KR20220077823A - Vehicle digital cluster apparatus for providing telltale image replacing cluster image and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a vehicle cluster device and a method for providing a telltail image replacing a cluster image. The device includes a display engine that generates a cluster image frame based on a plurality of vehicle status information, a microcontroller unit that generates Telltale image data based on some predefined vehicle status information among the plurality of vehicle status information; and connected to the display engine and the microcontroller unit, generating a telltail image frame based on the telltail image data, and selectively outputting the cluster image frame or the telltail image frame according to the control of the microcontroller unit wherein the microcontroller unit outputs a control signal for requesting selection of the telltale image frame to the image control engine when an error occurs in the cluster image frame.

Description

VEHICLE DIGITAL CLUSTER APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING TELLTALE IMAGE REPLACING CLUSTER IMAGE AND METHOD THEREOF

The present invention relates to a vehicle digital cluster device and method for providing a telltail image replacing a cluster image.

Recently, the frequency of providing driving information through a vehicle digital cluster device is rapidly increasing in response to the development of display technology, a decrease in manufacturing cost, and consumer demands. In addition, the demand for digital cluster devices is increasing due to the need to display a lot of information about vehicles such as smart cars, connected cars, and autonomous vehicles on the cluster. As such, vehicle companies wanted to flexibly express more information on the cluster screen, and digital cluster devices appeared in response to this demand.

In addition to vehicle basic information such as revolutions per minute (RPM), speed, and warning, the digital cluster device may display autonomous driving operation information such as an inter-vehicle distance, lane recognition display, vehicle approach warning, and pedestrian warning.

However, the digital cluster device performs more data processing than the analog cluster device. The digital cluster device outputs the information that the analog cluster device showed on each gauge at once together with various UIs, so it goes through a more complicated process than the analog cluster device. Therefore, there is a perception that it is not safe compared to a conventional analog cluster device, that is, an analog cluster device that only performs relatively simple operations compared to a digital cluster device, and thus safety is verified through various safety tests.

The image integrity of the digital cluster device is directly related to the safety of vehicle occupants. If any problem occurs in any of the information processing components of the digital cluster device, important information may not be displayed to the occupant. You need to be prepared.

An object to be solved is to provide a vehicle digital cluster device and a method for outputting a telltale image that replaces the cluster image when the cluster image cannot be output.

According to one feature, the vehicle cluster device includes a display engine that generates a cluster image frame based on a plurality of vehicle state information, and Telltale image data based on some predefined vehicle state information among the plurality of vehicle state information. a microcontroller unit that generates, and is connected to the display engine and the microcontroller unit, and generates a telltail image frame based on the telltail image data, and according to the control of the microcontroller unit, the cluster image frame or the telltail and an image control engine selectively outputting an image frame from among image frames, wherein the microcontroller unit outputs a control signal for requesting selection of the telltale image frame to the image control engine when an error occurs in the cluster image frame.

The microcontroller unit may control the output of the telltail image data based on scheduling information defined in a Real Time Operating System (RTOS) to maintain a constant telltale image frame rate.

The microcontroller unit generates the telltail image data based on vehicle speed information and vehicle revolutions per minute (RPM) information obtained from the vehicle information providing device, and the vehicle speed information and the vehicle RPM information are configured to include the display engine and the same may be provided to the microcontroller unit.

The image control engine is connected to a pattern generator generating a telltale background image, the display engine, and the pattern generator, and the cluster image frame received from the display engine or the telltale background image received from the pattern generator. a muxer for selectively outputting, and a display control unit for outputting the cluster image frame to a display device or outputting a telltale image frame in which the telltale image data is overlaid on the telltale background image to the display device can do.

The image control engine further includes a memory and a telltale decompressor that restores the compressed telltale image data loaded into the memory by the microcontroller unit, and outputs the restored telltale image data to the display controller. can do.

The microcontroller unit, a memory for storing a plurality of numeric images to which independent memory addresses are allocated, and memory addresses of numeric images representing vehicle speed, and memory addresses of numeric images representing vehicle RPM, in a telltale header It may include a processor for generating the telltale image data recorded in the .

The display engine, the image control engine, and the microcontroller unit may be implemented as a single-chip system (System on Chip, SoC).

The display engine, the image control engine, and the microcontroller unit may be implemented as independent chips.

According to another feature, an operating method of an image control engine is an operating method of an image control engine for controlling a vehicle cluster screen, comprising: receiving, from a display engine, a cluster image frame generated based on a plurality of vehicle state information; Determining whether there is an error in the image frame, if there is no error, outputting the cluster image frame to the display device, and if there is an error, tell-tale ( Teltale) generating an image frame, and outputting the telltale image frame to the display device.

The telltale image frame may be generated by overlaying the telltale image data received from the microcontroller unit on the telltale background image.

The telltail image data may be updated by the microcontroller unit using Real Time Operating System (RTOS) scheduling information.

The predefined partial vehicle state information includes vehicle speed information and vehicle revolutions per minute (RPM) information, and the telltail image data is a header reconstructed in a numeric format capable of expressing the vehicle speed and the vehicle RPM. may contain information.

According to the embodiment, when it is impossible to output the cluster image, the passenger's safety may be ensured by alternatively outputting a telltail image including information that the passenger needs to know.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a vehicle digital cluster device according to an exemplary embodiment.
2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a vehicle digital cluster device according to another exemplary embodiment.
3 is a block diagram illustrating detailed configurations of an image control engine and a microcontroller unit according to an embodiment.
4 is an exemplary diagram of a normal digital cluster screen according to an embodiment.
5 is an exemplary diagram of a telltale cluster screen according to an embodiment.
6 is an exemplary diagram of numeric images constituting a telltale image according to an embodiment.
7 shows basic telltail header information according to an embodiment.
8 shows reconstructed telltail header information for a telltail cluster image according to an embodiment.
9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a vehicle cluster device according to an embodiment.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail so that those of ordinary skill in the art can easily carry out the present invention. However, the present invention may be embodied in various different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. And in order to clearly explain the present invention in the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted, and similar reference numerals are attached to similar parts throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when a part "includes" a certain element, it means that other elements may be further included, rather than excluding other elements, unless otherwise stated.

In addition, terms such as “…unit”, “…group”, “…module”, etc. described in the specification mean a unit that processes at least one function or operation, which may be implemented by hardware or software or a combination of hardware and software. can

The devices described in the present invention are composed of hardware including at least one processor, a memory device, a communication device, and the like, and a program to be executed in combination with the hardware is stored in a designated place. The hardware has the configuration and capability to implement the method of the present invention. The program includes instructions for implementing the method of operation of the present invention described with reference to the drawings, and is combined with hardware such as a processor and a memory device to execute the present invention.

As used herein, "transmission or provision" may include not only direct transmission or provision, but also transmission or provision indirectly through another device or using a detour path.

In this specification, expressions described in the singular may be construed in the singular or plural unless an explicit expression such as “a” or “single” is used.

In this specification, regardless of the drawings, the same reference numbers refer to the same components, and "and/or" includes each and every combination of one or more of the referenced components.

In this specification, terms including an ordinal number such as first, second, etc. may be used to describe various elements, but the elements are not limited by the terms. The above terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, a first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, a second component may also be referred to as a first component.

In the flowchart described with reference to the drawings in this specification, the order of operations may be changed, several operations may be merged, some operations may be divided, and specific operations may not be performed.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a vehicle digital cluster device according to an exemplary embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a vehicle digital cluster device according to another exemplary embodiment.

1 and 2 , the vehicle digital cluster device 100 is connected to the display device 200 and the vehicle information providing device 300 .

The vehicle digital cluster apparatus 100 processes the vehicle state information collected from the plurality of vehicle information providing apparatuses 300 by graphical user interface (GUI) processing to generate the image frame unit, and transmits the cluster image frame to the display apparatus 200 . print out

When the cluster image frame is generated, the vehicle digital cluster device 100 sequentially outputs the cluster image frame to the display device 200 in the order of generation. In this case, the vehicle digital cluster device 100 may output the cluster image frame to the display device 200 in a preset FPS (Frame Per Second) unit.

The vehicle digital cluster apparatus 100 may be electrically connected to a plurality of (n) vehicle information providing apparatuses 300 to perform signal interfaces and collect various vehicle state information.

A plurality of (n) vehicle information providing apparatus 300 is an ECU (Engine Control Unit), TCU (Transmission Control Unit), EPS (Electric Power Steering), ABS (Anti-lock Brake System), ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) , a speed sensor, a revolution per minute (RPM) sensor, and the like. At this time, the ECU includes various sensors installed in the vehicle, for example, a sensor that checks the engine speed and engine oil level related to the engine, a tire air pressure sensor, a temperature sensor related to heating and cooling, and an airbag and seat belt sensor related to safety. , information can be received from various sensors such as speed related to vehicle movement, ABS, and left and right rotation sensors. The functions and operations of the plurality of (n) vehicle information providing apparatus 300 or various sensors installed in the vehicle are widely known in the prior art vehicle technology, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Vehicle state information collected by the vehicle digital cluster device 100 is largely divided into driving information and additional information. The driving information includes information essential for driving the vehicle. For example, the driving information includes information essential for driving of a vehicle, such as engine revolutions per minute (RPM), vehicle speed, fuel amount, coolant temperature, warning light, and the like. The additional information of the vehicle includes information other than driving information such as parking management, gear shifting, and multimedia information.

The vehicle digital cluster device 100 expresses the vehicle state information collected from the vehicle information providing device 300 as a graphic object in an allocated screen area among the entire screen of the display apparatus 200, and displays the vehicle state information in the predetermined screen area as pixels. Creates a cluster image frame recorded as a value.

The vehicle digital cluster device 100 includes a central processing unit (hereinafter, collectively referred to as 'CPU') 110 , a display engine 120 , an image control engine 130 , a micro controller unit, Hereinafter, it includes a 'MCU') 140 , a memory 150 , and an I (Input)/O (Output) interface 160 .

The CPU 110 is connected to the memory 150 . The memory 150 is connected to the CPU 110 , the display engine 120 , the MCU 140 , and the I/O interface 160 . The I/O interface 160 is connected to the plurality of vehicle information providing devices 300 . The image control engine 130 is connected to the display engine 120 , the MCU 140 , and the display device 200 .

At this time, according to one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1 , the CPU 110 , the display engine 120 , the image control engine 130 , the MCU 140 , the memory 150 and the I/O interface 160 are It may be implemented as a single chip system (System on Chip, SoC) or a single chipset (Chipset).

In addition, according to another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2 , the CPU 110 , the display engine 120 , the memory 150 , and the I/O interface 160 are implemented as one SoC or a single chipset, and image control The engine 130 and the MCU 140 may be implemented as physically independent hardware chips. The image control engine 130 and the MCU 140 may be interconnected through a communication interface such as a Serial Peripheral Interface Bus (SPI), and may be respectively connected to the display engine 120 and the memory 150 .

In this case, an emergency output is possible. That is, even if a problem occurs in the SoC or a single chipset and the display engine 120 fails to output a normal cluster image frame, regardless of this, the image control engine 130 and the MCU 140 work together to generate the cluster image frame. The replaced telltale image frame may be output to the display apparatus 200 .

The CPU 110 receives a plurality of vehicle state information from the vehicle information providing device 300 through the I/O interface 160 and stores it in the memory 150 . The memory 150 may include static RAM (SRAM).

The display engine 120 generates a cluster image frame based on a plurality of vehicle state information stored in the memory 150 under the control of the CPU 110 .

The memory 150 stores a program necessary for the operation of the CPU 110 and vehicle state information collected from the vehicle information providing apparatus 300 . Such vehicle state information is updated according to a collection period or collection time.

The I/O interface 160 is connected to a plurality of vehicle information providing devices 300 .

The image control engine 130 selectively outputs a normal cluster image frame or a telltale image frame to the display device 200 based on whether an error occurs in the cluster image frame received from the display engine 120 .

The image control engine 130 receives a cluster image frame from the display engine 120 . The image control engine 130 receives telltale image data from the MCU 140 . The image control engine 130 generates a telltale image frame in which the telltale image data is overlaid on the telltale background image.

The MCU 140 generates telltale image data based on some predefined vehicle state information among a plurality of vehicle state information. In this case, some vehicle state information consists of information that the driver must know in an emergency due to a cluster image frame error. According to an embodiment, some vehicle state information may include vehicle speed and RPM. Vehicle state information such as vehicle speed and RPM used in such a telltail image frame is the same as information used in the cluster image frame.

The interworking operation of the image control engine 130 and the MCU 140 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3 .

3 is a block diagram showing detailed configurations of an image control engine and MCU according to an embodiment, FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagram of a normal digital cluster screen according to the embodiment, and FIG. 5 is an example of a telltail cluster screen according to the embodiment 6 is an exemplary diagram of numeric images constituting a telltail image according to an embodiment, FIG. 7 shows basic telltail header information according to an embodiment, and FIG. 8 is a telltail cluster image according to the embodiment It shows the reconstructed telltale header information for .

Referring to FIG. 3 , the image control engine 130 includes a pattern generator 131 , a mux 132 , a display control unit 133 , a display output unit 134 , a memory 135 , and a telltale decompressor ( Decompressor) 136 and an image error detection unit 137 .

The pattern generator 131 generates a telltale background image. The pattern generator 131 may generate a black background image.

The mux 132 is connected to the display engine 120 and the pattern generator 131 . The mux 132 selectively outputs a normal cluster image frame input from the display engine 120 or a telltale background image input from the pattern generator 131 to the display controller 133 .

When the mux 132 outputs a normal cluster image frame, the display controller 133 outputs the normal cluster image frame to the display output unit 134 .

When the mux 132 outputs the telltale background image, the display controller 133 overlays the telltale image data input from the telltale decompressor 136 on the telltale background image to generate a telltale image frame. The display control unit 133 outputs the telltale image frame to the display output unit 134 .

The display output unit 134 outputs a normal cluster image frame or a telltale image frame to the display device 200 . The display output unit 134 may output image frames in a low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) method.

The telltale decompressor 136 restores the compressed telltale image data loaded into the memory 135 by the MCU 140 and outputs the restored telltale image data to the display controller 133 . When the telltale image data generated by the MCU 140 is loaded in the form of an image file, since there is a capacity problem, it is loaded into the memory 135 in the form of a compressed file. The memory 135 may include SRAM.

The image error detection unit 137 examines the cluster image frame output by the display engine 120 to the mux 132 to determine whether there is an image error. In this case, whether the cluster image frame has an error may be detected through various algorithms.

For example, by using a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of a cluster image frame, a screen output breakage, a screen non-output state, etc. can be detected through the presence or absence of an abnormality in a sync signal such as whether image data is stopped or whether image data is broken. However, this is not limited to a specific algorithm since various image error detection algorithms may be used as an example. According to an embodiment, the image error detection unit 137 may include a CRC check block, a sync checker block, and the like.

The MCU 140 generates telltail image data by determining numerical images for expressing telltale elements, that is, speed and RPM, and the image control engine 130 to generate a telltail image frame through the telltail image data. ) to control

The MCU 140 includes an I/O interface 141 , a memory 142 , and a microcomputer processor 143 . The I/O interface 141 may receive vehicle state information from the plurality of vehicle information providing apparatuses 300 and store the received vehicle state information in the memory 142 .

Memory 142 may include ROM and SRAM. The ROM may store software or a program for generating telltail image data. The SRAM stores vehicle state information collected through the I/O interface 141 .

The microprocessor 143 may generate the telltale image data in binary form together with the program code when compiling with the execution of the telltale image generating program, and store it in the ROM of the memory 142 . That is, as will be described later, the telltale image data as shown in FIG. 6 is secured in a compressed form in advance and stored in the ROM of the memory 142 . When the microprocessor 143 boots, the telltale image generation program resides in the SRAM of the memory 142 and the compressed image data stored in the ROM resides in the memory 135 .

In this case, the I/O interface 141 may collect all vehicle state information and store it in the memory 142 , and the microcomputer 143 may select only the vehicle state information necessary for generating the telltail image data. Alternatively, the I/O interface 141 may be connected only to the vehicle information providing device 300 that manages vehicle state information required for generating telltail image data.

Also, the microprocessor 143 may select and bring only vehicle state information necessary for generating telltail image data from among the vehicle state information stored in the memory 150 used by the display engine 120 .

The collection period of vehicle state information may vary according to design. Even when the cluster image frame is normal, the MCU 140 may always receive vehicle status information, or it may be designed to receive only when the cluster image frame is abnormal.

A method for the MCU 140 to collect vehicle state information may be directly received through a controller area network (CAN)/LIN, or the like. In this case, the I/O interface 141 may use the CAN/LIN standard. In addition, the MCU 140 creates a register for collecting vehicle state information in the memory 142 and writes the vehicle state information to the register in real time so that the microprocessor 143 communicates with the memory 142 SPI. to read vehicle status information.

The microprocessor 143 may control a register related to telltale image generation, that is, a telltale register, among several registers held in the memory 135 of the image control engine 130 . The microprocessor 143 may control the telltail register to enable output. The microprocessor 143 sets the SRAM address value in the telltale register to the start address to be decompressed. Then, the image control engine 130 may generate an actual telltail image frame by performing decompression based on the telltail header information in its telltail register.

The microprocessor 143 may execute a telltale image data generating program stored in the memory 142 . The microprocessor 143 generates telltale image data including vehicle speed and vehicle RPM. In this case, the microprocessor 143 reconstructs the header information of the telltail image data into numerical information suitable for a speed meter and an RPM meter.

When the error detection signal is transmitted from the image error detection unit 137 , the microprocessor 143 outputs a telltail selection signal to the pattern generator 131 and the mux 132 . The microprocessor 143 generates telltale image data and loads it into the memory 135 . For example, the speed meter output may be 129 km/h per hour, Display abnormal status.

The error detection signal is output to the microprocessor 143 in units of image frames output by the display engine 120 . The microprocessor 143 may repeat the generation of telltail image data until an error detection signal is no longer received from the image error detection unit 137 .

In this case, the microprocessor 143 updates the vehicle state information using scheduling information defined in the Real Time Operating System (RTOS), and generates telltail image data based on the updated vehicle state information. The frame rate of the image frame may be kept constant.

Normally, the screen outputs 60 frames per second. In consideration of this, the microprocessor 143 may load the telltale image data updated every 20 ms into the memory 135 at a predetermined period according to the RTOS scheduling information, for example. If the telltale image data is updated every 20 ms, the image control engine 130 may output the telltale image frame at a 50 frame rate.

Referring to FIG. 4 , in the cluster screen 400 , the cluster image frames received from the display output unit 134 are sequentially reproduced.

The cluster screen 400 may include a plurality of graphic icons 401 , 402 , 403 , 404 , and 405 . The plurality of graphic icons 401, 402, 403, 404, and 405 are graphic objects corresponding to vehicle driving information and additional information, and include a tachometer UI 401, a speedometer UI 402, and a fuel gauge UI ( 403), a thermometer UI 404, additional information UI 405, and the like. The additional information UI 405 may include preset information such as a driving level and display various information including parking management information and the like.

Referring to FIG. 5 , in the cluster screen 500, telltale image frames are sequentially reproduced. The cluster screen 500 displays the vehicle RPM 501 and the vehicle speed 502 in numerical form on a black background image.

Numerical images for expressing vehicle speed and vehicle RPM may be the same as in FIG. 6 . Referring to FIG. 6 , vehicle speed and vehicle RPM are expressed using numerical images of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, respectively. Each of the numeric images 600 of FIG. 6 is a numeric image for expressing vehicle speed or vehicle RPM, and may be compressed using a run length algorithm and stored in the memory 135 .

The microprocessor 143 may upload these numeric images to the memory 135 of the image control engine 130 at the time of initial booting. The telltale image storage capacity is 600Kbit, and the maximum number of telltale images that can be output at one time is 50.

In general, 30 of them are used to display a 3-digit number. It may be 10 digit images of 100 + 10 digit images of 10 + 10 digit images of 1.

A control value for outputting telltail image data may be defined as shown in Table 1 below.

One enable/disable 2 Position 3 Image size 4 Alpha blend value 5 SRAM start address of Compressed image data

7 shows the standard of basic telltail header information when the display state is Normal. The microprocessor 143 may generate a pop-up message for displaying a specific event in the form of a telltale image while a normal cluster image frame is output on the cluster screen. In this case, the header information of the telltail image is configured as shown in FIG. 7 .

When an error occurs in the cluster image frame, the microprocessor 143 reconstructs the telltale header information as shown in FIG. 8 . The microprocessor 143 records index information of SRAM data in which numeric images indicating vehicle speed and vehicle RPM are stored in the telltail header information. In this case, since the memory 135 of the image control engine 130 may be SRAM, a RAM address of image data stored in the SRAM may be referred to as SRAM data.

7 and 8 , the header information of the telltail image data includes information necessary for outputting the telltail image. num means the number of each telltale image data, conf info includes information 1 to 4 shown in Table 1, and SRAM Address means information 5 in Table 1. This information has a value in each register. From the standpoint of the program executed by the microprocessor 143, all of them are recorded in a register and only the enable register can be controlled.

Too much Telltale header is consumed in the speed meter configuration, which limits the number of telltale images that can be displayed. Therefore, 100's and 10's, where the number change is not fast like the emergency telltale header configuration of FIG. 8, changes only the SRAM address and index value, and the telltale data address actually pointed to by the telltale index (telltale). It can be output by changing the data address).

Here, the telltale image data is decompressed and generated as a telltale image frame, but a color used for each telltale image data is limited. That is, all color values used for one telltale image data may be referred to as an index. The index may be referred to as a color palette of each telltale image data. It may be a method that does not have all the RGBA values in units of pixels, but only an index, and that the color of the telltale image data actually used is set in advance in the header of the telltale image data and applied during decompression.

Since the digit of 1 is highly volatile, it is quickly outputted only by changing the Enable/Disable value of the output telltale index using 10 telltale headers. This allows you to spend 12 Telltale headers to indicate speed.

For example, the microprocessor 143 receives the speed meter data '129' value from the vehicle information providing device 300 .

At this time, the microprocessor 143 enables the telltale header number 14 to output the digit '1' of 100 to output the digit of 100. That is, the SRAM address value is changed to '0x8003F0', which is the SRAM index value in which '1' image data is stored. That is, the SRAM index value is also changed to match the changed image.

The microprocessor 143 outputs the digit of 10 by enabling the telltale header number 15. That is, in order to output '2' in the 10th digit, the SRAM address value of the 15th telltail header is changed to '0x8007E0', which is the SRAM index value in which the '2' image data is stored.

The microprocessor 143 outputs the digit of 1 by enabling the telltale header number 25. That is, in order to output the digit '9' of 1, the SRAM address value of the telltale header #25 is changed to '0x802370', which is the SRAM index value in which the '9' image data is stored.

In this way, speed and RPM indications are possible by reconfiguring the telltail headers.

9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the vehicle cluster device according to the embodiment, and the operation described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8 will be described.

Referring to FIG. 9 , the display engine 120 outputs a cluster image frame to the image control engine 130 ( S101 ).

The image control engine 130 determines whether an error occurs in the cluster image frame received in S101 (S103).

If there is no error in the cluster image frame in S103, the image control engine 130 outputs the cluster image frame received in S101 to the display apparatus 200 (S105). Then, the display apparatus 200 outputs the digital cluster screen (S107). In this case, S107 may output a digital cluster screen as shown in FIG. 4 .

When an error of the cluster image frame is detected in S103, the image control engine 130 outputs an error detection signal of the cluster image to the MCU 140 (S109).

The MCU 140 generates tell-tail image data (S111). That is, in order to express the vehicle speed and the vehicle RPM, the telltail header reconstruction is performed in which the SRAM addresses of the numeric images are recorded in the telltail header information.

The MCU 140 uploads the telltail image data including the reconstructed telltail header information to the telltail image control engine 130 ( S113 ).

The image control engine 130 creates a telltale image frame by overlaying the uploaded telltale image data on the telltale background image (S115).

The image control engine 130 outputs the telltale image frame generated in S115 to the display apparatus 200 (S117). Then, the display apparatus 200 outputs the telltale cluster screen (S119). In this case, S119 may output the telltale cluster screen as shown in FIG. 5 .

As described above, if there is no problem in the image control engine 130 and the MCU 140 even if a problem occurs in the CPU 110 and the display engine 120, it is directly related to driver safety among the vehicle status information output by the digital cluster. Information such as vehicle speed and RPM may be replaced with a telltail image and provided. Accordingly, it is possible to secure the safety of the cluster screen.

The embodiment of the present invention described above is not implemented only through the apparatus and method, and may be implemented through a program for realizing a function corresponding to the configuration of the embodiment of the present invention or a recording medium in which the program is recorded.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements by those skilled in the art using the basic concept of the present invention as defined in the following claims are also provided. is within the scope of the right.

Claims (12)

a display engine that generates a cluster image frame based on a plurality of vehicle state information;
A microcontroller unit that generates Telltale image data based on some predefined vehicle condition information among the plurality of vehicle condition information; and
connected to the display engine and the microcontroller unit, generating a telltail image frame based on the telltail image data, and selectively outputting the cluster image frame or the telltail image frame according to the control of the microcontroller unit a video control engine;
The microcontroller unit is
and outputting a control signal for requesting selection of the telltale image frame to the image control engine when an error occurs in the cluster image frame. In claim 1,
The microcontroller unit is
A vehicle cluster device for maintaining a constant telltail image frame rate by controlling an output of the telltail image data based on scheduling information defined in a Real Time Operating System (RTOS). In claim 1,
The microcontroller unit is
generating the telltail image data based on vehicle speed information and vehicle revolutions per minute (RPM) information obtained from the vehicle information providing device;
The vehicle speed information and the vehicle RPM information,
provided equally to the display engine and the microcontroller unit. In claim 1,
The image control engine,
a pattern generator that generates a telltale background image;
a muxer connected to the display engine and the pattern generator and selectively outputting the cluster image frame received from the display engine or the telltale background image received from the pattern generator; and
A display control unit for outputting the cluster image frame to a display device or outputting a telltale image frame in which the telltale image data is overlaid on the telltale background image to the display device
A vehicle cluster device comprising: In claim 4,
The image control engine,
memory, and
A telltale decompressor that restores the compressed telltale image data loaded into the memory by the microcontroller unit and outputs the restored telltale image data to the display controller
Further comprising, a vehicle cluster device. In claim 1,
The microcontroller unit is
a memory for storing a plurality of numeric images to which independent memory addresses are allocated; and
A processor that generates telltail image data in which memory addresses of numeric images representing vehicle speed and memory addresses of numeric images representing vehicle RPM are recorded in a telltail header
A vehicle cluster device comprising: In claim 1,
The display engine, the image control engine, and the microcontroller unit,
A vehicle cluster device implemented as a single-chip system (System on chip, SoC). In claim 1,
The display engine, the image control engine, and the microcontroller unit are
A vehicle cluster device implemented as an independent chip. A method of operating an image control engine for controlling a vehicle cluster screen, comprising:
receiving, from a display engine, a cluster image frame generated based on a plurality of vehicle state information;
determining whether there is an error in the cluster image frame;
If there is no error, outputting the cluster image frame to a display device, and
If there is an error, generating a telltale image frame based on some predefined vehicle state information among the plurality of vehicle state information, and outputting the telltale image frame to the display device;
A method comprising In claim 9,
The telltale image frame,
A method, wherein the telltale image data received from the microcontroller unit is overlaid on the telltale background image and generated. In claim 10,
The telltale image data is
updated by the microcontroller unit using Real Time Operating System (RTOS) scheduling information. In claim 9,
Some of the predefined vehicle state information is,
Includes vehicle speed information and vehicle revolutions per minute (RPM) information,
The telltale image data is
and header information reconstructed in a numeric format capable of expressing the vehicle speed and the vehicle RPM.

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