The present disclosure relates to communication technique for display devices, and in particular to a circuit and a method for use in a display device to facilitate communication and a display communication system.
Electronic display devices are increasingly utilized in public areas, such as shopping malls, airports, sports arenas, hotel lobbies and so on, for public display applications. Such display devices may show content such as text, images, video or graphics, and the content may change over time (e.g., in a sequence of different advertisements).
For the public display applications, the display devices may be arranged in various manners. In an example, a star topology is employed where a number of display device are connected, via respective digital video cables, to a video distributor (or a video splitter) to which a video source is applied. In another topology such as daisy-chain arrangement, a number of display devices are connected in series with digital video cables, wherein a video source is applied to one of the serially-connected display devices.
In practical applications, the functionality of controlling or communicating with the display devices, such as turning on or off, setting parameters of at least one of the display devices, are required in addition to the video distribution among the display devices, as exemplified above. Auxiliary communication controllers, communication cables, and so on are needed for realization of controlling the display devices for public display applications. Referring to
An objective of the present disclosure is to provide a communication technique which facilitates communication of a plurality of display devices via one or more video cables in a non-standard manner while video distribution may be performed between the display devices via the same cable(s) so as to simplify the topology of the connected display devices, wherein the video cable is compliant with a digital display interface standard which the display devices support.
To achieve at least the above objective, the present disclosure provides a display communication system comprising a first display device and a second display device. The first display device has a first connector compliant with a digital display interface standard, and being configured to transmit a communication signal through at least one first pin of the first connector, wherein the at least one first communication signal is non-standard with respect to the digital display interface standard. The second display device has a second connector compliant with the digital display interface standard, and capable of being connected to the first display device through the second connector, wherein the second display device is configured to receive the at least one first communication signal through at least one first pin of the second connector so as to communicate with the first display device.
To achieve at least the above objective, the present disclosure provides a circuit for use in a first display device to facilitate communication with a second display device, the first display device and the second display device each including a connector compliant with a digital display interface standard, the circuit comprising a digital display interface circuit and a control unit. The digital display interface circuit is used for transmission or receiving of video data according to the digital display interface standard, the digital display interface circuit for being connected to the connector of the first display device. The control unit is configured to transmit at least one first communication signal through at least one first pin of the connector of the first display device to communicate with the second display device, wherein the at least one first communication signal is non-standard with respect to the digital display interface standard.
In an embodiment, the digital display interface standard is a DisplayPort (DP) standard.
In some embodiments, the at least one first pin comprises at least one of CONFIG1 pin and CONFIG2 pin.
In an embodiment, the digital display interface standard is a HDMI standard.
In some embodiments, the at least one first pin comprises at least one of SCL pin and SDA pin.
In some embodiments, the at least one first communication signal is compliant with RS232 protocol.
In some embodiments, the control unit, or each of the first and second display devices correspondingly, configures the at least one first pin to be a UART TX/RX pin.
In some embodiments, the at least one first communication signal is compliant with I2C protocol.
In some embodiments, the control unit, or each of the first and second display devices correspondingly, configures the at least one first pin to be an I2C SDA/SCL pin.
In some embodiments, the at least one first communication signal is a TTL signal for transmitting a high state or a low stage.
In some embodiments, the control unit, or each of the first and second display devices correspondingly, configures the at least one first pin to be a GPIO control pin.
In some embodiments, the at least one first communication signal is a PWM signal.
In some embodiments, the control unit, or each of the first and second display devices correspondingly, configures the at least one first pin to be a PWM control pin.
In some embodiments, the control unit, or each of the first and second display devices correspondingly, configures the at least one first pin to be a specific pin compliant with a protocol with which the at least one first communication signal is compliant.
In some embodiments, the control unit or the first display device is further configured to transmit at least one second communication signal through at least one second pin of the connector of the first display device to communicate with the second display device, wherein the at least one second communication signal is compliant with the digital display interface standard.
In some embodiments, the control unit or the first display device is operable in one of a first mode and a second mode selectively; the control unit or the first display device in the first mode is configured so that the at least one first pin is compliant with the digital display interface standard; and the control unit or the first display device in the second mode is configured so that the at least one first pin transmits the at least one first communication signal.
In some embodiments, the control unit or the first display device in the second mode is capable of transmitting the at least one first communication signal to the second display so as to control the second display.
In some embodiments, the at least one first communication signal indicates at least one of identification information, power state information, and setting for video input interface associated the first display device under a daisy chain application.
To achieve at least the above objective, the present disclosure provides a method for use in a first display device to facilitate communication with a second display device, the first display device and the second display device each including a connector compliant with a digital display interface standard, the method comprising the following steps. (a) A digital display interface circuit provided for transmission or receiving of video data according to the digital display interface standard, the digital display interface circuit connected to the connector of the first display device. (b) A control unit is provided which is coupled to at least one first pin of the connector of the first display device to communicate with the second display device. (c) At least one first communication signal is transmitted by the control unit through the at least one first pin of the connector of the first display device to communicate with the second display device, wherein the at least one first communication signal is non-standard with respect to the digital display interface standard.
In some embodiments, the method may be applied to any one of the above embodiments.
In an embodiment, the method further comprises, before the step (c): configuring, by the control unit, the at least one first pin to be a specific pin compliant with a protocol with which the at least one first communication signal is compliant.
In an embodiment, the method further comprises: transmitting, by the control unit, at least one second communication signal through at least one second pin of the connector of the first display device to communicate with the second display device, wherein the at least one second communication signal is compliant with the digital display interface standard.
To facilitate understanding of the object, characteristics and effects of this present disclosure, embodiments together with the attached drawings for the detailed description of the present disclosure are provided.
The following embodiments facilitate communication of a plurality of display devices via one or more video cables in a non-standard manner while video distribution may be performed between the display devices via the same cable(s), wherein the video cable is compliant with a digital display interface standard which the display devices support. Hence, the topology of the connected display devices can be simplified, and the complexity of deployment, installation and maintenance of the connected display devices can be also reduced.
Referring to
Compared with
In some embodiments, a plurality of pins of the single cable can be used according to a pin assignment defined by the digital display interface standard and the rest pins (unused or non-requisite pins in practical applications) of the single cable can be changed to transmit the at least one first communication signal in a non-standard manner with respect to the digital display interface standard. In other words, pins of the video cable can by utilized with more flexibility, not necessarily limited by the pin originally or conventionally defined by the digital display interface standard.
The display communication system as shown in
In some embodiments, a plurality of display devices may be connected in any manners based on
The following embodiments are related to implementations of the display communication system by way of components of the display device.
In some embodiments, the display communication system as illustrated in
In some embodiments, a display communication system includes a plurality of display device which includes a first display device and a second display device, based on
Referring to
4 is illustrated. In
In some embodiments, the display communication system as illustrated in
In
For communication and video distribution, the circuit including the digital display interface circuit 111 and control unit 112 as shown in
In the embodiment of
Referring to
In
It is also noted that the first pin(s) of the connector 190 is shown in
Referring to
The following provides some embodiments each of or any combination of which may be applied to, where appropriate, any one or combination of the above embodiments regarding the display communication system (e.g.,
In an embodiment, the digital display interface standard is a DisplayPort (DP) standard (e.g., DP version 1.2 or above). The original or conventional pinout assignment of a DisplayPort connector at a source side is listed in TABLE 1.
In a specific application of the DisplayPort standard, pins 13 and 14 can be utilized to determine whether power is provided through the connector. In a standard DisplayPort application, pins 13 and 14 may either be directly connected to ground or connected to ground through a pulldown device. While TABLE 1 is the pinout assignment for source-side connector, the sink-side connector pinout will have lanes 0-3 reversed in order; i.e., lane 3 will be on pin 1(n) and 3(p) while lane 0 will be on pin 10(n) and 12(p); but the other pinout remains unchanged. In other words, pins 13 and 14 may not be used or requisite in practical applications.
In some embodiments, the at least one first pin (e.g., P1 as exemplified in any one of
In an embodiment, the digital display interface standard is a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) standard. The pinout assignment of a HDMI type A connector (receptable) is listed in TABLE 2.
In some embodiments, the at least one first pin includes at least one of SCL pin (or pin 15) and SDA pin (or pin 16), i.e., one or both of SCL pin and SDA pin.
In some embodiments, the at least one first communication signal is compliant with RS232 protocol.
The control unit 112 may be implemented by a microcontroller or any processing unit with configurable pins for communication usage.
In some embodiments, the control unit 112, or each of the first and second display devices correspondingly, configures the at least one first pin to be a UART TX/RX pin.
In some embodiments, the at least one first communication signal is compliant with I2C protocol.
In some embodiments, the control unit 112, or each of the first and second display devices correspondingly, configures the at least one first pin to be an I2C SDA/SCL pin.
In some embodiments, the at least one first communication signal is a transistor-transistor logic (TTL) signal for transmitting a high state or a low stage.
In some embodiments, the control unit 112, or each of the first and second display devices correspondingly, configures the at least one first pin to be a GPIO control pin.
In some embodiments, the at least one first communication signal is a PWM signal.
In some embodiments, the control unit 112, or each of the first and second display devices correspondingly, configures the at least one first pin to be a PWM control pin.
In some embodiments, the control unit 112, or each of the first and second display devices correspondingly, configures the at least one first pin to be a specific pin compliant with a protocol with which the at least one first communication signal is compliant.
In some embodiments, the control unit 112 or the first display device is further configured to transmit at least one second communication signal through at least one second pin (e.g., at least one of pin P as shown in
In some embodiments, the control unit 112 or the first display device is operable in one of a first mode and a second mode selectively. The control unit 112 or the first display device in the first mode is configured so that the at least one first pin is compliant with the digital display interface standard. The control unit 112 or the first display device in the second mode is configured so that the at least one first pin transmits the at least one first communication signal.
In an exemplary implementation regarding the first and second modes, a DP standard is taken as the digital display interface standard and the pins 13 and 14 of the connector 190 are employed as the first pins of the connector 190. The first pins, such as the pins 13 and 14, of the connector 190 are electrically coupled to the pins CP1 and CP2 of the control unit 112, respectively, as illustrated in
The following provides some embodiments if two configurable pins (e.g., CP1 and CP2) of the control unit 112 are utilized at the same time.
In an embodiment, if a UART protocol, such as RS-232, is employed, the pins CP1 and CP2 can be configured as UART TX (transmitter) and RX (receiver) respectively so that the first display device can be communicated with the second device by way of the RS-232 protocol.
In another embodiment, if an I2C protocol is employed, the pins CP1 and CP2 can be configured as SDA and SCL of I2C respectively so that the first display device can be communicated with the second device by way of the I2C protocol.
In yet another embodiment, if a specific protocol is employed, the pins CP1 and CP2 can be configured as the bus of the specific protocol so that the first display device can be communicated with the second device by way of the specific protocol.
The following provides some embodiments if one configurable pin (e.g., CP, CP1 or CP2) of the control unit 112 is utilized individually.
In an embodiment, if a TTL signal for transmitting a high or low state is employed, the configurable pin can be configured as GPIO so that the first display device can be communicated with the second device by way of the TTL signal.
In another embodiment, if a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal is employed, the configurable pin can be configured as PWM so that the first display device can be communicated with the second device by way of the PWM signal.
In yet another embodiment, if a specific protocol is employed, the configurable pin can be configured according to the specific protocol so that the first display device can be communicated with the second device by way of the specific protocol.
Certainly, the implementation of the invention is not limited to the above examples. For instance, the digital display interface standard may be taken as another standard, such as HDMI or other digital interface, where appropriate. Likewise, the number of configurable pins may be taken or the protocol may be taken as any protocol, where appropriate.
In addition, in some daisy-chain applications, the display devices of the display communication system (such as
In some embodiments, the control unit 112 or the first display device in the second mode is capable of transmitting the at least one first communication signal to the second display so as to control the second display.
In some embodiments, the at least one first communication signal indicates at least one of identification information, power state information, and setting for video input interface associated the first display device under a daisy chain application. For example, the display devices of a display communication system (such as
Referring to
In
As shown in step S10, a digital display interface circuit is provided for transmission or receiving of video data according to the digital display interface standard, the digital display interface circuit connected to the connector of the first display device.
As shown in step S20, a control unit is provided which is coupled to at least one first pin of the connector of the first display device to communicate with the second display device.
As shown in step S30, at least one first communication signal is transmitted by the control unit through the at least one first pin of the connector of the first display device to communicate with the second display device, wherein the at least one first communication signal is non-standard with respect to the digital display interface standard.
In some embodiments, the method may be applied to any one of the above embodiments.
In an embodiment, the method of
In an embodiment, the method of
While the present disclosure has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure set forth in the claims.