WO2006009391A1

WO2006009391A1 - Dual led pixel modul

Info

Publication number: WO2006009391A1
Application number: PCT/KR2005/002339
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hyuk-Jun Son
Original assignee: Hyuk-Jun Son
Priority date: 2004-07-23
Filing date: 2005-07-20
Publication date: 2006-01-26
Also published as: KR200366270Y1

Abstract

The invention concerns a light-emitting diode module apparatus of dual configuration, comprising a first pixel module and a second pixel module in one light- emitting diode pixel module used as an electric sign board. As an example at a matrix state of a pixel module of dual configuration, the module according to the invention has a screen in which the number of pixels in the module is (n+ α)x(n+ β), as compared to the number nxn of pixels in a conventional module. According to the invention, by optional addition of α, β, it is possible to implement various visual effect by displaying a separate screen by αxβ at the same time during the existing screen display of nxn. Main indices of the invention are 'light- emitting diode, dual, pixel, module, color, etc.'.

Description

[Description]

[Invention Title] DUAL LED PIXEL MODULE

[Technical Field] The present invention relates to an apparatus for a light emitting diode

(LED) electric sign board, and, more particularly, to an apparatus of a light emitting diode pixel module of dual configuration in which the apparatus comprises a first pixel module and a second pixel module in an overlapping way, in a LED pixel module used as an electric sign board.

[Background Art]

In general, an LED electric sign board system consists of an LED pixel module, a controller for controlling the electric sign board, a module driver and a power unit. The light emitting diode which is a semiconductor element used in the pixel module can be in various colors such as red, green, blue, yellow and the like.

The controller of the electric sign board is responsible for controlling overall operation of the electric sign board, and can typically store data and programs about the contents to be displayed on the board, wherein the controller comprises a CPU for executing the programs.

The driver for driving the LED pixel module is responsible for converting image signals received from the electric sign board controller to signals appropriate for characteristics of the LED pixel module and then for distributing the converted signals. The driver usually comprises a decoder and an amplifier.

A general dimension of an LED pixel module is 16x16 pixels, and an electric sign board can be constructed by connecting a plurality of panel modules as required. Korea Patent Registration No. 10-0236453 (its priority date is October 25, 1994 in Japan) discloses 'METHOD OF SCROL DISPLAY AND SYSTEM THEREOF' in Fig.l.

The driver may comprise a 16-bit shift register and a latch driver. For each driver, an 80-bit (16x5 bits) shift register (SRi) is equipped. An input terminal of the shift register (SRi) is connected to a data output of an image memory of a central controller 2.

The entire data transmission system operates in synchronization with a clock from a timing clock generator in the central controller 2. The central controller 2 reads out column data of each light emitting cell from the image memory in series and subsequently send the data to the shift register (SRi) connected in series.

Generally, in case of lateral scrolling when sequentially creating string data of a bitmap type of 16x16 dots, it is required to increase the size of a display panel or the number of dots in a lateral direction in order to increase the number of characters to be displayed at the same time.

The aforementioned Korea Patent Registration No. 10-0236453 to satisfy the requirement is characterized in that segments in a light emitting cell array are arranged substantially in parallel at given intervals different for each segment in a different position in a physical part of strip type. According to the method, the time required from driving segments in a first light emitting cell array by means of m dot column data corresponding to pixels to be displayed by the segments in one light emitting cell array, till driving segments in a second light emitting cell array by the same m dot column data is controlled to be proportional to the interval between segments in the first and second light emitting cell array. As another prior art technology applied, Korea Utility Design Application No.20-2004-0040063 discloses a 'Dual Module LED Electric Sign Board', in which, in addition to a driver module of LED pixels at the back of a pixel panel where more than two panels are connected in a lateral direction, a control module and a power supply module for an electric sign board can be equipped, so that easy standardization of electric sign boards can be achieved. Also in this case, the idea is based on a display panel of a dot matrix type in which a plurality of light emitting cells are arranged with two dimensions at regular intervals.

As a prior art technology to improve displaying capability as an electric sign board, Korea Utility Model Registration No.20-0192842 (filed in July, 1998) discloses a 'Rotating Electric Sign Board'. The board is characterized in that an LED is provided on a display arm to sequentially control LEDs with a program stored in a main board; a motor is equipped in the center of the display arm; the motor axis has a rotative means coupled to a fixed axis of a rest; the main board is connected to the power supply through a hollow part of the fixed axis; and the motor is connected to the power supply through a rotating contact terminal, in order to display characters and figures by means of visual afterimage effect,

As still another prior art technology, Korea Patent Application No.10- 1996-0046579 (whose examination was not claimed) discloses a ' Light Emitting Element Display Device'. The device comprises, as common components, a central- processing unit, a light emitting element display unit and a driver. The device is characterized in that it comprises a module brightness controller for adjusting the light emitting display time of the light emitting element and thereby for controlling the time when display data is outputted to the driver for a given period so that the brightness of the module itself can be adjusted by means of its average brightness level for a given time; and an external illumination monitor that is responsible for making the overall display brightness level of the light emitting element be adjusted correspondingly to changes in external illumination. A technology for developing the light emitting diode itself is disclosed in Korea Patent Application No. 10-1998-7010212 (International Publication No. WO 1997/48134), titled as 'An Illuminator Assembly Integrating Light- emitting Diode. The aforementioned diode is characterized in that, when all LEDs are conductive, the diode exhibits a first recognized color (for example, green) and the illumination projected from at least one of the LEDs exhibits a second recognized color (for example, yellowish brown) different from the first recognized color. The illumination projected from at least one of the remaining LEDs is overlapped by and mixed with the first and second colors, so that the overlapped and mixed illumination forms metameric white. The illuminator according to the method is characterized in that colors are obtained to make an illuminator which has sufficient intensity and efficient quality. Still as another prior art technology, Korea Patent Application No.10- 2001-0057150 discloses 'A Composite Light- emitting Diode Structure'. This structure relates to a dual color composite LED structure that can be used in various ways as a flexible bar lamp or power terminal cord type bar lamp in which resistance on a printed circuit substrate and a light emitting diode are integrated on both ends of a transparent cylindrical bar, by means of extrusion molding and injection molding to form an insulator.

As still another prior technology, Korea Patent Application No.10-2001- 0048894 discloses 'A Color Light-emitting Diode Module and Method of Producing Thereof.

The aforementioned prior art technologies can provide increasingly more various light emitting diodes and also provide electric sign board panel modules with more functions. [Disclosure of Invention]

It is an object of the present invention intended to further improve the aforementioned problem to provide a light emitting diode configured as a dual pixel module in which, for one light emitting diode pixel module used as an electric sign board, an existing pixel module and an additional second pixel module are overlapped in one module so that the first and second modules can be driven, respectively. The present invention to achieve aforementioned object is characterized in that the apparatus of a light- emitting diode pixel module comprises: a first light emitting diode module comprising a first light emitting diode pixel set 511 in which the interval between light emitting pixels is larger than the diameter of the light emitting diode itself, and a first light emitting diode driver 521 for driving the light emitting diodes of the first pixel set 511; a second light emitting diode module comprising a second light emitting diode pixel set 512 arranged between pixels of the first set, and a second light emitting diode driver 522 for driving the light emitting diodes of the second pixel set; and a control device 55 for controlling the first driver 521 and the second river 522, respectively, and thereby for displaying each pixel set.

The present invention is still characterized in that a part of the second pixel set 512 is also arranged outside of the outer blocks A and A' of the first pixel set 511. As described above, the light-emitting diode pixel module apparatus of dual configuration according to the invention is implemented in hardware for screen overlapping. In a conventional single LED electric sign board usually for texts, it is impossible to implement screen overlapping, but possible to implement a first color and a second color in a defined electric sign board space at the same time or separately according to the invention.

That is to say, when applying the dual pixel module apparatus according to the invention for a wide screen characteristic to an LED electric sign board with the small number of pixels and at wide pixel intervals, it is possible to achieve more visual effect than overlapping in software in different image apparatuses, by means of a relatively small number of LEDs.

[Brief Description of the Drawings]

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from reading the following description, illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the drawings: Fig. 1 shows an example of a conventional LED display circuit; Fig. 2 shows a conventional LED pixel module;

Fig. 3 shows an arrangement of a second pixel module according to the present invention;

Fig.4 shows a pixel module of dual configuration according to the invention; and

Fig.5 is a schematic configuration of an LED electric sign board for driving the dual pixel module according to the invention.

[Best Mode for Carrying out the Invention)

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawing, the embodiments according to the invention will be described in detail.

Fig.2 shows a conventional LED pixel module (16x16), and Fig.3 shows an example of a matrix only by second pixel modules added according to the invention.

Referring to Fig.2, it can be seen that the gap between pixels representing light- emitting diodes is larger than the diameter of the light- emitting diode itself. The invention is noted in that for a light-emitting diode electric sign board, pixels are relatively large-spaced, unlike other image apparatus. In case of a general LED element, its diameter is 3 to 5mm, but the gap between LED pixels is lager than the diameter.

In the second pixel set as shown in Fig.3 as an example, the second pixel set has a configuration that LEDs are arranged in 10x8 modules. Fig.4 shows an example in which the first pixel set and the second pixel set are overlapped. The figure shows an arrangement in which pixels of the second pixel set are arranged between the pixels of the first pixel set, at given intervals. As a second pixel set, 10x8 pixels are added among the 16x16 pixels of the first pixel set, showing a LED pixel module of dual configuration with 26x24 pixels. The existing module configures a screen with specified nxn pixels, as shown in Fig.2, but in the module according to the present invention, the number of pixels increases to (n+ α)x(n+ J3).

As seen in Fig.4, the column (first column) of the second pixel set of the light- emitting diode is arranged between the first column and the second column of the first pixel set, and the b column of the second pixel set is positioned between the third column and the fourth column of the first pixel set. The columns c to h are also arranged between odd numbered columns and even numbered columns of the first pixel set in the same way, respectively. The same applies to the rows of the pixel sets. As another embodiment, the second pixel column may be positioned between odd numbered columns and even numbered columns of the first pixel set. The second pixel column may be arranged in a smaller density or irregularly (by implementing scroll technology). The most uniform part of small pixel density is the 8x8 (generally αxβ) matrix except the first row and the tenth row which are the most outside part of A among those shown in Fig.4. Smaller density or the small number of second pixels results in lowered resolution but reduces material cost and can also achieve screen overlap effect. However, the invention can be modified variously without being limited to the number of pixels of the second pixel module or the level of a relative pixel density.

In a specific embodiment of the invention, the first row (first row in Fig.4) and the last row (10^th row in Fig.4) of the second pixel set are arranged outside of the outer block of the first pixel set. By controlling blinking of the light-emitting diode pixels arranged in this part, it is possible to make a screen of an entire electric sign board look larger, and also possible to implement edging effect in the part indicated as a first pixel set. Fig.5 schematically shows a circuit configuration of an LED electric sign board for driving a dual pixel module according to the invention. In Fig.5, there are shown a dual pixel module 51, a control circuit 55, a first driver 521 and a second driver 522.

The dual pixel module 51, whose example is shown in Fig.4, comprises a basic (conventional) pixel module 511 and a second additional pixel module 512 in an overlapping way. It is preferred to configure the second pixel module in a color or (primary color) LED different from that for the first pixel module.

A pixel module generally means a set of pixels. As desired, since a driver for driving the pixel set is integrated, a pixel module often includes the driver.

It is preferred to configure the first driver for driving the first pixel module 511 and the second driver 522 for driving the second pixel module 512, independently. That is, two pixel modules 511 and 512 and two drivers 521 and 522 are assigned to one LED pixel module 51. There may be a plurality number of physical memories in a control circuit 55 for controlling the entire electric sign board 51 with a plurality number of LEDs. Those skilled in the art, however, can see that only one physical memory 55 of large capacity can drive the above two drivers and two pixel modules. It is the same as the manner to drive a plurality number of pixel panel modules with one memory.

It is, however, preferred to arrange two synchronous clock signal generators in order to blink the first pixel module 511 and the second pixel module 512, independently.

For each pixel module forming a pixel module 51 of dual configuration, controller's operation for controlling blinking by sending image data and clock signals to each driver 521 and 522 is basically the same as the operation for the conventional first pixel module (blinking by controlling each pixel in the module). However, the program for a control process of the controller 55 equipped in the memory 555 will be changed. A person skilled in the art will able to understand that a specific program depends on each customized electric sign board. Depending on the drive program for an LED pixel module, only the first pixel set blinks so that images in only first color can be created. On the contrary only the second pixel set blinks so that images in only second color can be created. Also, images in first and second colors overlapped can be implemented. In other displays (e.g., computer monitors, etc.) screen overlapping is implemented in software in an image-data memory with the same number of pixels (modules), but the present invention is characterized in that overlapping (screen overlap) is implemented in hardware (dual pixel module)

The invention concerns a light- emitting diode (LED) electric sign board, and more particularly to a light- emitting diode pixel module apparatus of dual configuration, in which a light- emitting diode module comprises a first pixel module and a second module in an overlapping way. According to the invention, as a visual effect, while data are outputted in a conventional first pixel module, a specific shape (for example, arrows, etc.) can be outputted in a color different from the first pixel in a second separate module, so that it is possible to improve visual attraction. Also, by blinking the fist row (column) and the last row (column) in the second module, it is possible to implement edge neon sign effect, so that the invention is applicable to related industry,

The present invention has been described in detail. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

Claims

[Claims]

1. An apparatus of a light- emitting diode module of dual configuration, characterized by comprising:

a first light emitting diode module comprising a first light emitting diode pixel set 511 in which the interval between light emitting diode pixels is larger than the diameter of the light emitting diode itself, and a first light emitting diode driver 521 for driving the light emitting diodes of the first pixel set 511;

a second light emitting diode module comprising a second light emitting diode pixel set 512 arranged between pixels of the first set, and a second light emitting diode driver 522 for driving the light emitting diodes of the second pixel set; and

a controller 55 for controlling the first driver 521 and the second river 522, respectively, and thereby displaying each pixel set.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that a part of the second pixel set is also arranged outside of the outer block A' of the first pixel set 511.

3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the second pixel set is configured with light- emitting diodes emitting three primary colors.