Interfaces and techniques for cost effective control of light emitting diodes in a vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12120788-B2
Application number	US-202117228299-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 12, 2021
Priority date	Apr 12, 2021
Publication date	Oct 15, 2024
Grant date	Oct 15, 2024

Abstract

A control circuit may be configured to control light emitting diode (LED) driver circuits. The control circuit may be configured to generate a multicast of pixel intensity values based on data in memory or data received from a data source, and output the multicast on an interface, which may comprise a one-wire uni-directional interface. In some examples, a plurality of drivers may receive the multicast, and each of the plurality of drivers may drive different sets of LEDs based on the multicast.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A control circuit configured to simultaneously control a plurality of different light emitting diode (LED) driver circuits, wherein the control circuit is configured to:
generate a multicast of pixel intensity values based on data in memory or data received from a data source, wherein the multicast of pixel intensity values comprises a plurality of luminance values to be used by the plurality of different LED driver circuits to drive different sets of LEDs; and
output the multicast of pixel intensity values simultaneously to each of the plurality of different LED driver circuits on an interface that connects the control circuit to each of the plurality of different LED driver circuits, wherein the interface comprises a one-wire uni-directional interface, wherein the interface is a second interface and the control circuit is configured to:
receive video data via a first interface in a video frame-by-video frame manner; and
output the multicast via the second interface in a row-by-row manner.

2. The control circuit of claim 1 , wherein the multicast comprises different sets of the pixel intensity values that are defined for use by different ones of the plurality of LED drivers.

3. The control circuit of claim 1 , wherein the multicast comprises first and second sets of the plurality of pixel intensity values that are defined respectfully for a first LED driver associated with external lighting and a second LED driver associated with internal lighting.

4. The control circuit of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of different driver circuits is configured to drive different vehicle lights within a vehicle, and wherein the multicast includes different pixel intensity values for the different vehicle lights within the vehicle.

5. A control circuit configured to simultaneously control a plurality of different light emitting diode (LED) driver circuits, wherein the control circuit is configured to:
generate a multicast of pixel intensity values based on data in memory or data received from a data source, wherein the multicast of pixel intensity values comprises a plurality of luminance values to be used by the plurality of different LED driver circuits to drive different sets of LEDs; and
output the multicast of pixel intensity values simultaneously to each of the plurality of different LED driver circuits on an interface that connects the control circuit to each of the plurality of different LED driver circuits,

wherein the multicast comprises rows of data, wherein each of the rows includes a header, a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) code, and a plurality of the pixel intensity values.

6. The control circuit of claim 5 , wherein the interface comprises a one-wire uni-directional interface.

7. The control circuit of claim 6 , wherein the interface is a second interface and the control circuit is configured to:
receive video data via a first interface in a video frame-by-video frame manner; and
output the multicast via the second interface in a row-by-row manner.

8. The control circuit of claim 5 , wherein the multicast comprises rows of data, wherein at least some of the rows of data correspond to rows of LEDs within a matrix of LEDs that are driven by the one or more LED driver circuits.

9. The control circuit of claim 5 , wherein the multicast comprises rows of data, wherein at least some of the rows of data correspond to clusters of LEDs within a matrix of LEDs that are driven by the one or more LED driver circuits.

10. A control circuit configured to simultaneously control a plurality of different light emitting diode (LED) driver circuits, wherein the control circuit is configured to:
generate a multicast of pixel intensity values based on data in memory or data received from a data source, wherein the multicast of pixel intensity values comprises a plurality of luminance values to be used by the plurality of different LED driver circuits to drive different sets of LEDs; and
output the multicast of pixel intensity values simultaneously to each of the plurality of different LED driver circuits on an interface that connects the control circuit to each of the plurality of different LED driver circuits,

wherein the control circuit is configured to generate the multicast using pixel reordering of either the data in a memory or the data received from a data source.

11. The control circuit of claim 10 , wherein the multicast comprises a set of the pixel intensity values that is configured to be used simultaneously by two or more of the plurality of LED drivers.

12. A control circuit configured to simultaneously control a plurality of different light emitting diode (LED) driver circuits, wherein the control circuit is configured to:
generate a multicast of pixel intensity values based on data in memory or data received from a data source, wherein the multicast of pixel intensity values comprises a plurality of luminance values to be used by the plurality of different LED driver circuits to drive different sets of LEDs; and
output the multicast of pixel intensity values simultaneously to each of the plurality of different LED driver circuits on an interface that connects the control circuit to each of the plurality of different LED driver circuits,

wherein the multicast comprises a first set of the pixel intensity values that is configured to be used simultaneously by two or more of the plurality of LED drivers and a plurality of second sets of the pixel intensity values that are defined for use by different ones of the plurality of LED drivers.

13. The control circuit of claim 12 , further comprising a differential transmitter configured to receive the multicast via the interface and transmit the multicast as a differential signal.

14. A light emitting diode (LED) driver circuit configured to drive a plurality of LEDs, wherein the LED driver circuit is configured to:
receive a multicast of pixel intensity values via an interface, wherein the multicast of pixel intensity values comprises a plurality of luminance values to be used the LED driver circuit to drive the plurality of LEDs and by one or more different LED driver circuits to drive different sets of LEDs, and
drive the plurality of LEDs based on at least some of the luminance values in the multicast, wherein the LED driver circuit includes a plurality of LED drivers, wherein two or more of the plurality of LED drivers are configured to drive different sets of LEDs using a same portion of the multicast.

15. The LED driver circuit of claim 14 , wherein the interface comprises a one-wire unidirectional interface.

16. The LED driver circuit of claim 14 , wherein the LED driver circuit includes a plurality of LED drivers, wherein two or more of the plurality of LED drivers are configured to drive different drive sets of LEDs using different portions of the multicast.

17. The LED driver circuit of claim 14 , wherein the LED driver circuit is configured to receive the multicast from an LED control unit via the one-wire unidirectional interface.

18. The LED driver circuit of claim 14 , wherein the LED driver circuit includes a plurality of LED drivers, the LED driver circuit further comprising a differential receiver circuit configured to:
receive a differential signal that comprises the multicast; and
communicate the multicast to the plurality LED drivers via the interface.

19. The LED driver circuit of claim 14 , wherein the multicast comprises rows of data that are received in a row-by-row fashion, wherein each of the rows includes a heade

Assignees

• Infineon Technologies Ag

Inventors

• Unterweger Gernot
• Sedner Mathias
• Scenini Andrea
• Kreuter Hans-Peter

Classifications

• B60Q1/1415

  Dimming circuits · CPC title

• H05B47/125

  by using cameras · CPC title

• B60Q2300/054

  Variable non-standard intensity, i.e. emission of various beam intensities different from standard intensities, e.g. continuous or stepped transitions of intensity · CPC title

• B60Q3/80

  Circuits; Control arrangements (for dashboards B60Q3/16; for mass transit vehicles B60Q3/47) · CPC title

• H05B47/105

  in response to determined parameters · CPC title