CONTROL OF PIXEL ADDRESSABLE LED STRIPS

• US 20180084625A1
• Filed: 03/17/2016
• Published: 03/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aix-Marseille University, Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique
• Original Assignee: Aix-Marseille University, Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique
• Inventors: NIEBERT, Peter Franz
• Granted Patent: US 10,165,655 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/30 Driver circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/18 via data-bus transmission
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/30 Semiconductor lamps, e.g. solid state lamps [SSL] light emitting diodes [LED] or organic LED [OLED]

Abstract

A system of control of interconnected signal emitters comprises controller modules, microcontrollers, electronic drivers and signal emitters. The connection input of each electronic driver is connected to the output of another electronic driver or to the output of a microcontroller, and the single output of each electronic driver is connected to the single connection input of another electronic driver or to the output of a microcontroller; each electronic driver being part of a driver chain between controller modules. Described developments comprise the use of Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs), LED strips, sensors (e.g. ambient light, distance, motion, proximity, imaging, audio, temperature, pressure, etc), wired and/or wireless communication interfaces, power supply configurations and different topological arrangements (e.g. 2D, 3D, unidirectional or bidirectional arrangements, root or bridge vertices, interactive mesh, k-cyclic graphs, etc). Associated method steps (e.g. protocols, clock synchronization, broadcast, vote, update, latency, bitstream structure, etc) are described.

Claims

1. A system of control of interconnected signal emitters, the system comprising:

a plurality of controller modules, a controller module comprising a microcontroller having a connection input and a connection output;

a microcontroller controlling one or more electronic drivers;

a plurality of electronic drivers, an electronic driver controlling one or more signal emitters and comprising a connection input and a connection output;

the system wherein

the connection input of each electronic driver is connected to the output of another electronic driver or to the output of a microcontroller, and

the single output of each electronic driver is connected to the single connection input of another electronic driver or to the output of a microcontroller; and

wherein;

each said electronic driver is a part of a driver chain between two controller modules.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein controller modules, electronic drivers and their connections are part of a strongly connected graph.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one electronic driver is connected to a microcontroller which is not part of a controller module.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein signal emitters comprise Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs).

5. The system of claim 4 wherein LEDs and electronic drivers are disposed on LED strips.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the system comprises one or more LED vertex arrangement of LED strips, said LED vertex arrangement comprising three unidirectional LED strips arranged in a triangular pattern.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more controller modules comprise wired and/or wireless communication interfaces to receive or to send data.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more controller modules comprise one or more sensors, a sensor being selected from the group comprising an ambient light sensor, a distance sensor, a motion sensor, a proximity sensor, an imaging sensor, a microphone, a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a moisture sensor, a voltage power sensor or a combination thereof.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising one or more power supply sources, said power supply sources being adapted to distribute power to controllers modules and LED strips.

10. The system of the claim 1, wherein a controller module and/or a signal emitter and/or an electronic driver is adapted to distribute said power supply to the entire system.

11. A method of controlling a system of interconnected signal emitters, the system comprising a plurality of controller modules, a controller module comprising a microcontroller having a connection input and a connection output;

a microcontroller controlling one or more electronic drivers;

a plurality of electronic drivers, an electronic driver controlling one or more signal emitters and comprising a connection input and a connection output;

wherein the connection input of each electronic driver is connected to the output of another electronic driver or to the output of a microcontroller;

wherein the single output of each electronic driver is connected to the single connection input of another electronic driver or to the output of a microcontroller; and

wherein each said electronic driver is a part of a driver chain between two controller modules.

12. The method of claim 11, comprising the step of counting the controller modules and/or electronic drivers and/or microcontrollers.

13. The method of claim 12, comprising the step of detecting the addition and/or the removal and/or the failure of one or more controller modules and/or electronic drivers and/or microcontrollers.

14. The method of claim 11, comprising the step of communicating a reset signal across the system.

15. A computer program comprising instructions for carrying out the steps of the method according to claim 11 when said computer program is executed on a suitable computer device.