or a loopback And a test field.
The method of claim 3,
The step c)
Wherein the section controller abnormally displays the optical link status information in the link fail field when the abnormal optical link is detected and sets the board identification information of the section controller number field to a count up And setting the control data by setting the frame number field or the loopback test field as an initial value.
5. The method of claim 4,
The step d)
Wherein the main controller extracts a link fail field of the control data to check optical link information of a section controller to which a normal optical link is connected through the collected board information when the optical link status information is abnormal, And detecting a position of an abnormal optical link using the optical link information.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the main controller comprises at least one or more memory devices divided into a plurality of memory banks for each optical port, and sequentially stores the video data in the plurality of memory banks.
The method according to claim 6,
Wherein the control data includes a loopback test field for setting a data test command for the image data,
When the main controller receives a data test signal from the external control device, transmitting the control data having the flag set in the loopback test field to the forward optical link;
The main controller extracting the image data when the loopback test field in which the flag is set is received through the reverse optical link; And
Wherein the main controller further comprises checking integrity of the image data by comparing whether the extracted image data matches the image data stored in the memory device.
8. The method of claim 7,
Comparing the extracted image data with image data stored in the memory device to check integrity of the image data,
And if the extracted image data does not match the image data stored in the memory device, increases the number of data errors and reports a data error state to the external control device.

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