TWI692099B - Soft error detection and restart method of display panel drive circuit and display device - Google Patents

Abstract

A soft error detection and restart method of a display panel driving circuit includes the following steps: a detection unit inside a control circuit is used to detect at least one soft error; the detection unit transmits a detection signal when the soft error occurs To a main control unit; and the main control unit sends a restart signal to the control circuit to restart the control circuit.

Description

Soft error detection and restart method of display panel drive circuit and display device

The invention relates to the technical field of displays, in particular to a method for detecting softness errors of chips caused by ESD, which is applied to any display panel module.

The Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) is an open standard developed by the MIPI Alliance specifically for display panel control circuits of mobile electronic devices. Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic diagram of a conventional display panel driving circuit of a mobile electronic device. As shown in FIG. 1, a display panel control circuit 1'is coupled to a host processor 2'based on the MIPI DSI standard protocol. During operation, the display panel control circuit 1'generates scan timing control signals according to the video data and display control signals transmitted by the host processor 2'to control the source driving unit 3'and the gate driving unit 4', so that the source The pole drive unit 3'and the gate drive unit 4'drive the display panel 5'to display a screen.

For mobile electronic devices, it is very important to design them with Electro Static Discharge (ESD) protection. The main reason is that ESD often causes some soft errors in the display panel control circuit 1', such as: SoT error or ECC error. Here, SoT is an abbreviation of Start of Transmission, and ECC is an abbreviation of Error Code Correction. Common ESD hardware protection designs include adding ESD relief channels. For example, Chinese Patent Publication No. CN101625462A discloses a liquid crystal display, which includes a display panel and a display panel control circuit. In particular, a plurality of ground wires are provided around the display panel control circuit and in the non-display area of the display panel, and a conductive layer is provided on the side of the display panel and the circuit board with the display panel control circuit side. According to this design, when the charge accumulated on any object (such as a finger) is transferred to the liquid crystal display, the charge will be discharged to the ground terminal through the conductive layer and the ground line to achieve the protection of electrostatic discharge effect.

Common ESD hardware protection design also includes adding ESD shielding layer. For example, Chinese Patent Publication No. CN1776920A discloses a flat panel display, which basically includes a substrate, a display panel control circuit provided on the substrate, a display panel, and a protective layer provided on the display panel. In addition, an ESD shielding layer is disposed between the display panel and the protective layer. Based on the shape of the non-display area of the flat panel display, the ESD shielding layer is usually designed as a frame shape or a grid member with a frame shape to shield electrostatic discharge from entering the display panel or the display panel control circuit.

The above two ESD hardware protection designs are limited by manufacturing cost and chip area, which results in limited effectiveness of their anti-ESD capabilities. Therefore, the command lock method is another ESD software protection design. When the electronic device is affected by ESD and causes a soft error in the internal chip, the command locking method uses the CMD lock method to close the scratchpad in the chip. In this case, only when the correct unlock command is input to the chip can the internal scratchpad be read and written to avoid the ESD changing the state of the scratchpad. However, it is easy to understand that the command lock method is only valid for the temporary memory, and it cannot exhibit the same effect for other chips or modules of the display.

As can be seen from the above description, a soft error detection and restart method for a display panel driving circuit is urgently needed in the art.

An object of the present invention is to add a detection unit to a display panel control circuit, thereby adding a detection function for soft errors caused by ESD inside the display panel control circuit.

Another object of the present invention is to use the detection unit to detect any kind of soft error, and to make the detection unit cooperate with a host processor to restart the display panel control circuit where the soft error occurs, thereby recovering the display panel control The normal operation of the circuit.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a soft error detection and restart method for a display panel control circuit, which includes the following steps:

At least one soft error is detected by a detection unit inside a control circuit;

The detection unit transmits a detection signal to a main control unit when the soft error occurs; and

The main control unit sends a restart signal to the control circuit to restart the control circuit.

In an embodiment, the control circuit and the main control unit are a display panel control circuit and a host processor, respectively, and are simultaneously disposed in an electronic device having a display panel.

In an embodiment, the detection unit uses a first multi-purpose pin of the display panel control circuit to transmit the detection signal to a second multi-purpose pin of the host processor, and the host The processor transmits the restart signal to a fourth multi-purpose pin of the display panel control circuit with a third multi-purpose pin.

In an embodiment, the control circuit further includes:

A control unit coupled to the detection unit; and

A state register, coupled to the detection unit; wherein, when the soft error occurs, the detection signal is set to have a first level, and a flag of the state register is based on the detection A level of the signal changes to a first bit value.

In an embodiment, the first level is a high level or a low level, and the first bit value is bit 0 or bit 1.

In an embodiment, the detection unit includes:

A plurality of first logic gates, wherein each of the first logic gates simultaneously receives a detection enable signal and a set of soft error signals sent by the control unit, and outputs a first logic signal; and

A second logic gate is used to receive the first logic signal of the complex array, and correspondingly output a second logic signal as the detection signal.

In a possible embodiment, the first logic gate may be an AND gate or a NOR gate, and the second logic gate is relative to the first logic gate One OR gate or one NAND gate.

In one embodiment, the second level is a low level or a high level relative to the first level.

In a possible embodiment, the first logic gate is a group of AND gates or a group of NOR gates, and the second logic gate is relative to the first logic gate It is a group of OR gates or a group of NAND gates.

In addition, the present invention further provides a display device which is integrated in an electronic device and has the control circuit and the main control unit as described above.

In a possible embodiment, the display device may be a cathode ray tube display device, a digital light processing display device, a liquid crystal display, a light emitting diode display device, an organic light emitting diode display device, a quantum dot light emitting diode Display device, Mirco-LED display device or Mini-LED display device.

In order to enable your review committee to further understand the structure, features, purposes, and advantages of the present invention, the drawings and detailed description of the preferred specific embodiments are attached as follows.

The present invention mainly proposes a soft error detection and restart method of a display panel drive circuit, which is mainly applied to an electronic device having a display panel module, such as a smart phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, an integrated computer , Smart watch, or door phone. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a method for detecting a soft error and restarting a display panel driving circuit of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the soft error detection and restart method of the display panel driving circuit mainly includes three steps. Step a: Use a detection unit inside a control circuit to detect at least one soft error; Step b: Send a detection signal to a main control unit when the detection unit occurs when the soft error occurs; and Step c: The main control unit sends a restart signal to the control circuit to restart the control circuit.

FIG. 3 is a structural diagram of an embodiment of a display device of the present invention. The display device shown in FIG. 3 is usually integrated into any of the aforementioned electronic devices, and has a display panel control circuit 1, a source driving unit 3, a gate driving unit 4, a display panel 5, and a host processing The device 2 executes the soft error detection and restart method of the display panel driving circuit shown in FIG. 2. Generally, the display panel control circuit 1 includes a control unit 11, a data register 12, and a command receiving unit 13; wherein, the data register 12 is used to temporarily store video data transmitted by the host processor 2 And, the command receiving unit 13 is used to receive a control command transmitted by the host processor 2, for example: a picture brightness (quality) adjustment command, a partial picture enlargement (reduction) command, etc. In particular, the present invention further includes a detection unit 14 in the display panel control circuit 1.

For electronic devices with display panel modules, Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) often causes some soft errors in the display panel control circuit 1, such as: SoT (Start of Transmission) error, SoT Sync error, EoT ( End of Transmission) Sync error, Escape Entry Command error, LP Transmission Sync error, False control error, ECC (Error Code Correction) error, and/or CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) error. In the present invention, a group of detection units 14 coupled to the control unit 11 are added inside the display panel control circuit 1 to receive any soft error signal sent by the control unit 11. In addition, after receiving any of the soft error signals, the detection unit 14 transmits a detection signal to the host processor 2 (ie, the main control unit described in step b), so that the host processor 2 Send a restart signal to the display panel control circuit 1 to restart the display panel control circuit 1.

Electronic engineers familiar with the design of display panel modules should know that the display panel control circuit 1 and the host processor 2 are usually equipped with multiple general-purpose input/output pins (GPIO pins). Therefore, when the step b is performed, the detection unit 14 can use a general purpose output pin (GPO pin) of the display panel control circuit 1 to send the detection signal to the A general purpose input pin (GPI pin) of the host processor 2. Similarly, when performing step C, the host processor 2 can also use a multi-purpose output pin (GPO pin) to send the restart signal to a multi-purpose input pin of the display panel control circuit 1 ( GPI pin). In addition, electronic engineers familiar with the design of display panel modules should also know that the display panel control circuit 1 and the host processor 2 are usually equipped with so-called TE (Tearing effect) or TE1 pins. In a possible embodiment, the TE or TE1 pin can also be used as the output pin for the detection signal and the restart signal.

On the other hand, the present invention also provides a state register 15 inside the display panel control circuit 1, which is coupled to the detection unit 14. According to the design of the present invention, when the soft error occurs, the detection unit 14 sets the detection signal to have a first level, such as a high level or a low level, and the status register 12 A flag of will change to a first bit value according to a level change of the detection signal, for example: bit 1 or bit 0.

Continue to refer to FIG. 3, and also refer to FIG. 4, which is a circuit architecture diagram of the detection unit. As shown in FIG. 4, the detection unit 14 includes a plurality of first logic gates 141 and a second logic gate 142 in circuit composition. FIG. 4 shows that each of the first logic gates 141 is an AND gate, and each of the first logic gates 141 simultaneously receives a detection enable signal and the signal sent by the control unit 11 A soft error signal. In addition, FIG. 4 also shows that the second logic gate 142 is an OR gate, which is used to receive a first logic signal sent by each of the first logic gates 141. It is easy to understand that when the detection enable signal is at a high level, as long as the control unit 11 outputs any soft error signal (also at a high level), the first logic gate 141 receiving the soft error signal A high-level signal (ie, a high-level first logic signal) is output to the second logic gate 142, and each of the other first logic gates 141 outputs a low-level signal (i.e., , The low-level first logic signal) to the second logic gate 142. Since the second logic gate 142 is an OR logic gate, after receiving the high level signal and the low level signal, a high level signal (that is, a high level second logic signal) is correspondingly output. This high-level second logic signal is used as the detection signal and is transmitted to the host processor 2.

The foregoing description explains step b and step of the method of the present invention when the first logic gate 141 is one AND gate and the second logic gate 142 is one OR gate c. However, in a possible embodiment, the first logic gate 141 may also be a NOR gate, and the second logic gate 142 may also be a non-inverter relative to the first logic gate 141 And logic gate (NAND gate). It is easy to understand that when the detection enable signal is at a low level, as long as the control unit 11 outputs any soft error signal (also at a low level), the first logic gate 141 receiving the soft error signal Will output a low level signal (ie, the first logic signal) to the second logic gate 142, and each of the other first logic gates 141 will output a high level signal (ie, the first logic signal) Signal) to the second logic gate 142. Since the second logic gate 142 is an inverting logic gate, after receiving the low level signal and the high level signal, a high level signal (ie, the second logic signal) is correspondingly output. This high-level second logic signal is used as the detection signal and is transmitted to the host processor 2.

As such, the above is a complete and clear description of the soft error detection and restart method and display device of the display panel control circuit of the present invention; and, through the above, the present invention has the following advantages:

(1) The present invention improves the display panel control circuit 1, in particular, a detection unit 14 and a state register 15 are added to the display panel control circuit 1 to increase the number of pairs in the display panel control circuit 1 Detection of soft errors caused by ESD. When the detection unit 14 detects any soft error, it can cooperate with the host processor 2 to restart the display panel control circuit 1 to recover the normal operation of the display panel control circuit 1.

(2) The present invention further adds a parasitic element in the signal reader of the sensing signal readout unit, and uses the parasitic element to improve the protection capability of the sensing signal readout unit against electrostatic discharge.

It must be emphasized that the aforementioned disclosure in this case is a preferred embodiment, and any part of the modification or modification that originates from the technical idea of this case and is easily inferred by those who are familiar with the art, does not deviate from the patent of this case. Power category.

In summary, regardless of the purpose, means and effects of this case, it shows that it is very different from the conventional technology, and its first invention is practical and practical, and it does meet the patent requirements of the invention. I urge your review committee to investigate and give the patent to the AirPlus as soon as possible. Society is for supreme prayer.

<The present invention> Step a: Use a detection unit inside a control circuit to detect at least one soft error Step b: The detection unit sends a detection signal to a main control unit when the soft error occurs Step c: The main control unit sends a restart signal to the control circuit to restart the control circuit 1: Display panel control circuit 2: host processor 3: Source drive unit 4: Gate drive unit 5: display panel 11: Control unit 12: data register 13: Command receiving unit 14: Detection unit 15: Status register 141: First logic gate 142: Second logic gate

<Xizhi> 1’: Display panel control circuit 2’: Host processor 3’: Source drive unit 4’: Gate drive unit 5’: Display panel

1 is a structural diagram of a conventional display panel driving circuit of a mobile electronic device; FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a soft error detection and restart method of a display panel driving circuit of the present invention; FIG. 3 is one of the present invention An architecture diagram of an embodiment of a display device; and FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram of an embodiment of a detection unit of the display device of FIG. 3.

Step a: Use a detection unit inside a control circuit to detect at least one soft error

Step b: The detection unit sends a detection signal to a main control unit when the soft error occurs

Step c: The main control unit sends a restart signal to the control circuit to restart the control circuit

Claims (9)

A soft error detection and restart method for a display panel control circuit includes the following steps: A detection unit inside a control circuit is used to detect at least one soft error; the detection unit transmits a detection signal when the soft error occurs To a main control unit; and the main control unit sends a restart signal to the control circuit to restart the control circuit. The soft error detection and restart method of the display panel control circuit as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the control circuit and the main control unit are respectively a display panel control circuit and a host processor, and are provided at the same time with a In an electronic device of the display panel. The soft error detection and restart method of the display panel control circuit as described in item 2 of the patent application scope, wherein the detection unit uses a first multi-purpose pin of the display panel control circuit to transmit the detection signal to A second multi-purpose pin of the host processor, and the host processor transmits the restart signal to a fourth multi-purpose pin of the display panel control circuit with a third multi-purpose pin. The soft error detection and restart method of the display panel control circuit as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the control circuit further includes: a control unit coupled to the detection unit; and a state register, coupled The detection unit; wherein, when the soft error occurs, the detection signal is set to have a first level, and a flag of the status register changes according to a change in the level of the detection signal To a first bit value. The soft error detection and restart method of the display panel control circuit as described in item 4 of the patent application scope, wherein the first level is high level or low level, and the first bit value is bit 0 or Bit 1. The soft error detection and restart method of the display panel control circuit as described in item 5 of the patent application scope, wherein the detection unit includes: a plurality of first logic gates, wherein each of the first logic gates simultaneously receives a detection Detect the enable signal and a set of soft error signals sent by the control unit, and output a first logic signal; and a second logic gate for receiving the complex array of first logic signals, and correspondingly output a second logic The signal is used as the detection signal. The soft error detection and restart method of the display panel control circuit as described in item 6 of the patent scope, wherein the first logic gate is an AND gate or an NOR gate, And the second logic gate is an OR gate or a NAND gate relative to the first logic gate. A display device is integrated into an electronic device and has the control circuit and the main control unit as described in any one of items 1-7 of the patent application scope. The display device as described in item 8 of the patent application scope is composed of a cathode ray tube display device, a digital light processing display device, a liquid crystal display, a light emitting diode display device, an organic light emitting diode display device, a quantum dot light emitting diode A display device selected by the group consisting of a polar body display device, a Mirco-LED display device and a Mini-LED display device.

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