Display system having monitoring circuit and methods thereof

• US 9,311,847 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2015
• Issued: 04/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ultravision Technologies, LLC (Ultravision International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Ultravision Technologies, LLC (Ultravision International Inc.)
• Inventors: Hall, William Y.
• Primary Examiner(s): CERULLO, LILIANA P
• Application Number:
  US14/720,610
• Publication Number:
  US 20160019834A1
• Time in Patent Office: 326 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1601 Constructional details related to the housing of computer displays, e.g. of CRT monitors, of flat displays constructional details related to flat displays integrated in a portable computer, e.g. laptop, handheld computer G06F1/1637; constructional details related to television receivers H04N5/64
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/20 Cooling means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1612 Flat panel monitor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1446 display composed of modules, e.g. video walls
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 13/22 electroluminescent electroluminescent light sources per se H05B33/00
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 15/0006 planar structures comprising one or more panels
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 2013/222 with LEDs
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2300/026 Video wall, i.e. juxtaposition of a plurality of screens to create a display screen of bigger dimensions
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/0235 Field-sequential colour display
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/024 Scrolling of light from the illumination source over the display in combination with the scanning of the display screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/041 Temperature compensation
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/062 Adjustment of illumination source parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0633 by amplitude modulation of the brightness of the illumination source
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/064 by time modulation of the brightness of the illumination source
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0693 Calibration of display systems
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/02 Details of power systems and of start or stop of display operation
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/12 Test circuits or failure detection circuits included in a display system, as permanent part thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2354/00 Aspects of interface with display user
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/04 Display device controller operating with a plurality of display units
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/14 Detecting light within display terminals, e.g. using a single or a plurality of photosensors
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/141 : the light conveying information used for selecting or modulating the light emitting or modulating element
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/144 : the light being ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/145 : the light originating from the display screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/16 : Calculation or use of calculated indices related to luminance levels in display data
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/04 : Exchange of auxiliary data, i.e. other than image data, between monitor and graphics controller
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/06 : Remotely controlled electronic signs other than labels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/006 : Electronic inspection or testing of displays and display drivers, e.g. of LED or LCD displays testing individual LED's G01R31/2635; testing lamps G01R31/44; testing of optical features of LCD displays G02F1/1309
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/2096 : Details of the interface to the display terminal specific for a flat panel suitable for both CRT and flat panel G09G5/006; specific for a CRT G09G1/167
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/32 : semiconductive, e.g. using light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3208 : organic, e.g. using organic light-emitting diodes [OLED]
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3233 : with pixel circuitry controlling the current through the light-emitting element
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3406 : Control of illumination source illumination devices structurally associated with liquid crystal cells G02F1/1336
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3413 : Details of control of colour illumination sources
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3426 : the different display panel areas being distributed in two dimensions, e.g. matrix
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/003 : Details of a display terminal, the details relating to the control arrangement of the display terminal and to the interfaces thereto specific for a CRT G09G1/165; for a flat panel G09G3/2092

Abstract

A modular multi-panel display system includes a mechanical support structure, an array of light emitting diode (LED) display panels arranged in rows and columns and mounted to the mechanical support structure so as to form an integrated display. A receiver box is mounted to the mechanical support, where the receiver box is housed in a housing that is separate from housings of each of the led display panels. The receiver box includes a receiver card coupled to feed data to be displayed on the integrated display to a plurality of the led display panels, where the receiver box includes a network interface card configured to receive data from a control box disposed at a remote location. A monitoring circuit is disposed within the receiver box, where the monitoring circuit is configured to generate an operational data of the array of LED display panels, where the network interface card is configured to send the operational data from the monitoring circuit to a monitoring server.

Claims

1. A method of maintaining a modular multi-panel display that includes a mechanical support structure and a plurality of LED display panels detachably coupled to the mechanical support structure without a cabinet, wherein each LED display panel has a data port that is bidirectionally coupled to at least one other LED display panel and includes a power supply coupled to a power line that extends along a group of the LED display panels, the method comprising:

monitoring the power supply of each LED display panel;

determining that an LED display panel of the plurality of LED display panels is a defective LED display panel by determining that the power supply of the defective LED display panel is not providing a power output for powering the defective LED display panel; and

removing the defective LED display panel by hot swapping the defective LED display panel from the mechanical support structure.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

electrically disconnecting the defective LED display panel from the multi-panel display;

placing a replacement LED display panel at a location formerly taken by the defective LED display panel; and

electrically connecting the replacement LED display panel to the multi-panel display.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining is performed by a monitoring circuitry within a box mounted to the mechanical support structure.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining is performed by circuitry within the defective LED display panel.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising communicating an error message from the defective LED display panel to a receiver box coupled to each of the LED display panels.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising communicating an error message from the defective LED display panel to a remotely located monitoring server.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring power consumption of each LED pixel in each LED display panel.

8. A method of maintaining a modular multi-panel display that includes a mechanical support structure and a plurality of LED display panels detachably coupled to the mechanical support structure without a cabinet, wherein each LED display panel has a data port that is bidirectionally coupled to at least one other LED display panel, the method comprising:

monitoring each of the plurality of LED display panels;

determining that a defective LED display panel has a defective LED pixel based upon a result of the monitoring, wherein the monitoring and determining is performed by a monitoring circuitry comprising a power failure detecting circuit and a camera, wherein the monitoring comprises periodically activating the camera to capture an image and processing the image, and wherein the determining comprises identifying a dark pixel, wherein a dark pixel is a pixel having a lower brightness than an associated brightness to be displayed for the pixel; and

removing the defective LED display panel by hot swapping the defective LED display panel from the mechanical support structure.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

electrically disconnecting the defective LED display panel from the multi-panel display;

removing an attachment plate from the defective LED display panel;

removing the defective LED display panel from the multi-panel display;

placing a replacement LED display panel at a location formerly taken by the defective LED display panel;

attaching the attachment plate to the replacement LED display panel; and

electrically connecting the replacement LED display panel to the multi-panel display.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining is performed by circuitry within the defective LED display panel.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising communicating an error message from the defective LED display panel to a receiver box coupled to each of the LED display panels.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising communicating an error message from the defective LED display panel to a remotely located monitoring server.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein, at the monitoring circuit, identifying from the image if brightness of a panel of the plurality of LED display panels is less than a predetermined threshold.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein, determining that a defective LED display panel has a defective LED pixel comprises, at the monitoring circuit, identifying from the image if a panel of the plurality of LED display panels has more number of dark pixels than a predetermined threshold for dark pixels.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining is further performed by measuring power consumption of the plurality of LED display panels, and computing a change in power consumption of the plurality of LED display panels, wherein the power consumption is a total power consumed by all of the plurality of LED display panels.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining is further performed by measuring power consumption of the plurality of LED display panels, and computing a change in power consumption of the plurality of LED display panels, and wherein the power consumption is a total power consumed by each of the plurality of LED display panels.

17. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

generating an operational data of the plurality of LED display panels; and

sending the operational data from the monitoring circuit to a monitoring server.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising identifying if a communication network to one or more of the plurality of LED display panels is defective or slow and report the results into the operational data.

19. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining is further performed by using an image captured using a temperature sensor facing the plurality of LED display panels.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the temperature sensor comprises an infrared sensor.

21. A method of maintaining a modular multi-panel display, the method comprising:

electronically monitoring each of a plurality of light emitting diode (LED) display panels by using bidirectional communication with a network interface card having a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address inside each of the LED display panel, wherein each of the plurality of LED display panels is individually attached to a common frame, wherein the plurality of LED display panels is attached to the frame without cabinets, wherein each of the plurality of LED display panels includes a power supply coupled to a power line that extends along a group of the LED display panels;

during operation of the modular multi-panel display, electronically identifying a LED display panel is a defective LED display panel by determining that the power supply of the identified LED display panel is not providing a power output for powering the defective LED display panel; and

removing the defective LED display panel by hot swapping the defective LED display panel from the common frame.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein removing the defective LED display panel by hot swapping further comprises:

electrically disconnecting the defective LED display panel from the multi-panel display;

removing the defective LED display panel from the multi-panel display;

placing a replacement LED display panel at a location formerly taken by the defective LED display panel; and

electrically connecting the replacement LED display panel to the multi-panel display.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the determining is performed by a monitoring circuitry within a box mounted to the common frame.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the determining is performed by circuitry within the defective LED display panel.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising communicating an error message from the defective LED display panel to a receiver box coupled to each of the LED display panels.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising communicating an error message from the defective LED display panel to a remotely located monitoring server.

27. The method of claim 21, further comprising monitoring power consumption of each LED pixel in each LED display panel.

28. The method of claim 21, further comprising removing the identified LED display panel from the frame without removing any of the other plurality of LED display panels from the frame.