WO2003034396A1

WO2003034396A1 - Electronic display, electronic display module and method of communication for an electronic display

Info

Publication number: WO2003034396A1
Application number: PCT/NZ2002/000219
Authority: WO
Inventors: Grant Arthur John Elliott; Beau Michael Butler; James Edward Parr
Original assignee: IDAPT Ltd
Current assignee: IDAPT Ltd
Priority date: 2001-10-16
Filing date: 2002-10-16
Publication date: 2003-04-24
Anticipated expiration: 2004-04-16
Also published as: NZ514866A

Abstract

A module (104a) for an electronic display, the module including at least two transceivers located substantially at the periphery of the module, the transceivers operable to transmit and receive information to and from an immediately adjacent module (104b) using electromagnetic coupling and means to display an image in response to image information received by one of the transceivers.

Description

Electronic Display, Electronic Display Module and Method of Communication for an Electronic Display

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an electronic display, electronic display module and a method of communication for use in an electronic display or sign. The invention may have particular application to larger-scale electronic signs for use in advertising, sporting events, entertainment events and the like.

Background

Electronic signs and displays are often constructed from a one or two-dimensional array of independent display modules. A common example of this technique is found in light- emitting diode (LED) message signs. Figure 1 shows an example of a known display module 1 and Figure 2 shows how two such display modules 1a, 1b can be assembled to create an electronic sign. While a sign of this size could be constructed from one piece, a modular technique allows for displays of various sizes to be constructed from a common part and often manufacturing of a large display in one piece is very costly, if not beyond the capacity of most manufacturing facilities.

With reference to the schematic example shown in Figure 3, in a typical known system, these display modules 1a-1c connect back to a common controller 2 whether by bus, daisy chain or other configuration. This is normally achieved through the use of cables and connectors 3. Power would also typically be coupled into each module using a combination of cables and connectors 4.

To manufacture or assemble a large screen, a large number of cables and connectors are required. This increases the cost of the screen and contaminants may enter sensitive portions of the screen around the various apertures provided for the cables. Furthermore, prior art signs may have excessive amounts of down-time as connectors and cables are a significant cause of faults.

Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic display, electronic display module and a method of communication for use in an electronic display that overcomes or alleviates problems in existing displays, or at least to provide the public with a useful alternative. Further objects of the present invention may become apparent from the following description.

Disclosure of the Invention

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a module for an electronic display, the module including at least two transceivers located substantially at the periphery of the module, the transceivers operable to transmit and receive information to and from an immediately adjacent module using electromagnetic coupling and means to display an image in response to image information received by one of said transceivers.

Preferably, the module may include a processor operable to receive information from a first adjacent module and control to which of said transceivers said information is passed for transmission to at least one second adjacent module.

Preferably, the processor may be operable to receive a request for information from another module and select the transceiver or transceivers to which said information is passed dependent on said request for information.

Preferably, the processor may be operable to receive a value indicating the path length between said module and an information source and decide which transceiver to receive information from dependent on the value indicating said path length.

Preferably, the module may include a processor operable to detect of the cessation of receipt of information by one transceiver, and in response thereto automatically select another receiver to receive information from.

Preferably, each module may include transceivers allowing communication with vertically and horizontally adjacent modules in an array of modules.

Preferably, the module may include an exterior housing that seals the module.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic display including a module as described in the immediately preceding paragraphs.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of communicating information to an electronic display that includes a plurality of modules in an array, the method including transmitting information to at least one of the modules and propagating information through the array by communicating signals to other modules in the array using inductive coupling as the transmission and reception means of each module.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of configuring an electronic display that includes a plurality of modules in an array, the method including communicating to at least one of the modules control information defining to the at least one module an address within the array, and propagating the control information through the array through successive transfer of the control information to an adjacent module or adjacent modules using inductive coupling, wherein with each transfer the control information is modified to define a different address.

Preferably, the method may include providing with the control information a module counter, which is incremented on each successive transfer to record the number of modules in the display and communicating the number of modules to a controller of the electronic display for use in providing information defining what each module should display, the size of the display and the configuration of the display.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a module for an electronic display substantially as herein described and with reference to Figures 4 to 17 of the accompanying drawings.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of communication information within an electronic display substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 4 to 17 of the accompanying drawings.

Further aspects of the present invention, which should be considered in all its novel aspects, may become apparent from the following description, given by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings Figure 1 : shows diagrammatically, an example of a prior art display module.

Figure 2: shows how two display modules of the type of Figure may be assembled to create an electronic sign.

Figure 3: shows a schematic of a typical control system for an electronic display formed from display modules of the type shown in Figure 1. Figure 4: shows a one-dimensional array of modular elements according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5: shows a schematic representation of inductive communication.

Figure 6: shows a one-dimensional array of modular elements according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 7: shows a two-dimensional array of modular elements according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 8: shows a schematic representation of a display module according to an aspect of the invention.

Figure 9: shows an alternative communication path in a two-dimensional array of modular elements

Figure 10: shows a display module in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 11 : shows an injection module in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 12: shows a control module between networks in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 13: shows a general packet for use in the present invention.

Figure 14: shows a status update packet.

Figure 15: shows a feed request packet.

Figure 16: shows a stop feed packet.

Figure 17: shows a flow chart of the operation of a display module.

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

The present invention pertains to electronic display systems constructed from either a one or two-dimensional array of smaller module elements. An electronic display may be constructed from a number of 'intelligent' display modules located in close proximity to one another. The present inventions exploit the principles of mutual coupling through electro- magnetic induction when applied to displays of this geometry to allow data communication between two or more modules located in close proximity to one another.

More particularly, the present invention provides a method for inductively transmitting data from module to module, in either one or two axes. When combined with inductive power transfer techniques, this may allow for elimination of cables and connectors and may also allow the modules to be completely environmentally sealed through the elimination of any connectors. In many systems, connectors and cables are the greatest cause of faults and thus removing these components from a system will increase the overall reliability.

A simplified electronic sign according to the present invention is in the form of a one- dimensional array shown diagrammatically in Figure 4 and generally referenced by arrow 5. The sign 5 includes a control system including a control unit 100, and an inductive data injection module 101. A number of display modules 102a, 102b and 102c are provided to display the required information. In prior art systems, typically data cables would be connected directly from the control unit 100 to each display module 102, or the display modules 102 would be connected by data cables in a daisy chain configuration, to transmit and receive data. In the sign of the present invention, inductive data transfer is used through the incorporation of electro-magnetically coupled transceivers 103 into the physical design of the display modules along each vertical edge.

Each display module 102 includes light emitting diodes or other controllable illuminating elements to display information to viewers. The illuminating components are positioned over the display modules 102, preferably to create a uniform distribution of illuminating elements over the display.

The principles behind transmission and reception of data using this technique are illustrated in Figure 5, which shows parts of two representative display modules 102d and 102e. A current pulse 6 is injected into the conductor 7. This produces an electromagnetic field 8 about the conductor 7, which is mutually coupled with conductor 9. This induces a corresponding current pulse 10 in conductor 9. The presence or absence of this pulse can be detected by a pulse detector 11. Thus, through the use of an appropriate communication protocol, digital information can be transmitted from one module to another. This communication method can also operate in reverse i.e. transmission of data from conductor 9 to conductor 7 if transceivers are provided in each module. Those skilled in the relevant arts will realise that there are a number of techniques and physical configurations suitable, for exploiting the mutual electro-magnetic coupling of two conductors to facilitate data transfer between systems that are located in close proximity to one another. The amount of current required to drive the system will depend on the coupling and the method of detection of communication used.

A block diagram of a typical display module 102 with four inductive data transceivers 1000a - 1000d is shown in Figure 10. This would be typical of a two-dimensional system whereas a one dimensional system would only require two inductive data transceivers. When the module 102 is receiving information, information is received by the transceiver conductors 1001a - 1001d, which are equivalent to conductors 7 and 9 shown in Figure 5. The transceiver conductors 1001a - 1001d are mutually coupled with either adjacent display modules or an injection module 101. The signal received is then processed by signal conditioning systems 1002a - 1002d, which includes an analogue-to-digital converter. These signal conditioning systems produce a digital output to enable a computer processor to receive and process the information and the output is then passed to the multiplexer/demultiplexer 1004.

When the display module 102 is receiving information, the multiplexer/de-multiplexer

1004 selects data from one of the four signal conditioning systems 1002a - 1002d and communicates the received signal onto the micro-controller 1005. A preferred method of selection is to configure all transceivers 1000a - 1000d to receive and the multiplexer/demultiplexer 1004 switches to its input in communication with the transceiver 1000 that receives data first, with all other signals being ignored. One skilled in the relevant arts will realise that there are many other multiplexing techniques that could be used.

The micro-processor 1005 processes that data stream received from the multiplexer/de-multiplexer 1004 and extracts the information required for that particular display module 102. In the case of video data, this would then be passed onto video memory 1006 or in the case of control information, the micro-processor 1005 would process this accordingly. The micro-processor 1005 has an associate memory 1009 in which control information, such as address information, can be stored as required. Information in the video memory 1006 is also able to be accessed by the LED driving engine 1007 which would take the information to be displayed in video memory and pass it on to the LED drive circuitry 1008.

Information to be transmitted by the display module 102 would typically be initiated by the micro-controller 1005. This data is transmitted to the multiplexer/de-multiplexer 1004, which in this instance would be operating as a de-multiplexer. The micro-controller 1005 would typically instruct the multiplexer/de-multiplexer 1006 which of the four transceivers 1000a - 1000d the data is intended for, for example transceiver 1000b. In this case the signal conditioning system 1002b receives the digital data from the micro-controller 1005 through the multiplexer/de-multiplexer 1004 and conditions the signal so that is suitable for transmission to a transceiver mutually coupled with transceiver 1000b through transceiver conductor 1001 b.

A typical injection module 101 is shown in Figure 11. The injection module 6 includes a digital data input/output 1103, which connects to a signal conditioning system 1102. When transmitting data, the signal conditioning system 1102 receives the digital data from the digital data input/output 1103 and sends an appropriate signal, for example a pulse as described herein above in relation to Figure 5, to the transceiver conductor 1101. Thus the data is mutually coupled into any other transceiver conductor that is physically close and mutually coupled to the transceiver conductor 1101. When the injection module 6 is receiving data from a mutually coupled system, a signal is induced in the transceiver conductor 1101. This signal is then processed by the signal conditioning system 1102, which outputs the data in digital form to the digital data input/output 1103. The digital data input/output may transmit/receive data in either parallel or serial format.

A typical control module 100 is shown in Figure 12. The control module 100 is connected to or incorporates an injection module, such as the injection module 101. The control module 100 consists of a network interface 1201 that can receive digital video information and can also receive and transmit control information, usually from a wired network W. The wired network W will usually be the source of the video information for the display. The network interface 1201 is connected to a micro-processor 1202, which in turn is connected to a digital data transceiver 1203. This digital data transceiver 1203 is such that it can be connected to the digital data input/output 1103 of the injection module 101. The injection module 101 forms part of an inductive network I that also includes a number of data modules 102 (not shown in Figure 12). As such the control module 7 acts effectively as a bridge between the wired network W and the inductive network I.

When receiving information from the inductive network I, the digital data transceiver 1203 receives digital data from the connected injection module 11 , which is processed by the micro-processor 1202. This information is then processed and transmitted to the network interface 1201 , which in turn passes the information onto another device or devices in the wired network W as required. Similarly, when transmitting information to the inductive network I, information is received from the wired network W by the network interface 1201. This information is passed into the micro-processor 1202, processed accordingly, and then passed onto the digital data transceiver 1203. The data is passed onto the injection module 101 and further into the inductive network I.

One skilled in the relevant arts will realise that multiple combinations of control modules 100, injector modules 101 and display modules 102 may be used to form a single display should the available bandwidth of the inductive network I be insufficient for the size of the display. One skilled in the relevant arts will also realise that the control module micro- processor 1202 may optionally generate images and/or video images in addition to or instead of receiving such images from the wired network W.

For a one-dimensional display system, such as that shown in Figure 4, data may be transmitted from the control module 100 through the injection module 101 to all modules 102a-c in a daisy chain fashion. The display module 102a is mutually coupled to the injection module 101 and thus receives data from the injection module 101. The other side of the display module 102a is mutually coupled to the display module 102b and hence is able to re-transmit that information to module 102b, which in turn would retransmit that information to display module 102c.

One disadvantage of the daisy chain system described above is that if any module in the chain fails, for example module 102a, then data would not be able to be transmitted past that point.

Referring to Figure 6, a sign 12 including a modified controller 100a and an additional injection module 101a is shown. The sign 12 addresses the problem inherent in daisy-chain type systems by having injection modules 101 and 101 a at each end of the array. If for some reason a module failed, modules further down the chain could detect the absence of data and switch to receiving data from the other side of the module. Once all modules in the chain past the point of failure have switched direction, the data will now reach all modules with the probable exception of the module that has ceased to operate, depending on the reason for the failure. For example, if display module 102b ceased to operate, display module 102a would continue to receive data from injection point 101. Display module 102c would eventually sense the absence of data and switch to receiving data from its other side so as to receive data from injection module 101a. Thus all display modules would eventually receive data with the exception of module 604, which had ceased to operate. This technique can be applied to any one-dimensional array of display modules, irrespective of the total number of display modules, and is not limited to three modules as per the discussion above.

Each display module within the chain may be provided with the capability to initiate a transmission and also to modify data that is received and re-transmitted. The modification of data will typically be limited to control information, for example incrementing a counter of the number of modules in the display. The module may initiate communication to report a fault with itself and/or with the modules around it.

Once a generic bi-directional inductive network, whether half or full duplex, has been established, any digital data could be transferred across that network. This includes but is not limited to image or text data, diagnostic information, program information and module display module status information.

One advantage of the a sign constructed from modules according to the present invention is that the display modules 102 are able to determine their position in the chain, and also communicate the size of the display to the control module 100, removing the need to manually set the location of each display module and the size of the screen.

By way of example only and again referring to Figure 6, control module 100a may inject a 'control message' to the modules through injection module 101. This control message may contain a counter set to one. When this control message is received by display module 102a, that module may set a location number or address to the value of the counter, in this case one and store this information within its memory 1009. The display module 102a may then increment the counter (to the value two) and transmit this control message to display module 102b, which in turn would set its location number to two, increment the counter to the value 3, and transmit the control message to display module 102c. Display module 102c would set its location number to 3, increment the counter to the value four and pass the control message on to injection module 101a, which would be configured as a receiver. Thus, control module 100a would receive this control message with the counter set to the value four.

As such, each display module would have its location or address number set correctly and the control module 100a would be able to calculate the total number of display modules in the chain from the counter value received in the control message: 4 -1 = 3. By following the above process, each display module 102 becomes aware of its location and is therefore able to determine which part of the image it is responsible for displaying and display that information accordingly through comparison with packets from the data stream to the address information stored in the memory of the module. This allows an entire display pattern to be 'broadcast' across the network without the need to address each display module 102 individually.

The description above is intended to be a simplified example for the purposes of explaining the automatic location functionality and in practice may include predetermined routines to allow for scenarios such as module failure. This may include automatic reconfiguration of either the location address or address information in transmitted control data to accommodate for module communication failure.

The display may also communicate between modules control information that instructs reconfiguration of the modules. This may be in the form of a program executable by appropriate processing means provided on each module. Status information may also be communicated from the modules back to the controller 101.

A similar technique to that described above can also be applied to an electronic display constructed from a two-dimensional array, or matrix, of display modules as shown in the sign 13 in Figure 7. Referring to Figure 8, a display module 104 for use in a two- dimensional array has four transceivers 103, one on each of the four sides of the display module 104. Thus data can be transmitted to, and received from any of four display modules situated to either side, above, or below the display module 104.

The following example illustrates how data can be broadcast to all modules within the matrix using such display modules 104. Referring again to Figure 7, data may be transmitted from the control module 101 to an injection module 101b. In this case the injection module 101b is physically located between (or near to) two adjacent display modules 104a and 104b and can be mutually coupled to one or both of modules 104a and 104b. Display modules 104a and 104b receive information from the injection module 101b then re-transmit the received information to the other display modules 104 in the array that are situated to either side, directly above, or directly below display modules 104a and 104b. The display modules that receive the data then re-transmit the data in a similar fashion until all the display modules 104a - 104f receive the data. One skilled in the relevant arts will appreciate that given the ability of each display module 104a to 104f to send or receive data across any of its four sides, data can be distributed or 'routed' through the sign via any one or more of a large number of routes.

An example of one 'route' is shown in Table 1 below. Table 1 lists each display module 104 shown in Figure 7 and indicates to which display module data received by each display module is re-transmitted to. Display modules 104a and 104b receive data from the injection module 101b. The routing path is indicated by the arrows in Figure 7.

One skilled in the relevant arts will realise that the communication described above may function in reverse, with a display module communicating to the control module 100 through the appropriate routing path.

Table 1

As with the one-dimensional array, the display modules 104a to 104f are able to readjust the routing path if required, for example if a module fails. Figure 9, shows sign 13 with display module 104b failed. Table 2 shows an example of a revised routing table that would allow all display modules 104 to still receive data, with the exception of the faulty display module 104b. The route described in Table 2 is also indicated by the arrows in Figure 9.

Table 2

One skilled in the relevant arts will realise that many algorithms may exist for optimising and determining revised routes, and that the scope of this invention is not restricted to the examples given herein.

A preferred form of an automatic routing algorithm for a simplex data path is given below. For the purposes of this example, a two-dimensional system is described. The display and control information is communicated in data packets. A typical and generic packet for a display in accordance with the present invention is shown in Figure 13. It includes:

- a start of packet header that indicates that a packet follows;

- a packet type identifier, which indicates the type of packet;

- the packet information; and

- an end of packet marker that indicates that the packet has been received in it's entirety.

In the preferred routing algorithm, two general types of packet exist; control packets and data packets. The data packets include the information on how the LED's (or other display means) should be driven to display a particular image. The control packets dictate the data communication paths and handle events such as a reconfiguration of the display by the addition or removal of display modules and/or injection modules and reconfiguration of the routes in response to a failure. Note that in all following examples the start of packet header and end of packet marker are assumed.

For the preferred routing algorithm, and for the purposes of determining a route, three classes of control packets exist, a status update packet, a feed request packet and a stop field packet.

A status update packet is shown in Figure 14 and includes five fields. The purpose of a status update packet is for a display module 102 to notify a neighbouring display module of its presence and ability to provide a data path. As is described in more detail herein below, information is contained in the packet to allow a first display module 102 that receives a status update packet from a second display module to assess the quality of the data path, measured as a function of distance from an injection point and respond to the second display module as to whether it would prefer to receive information from it or not. In addition, various other methods for determining the quality of data transmission over a communication channel, such as determining the bit error rate or signal to noise ratio, may be used by a module 102 in combination with route length to determine the best communication transceiver for that module. These other methods for determining communication channel quality are well known to those skilled in the relevant arts and therefore will not be detailed herein. A status update packet is a control packet and this is indicated in packet type field. The control field indicates that the control packet is a status update packet.

The output transceiver field specifies the transceiver 103 of the display module 102, 104 that the information is output from. In a two dimensional system, where the display modules 104 have four sides, four output transceivers exist for each display module; top, bottom, left and right.

The number of routes field gives the number of transfers between display modules 104 that are required to reach the display module 104 receiving the status packet measured from the injection module 101b. This provides information to the receiving display module 104 as to how 'far' away it is from the injection module 101b for that particular route path. This allows the display module 104 to decide between routes. Typically the path that has the least routes would be chosen and the display module 104 will store this in its memory 1009.

The data flag field indicates whether the transmitting display module is currently configured to route data through that transceiver 103 to the adjacent display module.

A feed request packet is shown in Figure 15 and includes three fields. The packet is sent by a display module 104 in response to a status update packet from a neighbouring display module back to the neighbouring display module to indicate that the display module would like to receive data from the neighbouring card.

The packet type field indicates that this is a control packet and the control field indicates that this is a feed request control packet.

The requested transceiver field indicates to the neighbouring card which transceiver to enable as part of the route path. This is derived from the output transceiver field of the status update packet received prior to the feed request being issued.

A stop feed packet is shown in Figure 16 and also includes three fields. The packet is sent by a display module 104 to a neighbouring display module when the current display module 104 does not wish to use an enabled route path from the neighbouring display module.

The packet type field indicates that this is a control packet and the control field indicates that this is a stop feed control packet. The requested channel field indicates to the neighbouring display module which channel to disable as part of the route path. The operation of the modules to control the routing of data through a display will now be described with reference to the fields in the above described packets, the flow chart shown in Figure 17 and the display 12 shown in Figure 7.

Each display module 104a - 104f is initialised to receive data on all four transceivers 103. The display modules 104a - 104f are also capable of passing on any received data to any one, or some of its transceivers 103 and in this fashion act as a router. This is controlled by flags that enable or disable the corresponding transceiver. Each of the display modules 104a - 104f have their current route path length set to a sufficiently large number to ensure that at least one reasonable route path is selected. Each of the display modules 104a - 104f also have their current source set to none. This variable indicates from which transceiver the display module is receiving information.

All display modules 104a - 104f at random times send a status update packet to one of its four transceivers, selected on a random basis. Taking for example display module 104b, at some point display module 104b transmits a status update packet on the right hand transceiver and this would be received by display module 104c. This packet would include the fields of:

• Packet Type = Control

• Control = Status Update

• Output Transceiver = Right Hand

• No of routes = 1 (Display module 104b is immediately beside the injection point 702.)

• Data Flag = False. This transceiver is not currently configured to route date from this output transceiver.

As display module 104c initially has a high value stored in memory 1009 for its current route path length, it will want to receive data from display module 104a and therefore sends a feed request packet back to display module 104b. This packet includes the fields:

• Packet Type = Control

• Control = Feed Request

• Output Transceiver = Right Hand. The reception by display module 104b of this packet causes it to activate the right hand transceiver to route any data it receives to display module 104c.

Display module 104b would also then set the current route path length to 1+1 = 2, being the number of transfers to display module 104b incremented by one to indicate that display module 104c is now two transfers from the injection module 101 b. Display module 104b also would set a local variable "current source" to a value to indicate that it was receiving information from the right hand output transceiver of a neighbouring display module.

Display module 104b would also then set the current source variable to receive information from the right hand transceiver of display module 104a.

When display module 104b decides to send another status update packet to display module 104c via the right hand transceiver, the structure of the packet would be as follows:

• Packet Type = Control

• Control = Status Update

• Output Transceiver = Right Hand

• No of routes = 1 (Assuming display module 104b is immediately beside an injection point)

• Data Flag = True. This transceiver is currently configured to route date from this output transceiver.

In this case, display module 104c would receive the packet and assess that the route path was the same as the current route path length and thus would assess that status of the data flag. As this is true, , indicating that display module 104b was routing data to display module 104c through via its' right hand transceiver, display module 104c would check the Current Source variable to see if it was expecting data via this route path. If the Current Source for display module 104c was set to receive date from the Right Hand transceiver of display module 104b, the loop would exit. If on the other hand, display module 104c was not expecting data from this source, display module 104c would issue display module 104b A with a Stop Packet Request. This packet would consists of:

• Packet Type = Control • Control = Stop Feed

• Output Transceiver = Right Hand.

This would be received by display module 104b and it would de-activate the Right Hand transceiver to route any data it received.

Should the display module 104c receive a status update from a source with a lower number of routes, which in this simple example this would only occur if an injection point 101 was introduced directly adjacent to display module 104c, then display module 104c sends a feed request packet to the new source and sends a stop feed packet to display module 104b. Upon receiving this packet, display module 104b disables its right hand transceiver.

If sufficient bandwidth was available, the above described process could continually occur while display data was being transmitted through the system in dedicated control packet time slots. Thus, should a communication route in the inductive network forming the display fail (for example a display module in the middle of a route path may fail), the display can dynamically determine a new routing path. Also, if the configuration of the network varies for any other reason, the continual periodic sending of status update packets allows the display module 104 to compare its stored current route path length to the output transceiver field in order to determine whether a shorter route from an injection module 101 is available.

One skilled in the relevant arts will also realise that while the above example determines a simplex data path in that it is for data transmitted from an injection point to a network of display cards, once a routing path has been established, this could be reversed to communicate from a display card to the injection point. Each display module 104 may transmit the value of its current route path length and indicate which of its transceivers are used to route data back to the controller 100. The controller 100 may then determine the size of the display and also use this received information to log the position of each module 104 in terms of geography, route that it is on and position in the route. This allows the controller 100 to configure the display data, which may be video data and address the appropriate data to specific modules depending on their physical position in the sign.

One skilled in the relevant arts will realise that with such a network in place, a number of methods could be used, with varying rules to identify the location of each module and to avoid conflict in identification. One skilled in the relevant arts will also appreciate that each display module within the matrix is capable of modifying the data that is received and re-transmitted. As such the scope of this invention is not limited to simply relaying data received for both one dimensional and two dimensional systems.

The description given above defines the physical layer of a network system (as per the OSI model). As will be appreciated by those skilled in the relevant arts, higher layer protocols or methods to facilitate communication between devices within a network of modules may also be used.

Once a generic bi-directional matrix network (albeit half duplex) has been established, including a routing path, any digital data could be transferred across that network. This includes but is not limited to; image or text data, diagnostic information, program information and module status reports.

Although the foregoing description has been given with particular reference to rectangular-shaped modules, the invention is not limited to such implementation. Other shaped modules, which may be located relative to each other into a suitable array may be used. Depending on the array and the number of adjoining modules, the number of transceivers provided on each module may also vary. Also, the technique is not limited to configurations where the modules are configured on a planar surface. This technique also extends to other physical configurations where modules are configured in such a way that mutual coupling of modules for data transfer is possible, e.g. a number of square modules configured in a sphere or cylinder.

Where in the foregoing description reference has been made to specific components or integers of the invention having known equivalents then such equivalents are herein incorporated as if individually set forth.

Although this invention has been described by way of example and with reference to possible embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that modifications or improvements may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

Claims:

1. A module for an electronic display, the module including at least two transceivers located substantially at the periphery of the module, the transceivers operable to transmit and receive information to and from an immediately adjacent module using electromagnetic coupling and means to display an image in response to image information received by one of said transceivers.

2. The module of claim 1 , including a processor operable to receive information from a first adjacent module and control to which of said transceivers said information is passed for transmission to at least one second adjacent module.

3. The module of claim 2, wherein the processor is operable to receive a request for information from another module and select the transceiver or transceivers to which said information is passed dependent on said request for information.

4. The module of any one of the preceding claims including a processor operable to receive a value indicating the path length between said module and an information source and decide which transceiver to receive information from dependent on the value indicating said path length.

5. The module of any one of the preceding claims, including a processor operable to detect of the cessation of receipt of information by one transceiver, and in response thereto automatically select another receiver to receive information from.

6. The module of any one of the preceding claims, wherein each module includes transceivers allowing communication with vertically and horizontally adjacent modules in an array of modules.

7. The module of any one of the preceding claims, including an exterior housing that seals the module.

8. An electronic display including a module as claimed in any one of the preceding claims.

9. A method of communicating information to an electronic display that includes a plurality of modules in an array, the method including transmitting information to at least one of the modules and propagating information through the array by communicating signals to other modules in the array using inductive coupling as the transmission and reception means of each module.

10. A method of configuring an electronic display that includes a plurality of modules in an array, the method including communicating to at least one of the modules control information defining to the at least one module an address within the array, and propagating the control information through the array through successive transfer of the control information to an adjacent module or adjacent modules using inductive coupling, wherein with each transfer the control information is modified to define a different address.

11. The method of claim 10 including providing with the control information a module counter, which is incremented on each successive transfer to record the number of modules in the display and communicating the number of modules to a controller of the electronic display for use in providing information defining what each module should display, the size of the display and the configuration of the display.

12. A module for an electronic display substantially as herein described and with reference to Figures 4 to 17 of the accompanying drawings.

13. A method of communication information within an electronic display substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 4 to 17 of the accompanying drawings.