Redundant power/control system for liquid crystal displays
View Patent ↗A system for powering and controlling an LED-backlit liquid crystal display (LCD) where redundancy is used to provide two independent paths from a pair of power supplies to the LED backlight. Further, two independent paths are also used from a pair of power supplies to the LCD. If any one of the paths were to fail or begin to degrade in performance, the system contains monitoring circuits which can direct another path to be used by the system. Two separate control circuits for the LCD may be used so that either one may be used to control the LCD if one were to fail. Two separate temperature sensors and luminance sensors may also be used to increase the durability of the system.
1. A control and power system for an LED backlight, the system comprising:
a first power supply accepting a power input;
a second power supply accepting a power input;
a first LED control circuit accepting backlight control signals and in electrical communication with the first and second power supplies;
a second LED control circuit accepting backlight control signals and in electrical communication with the first and second power supplies; and
a multiplexer in electrical communication with each one of the following: the first and second LED control circuits and the LED backlight.
2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:
a monitoring circuit in electrical communication with the first and second power supply and first and second LED control circuit.
3. The system of claim 2 wherein:
the monitoring circuit is adapted to analyze the signals from the first and second power supply to determine if the signal has been interrupted.
4. The system of claim 2 wherein:
the monitoring circuit is adapted to instruct the multiplexer as to which LED control circuit signal to send to the LED backlight.
5. The system of claim 2 further comprising:
a first luminance sensor in electrical communication with the first LED control circuit; and
a second luminance sensor in electrical communication with the second LED control circuit.
6. The system of claim 5 wherein:
the monitoring circuit is adapted to analyze the signals from the first and second luminance sensors to determine if the signal has been interrupted.
7. The system of claim 6 further comprising:
a first temperature sensor in electrical communication with the first LED control circuit; and
a second temperature sensor in electrical communication with the second LED control circuit.
8. The system of claim 7 wherein:
the monitoring circuit is adapted to analyze the signals from the first and second temperature sensors to determine if the signal has been interrupted.
9. A control and power system for a liquid crystal display (LCD), the system comprising:
a first power supply accepting a power input;
a second power supply accepting a power input;
a first LCD control circuit accepting video data and in electrical communication with the first and second power supplies;
a second LCD control circuit accepting video data and in electrical communication with the first and second power supplies; and
a first multiplexer in electrical communication with each one of the following: the first and second LCD control circuits and the LCD.
10. The system of claim 9 further comprising:
a second multiplexer which multiplexes the incoming video data before sending it to the first and second LCD control circuits.
11. The system of claim 10 further comprising:
a first monitoring circuit in electrical communication with the first power supply, first LCD control circuit, and the first multiplexer.
12. The system of claim 11 further comprising:
a second monitoring circuit in electrical communication with the second power supply, second LCD control circuit, and the first multiplexer.
13. The system of claim 12 wherein:
the first and second monitoring circuits are adapted to analyze the electrical signals from the power supplies and control circuits to determine if an electrical communication has been interrupted.
14. The system of claim 13 wherein:
the first and second monitoring circuits are further adapted to instruct the first multiplexer as to which power supply and associated control circuit signals to send to the LCD.
15. A control and power system for an LED-backlit liquid crystal display (LCD),the system comprising:
a first power supply in electrical communication with a first power inverter;
a second power supply in electrical communication with a second power inverter;
a first LED control circuit accepting backlight control signals and in electrical communication with the first power inverter;
a second LED control circuit accepting backlight control signals and in electrical communication with the second power inverter;
a first multiplexer in electrical communication with each one of the following: the first and second power inverters and the LED backlight;
an LED control and power monitoring circuit in electrical communication with the first and second power inverters and the first multiplexer and adapted to analyze the electrical communications from the first and second power inverters and direct the first multiplexer to send one of the electrical communications to the LED backlight.
16. The system of claim 15 further comprising:
a third power supply accepting a power input;
a fourth power supply accepting a power input;
a first LCD monitoring circuit in electrical communication with the third power supply;
a second LCD monitoring circuit in electrical communication with the fourth power supply;
a second multiplexer accepting video data;
a first LCD control circuit in electrical communication with the second multiplexer and first LCD monitoring circuit;
a second LCD control circuit in electrical communication with the second multiplexer and second LCD monitoring circuit; and
a third multiplexer in electrical communication with each one of the following: the first and second LCD control circuits and the first and second LCD monitoring circuits.
17. The system of claim 16 wherein:
the first LCD monitoring circuit is adapted to analyze the electrical communications from the third power supply and first LCD control circuit; and
the second LCD monitoring circuit is adapted to analyze the electrical communications from the fourth power supply and second LCD control circuit.
18. The system of claim 17 wherein:
the first and second LCD monitoring circuits are further adapted to direct the third multiplexer to communicate either the electrical communication from the first LCD control circuit or second LCD control circuit to the LCD.
19. The system of claim 15 further comprising:
a first luminance sensor in electrical communication with the first LED control circuit; and
a second luminance sensor in electrical communication with the second LED control circuit.
20. The system of claim 15 further comprising:
a first temperature sensor in electrical communication with the first LED control circuit; and
a second temperature sensor in electrical communication with the second LED control circuit.