Active modules for large screen displays

• US 5,523,769 A
• Filed: 07/01/1994
• Issued: 06/04/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Binary Services LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Shen, Chia, Lauer, Hugh C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hjerpe, Richard
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wu, Xiao M.
• Application Number:
  US08/270,111
• Time in Patent Office: 704 Days
• Field of Search: 345/1, 345/2, 345/3, 345/112, 345/204, 345/903
• US Class Current: 345/1.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1446 display composed of modules, e.g. video walls
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 9/3026 Video wall, i.e. stackable semiconductor matrix display modules video wall control systems G06F3/1446, G09G2300/026
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0252 Improving the response speed
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/18 Use of a frame buffer in a display terminal, inclusive of the display panel
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/025 LAN communication management
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 345/903 Modular display

Abstract

High resolution modular large screen displays which can require tens of minutes to display or "paint" an image are updated in real time through the use of active modules, each having its own display device, display driver, processor, memory and interfacing. Communication channels are provided between modules themselves as well as between the modules and a network interface that distributes the video source material in parallel to the modules. The modular approach coupled with the use of active modules permits significant communication reduction that in turn permits real time image production across large areas due to the use of parallel data paths to the display memory distributed across the modules, and through the transmission of structured data, including compressed images, compressed video, sampled data and graphics primitives, permitted by the provision in each module of a processor which converts structured data to images. The use of modules with internal processing also permits driving displays of differing configurations, such as oblong, trapezoidal and even circular displays, or even driving displays with irregular surfaces. As a further result of using active modules, increased speed or flexibility is achieved in part due to computer processing power which may be directed only to those sections of the display that are actively addressed. As an additional feature, the active modules may be initialized by software agents, with formatting and other display parameters being transparent to the format or pixel density of the original image.

Claims

1. Apparatus for driving a megapixel modular display in real time comprising:

means including a video source and a data bus between said source and said megapixel display for generating a structured data stream having a reduced data set responsible for specifying the image to be displayed and for coupling said structured data stream to said data bus;

a number of adjacent active modules each making up a portion of said display and having internal processing units therein;

means for driving preselected one of said active modules with said structured data stream;

means including a bus structure coupled to said preselected active module for providing communication in parallel between said preselected active module and the other of said active modules specifying the image to be displayed by a module, said modules having means for processing said structured data in parallel to provide the entire image across said display in real time; and

means within each module for converting said structured data to logical pixels and then to real pixels, whereby image processing power can be allocated amongst said active modules, and whereby bandwidth restrictions on said data bus are alleviated.