Smart Dual Display System

• US 20130033503A1
• Filed: 08/03/2012
• Published: 02/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: BESNARD, Nicolas, BOUCHET, Arnaud
• Granted Patent: US 8,976,079 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/502
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/08 Fault-tolerant or redundant circuits, or circuits in which repair of defects is prepared
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/04 Display device controller operating with a plurality of display units
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/06 Use of more than one graphics processor to process data before displaying to one or more screens
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/12 Avionics applications
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/397 Arrangements specially adapted for transferring the contents of two or more bit-mapped memories to the screen simultaneously, e.g. for mixing or overlay G09G5/02 takes precedence

Abstract

A secure display system for a movable object, such as an aircraft, includes: a screen comprising at least two independent matrices formed of pixels, each of the matrices being controlled by an independent graphic channel; a light box comprising at least two independent subassemblies, each backlighting each half-screen; two bypass functions, a bypass function being associated with a graphic channel, a bypass function being linked to an input of one of the matrices; a central module having a function of mixing the data originating from the two independent graphic channels, and a function of separating said data, said separation module being connected to said bypass functions; each graphic channel comprising image-generation means; and two power supply means. The display system may be used in an aeroplane.

Claims

1. A secure display system for a movable object, such as an aircraft, comprising:

a screen comprising at least two independent matrices formed of pixels, each of the matrices being controlled by an independent graphic channel, said matrices having independent inputs,

a light box comprising at least two independent subassemblies, each backlighting a half-screen,

two bypass functions, a bypass function being associated with a graphic channel, each being associated on a one-to-one basis with one of the two graphic channels and controlled by the associated graphic channel, each bypass function connecting the input of each matrix to the signal of the graphic channel that controls it or to the output of the separation module,

a central module having a function of mixing the data originating from the two independent graphic channels, and a function of separating said data, said separation module being connected to said bypass functions,

each graphic channel comprising image-generation means, and

a first power supply unit and a second power supply unit.

2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a synchronization function providing the synchronization between the two graphic channels.

3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a monitoring function connected to the graphic channels.

4. The system according to claim 2, further comprising a monitoring function connected to the graphic channels.

5. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a third power supply unit powering the central module.

6. The system according to claim 2, further comprising a third power supply unit powering the central module.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein said screen is a liquid crystal screen consisting of two independent matrices of pixels.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the image-generation means of each graphic channel generate data allowing the independent display of two half-images on the two half-portions forming the screen.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the image-generation means of a single graphic channel generate data allowing the display of a full-screen image on the two half-portions forming the screen.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein each of the graphic channels generates data allowing a display on one or more windows distributed over the screen.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein each of the graphic channels generates data allowing a display surface corresponding to the totality of the screen.

12. A method of using the display system according to claim 1 in an aeroplane, comprising one, two, or three LCD screens.