Abstract:
A data transmission architecture includes a local system and a peripheral system. A core computing unit and the peripheral hub of the local system integrate display data and transmission data and transmit integrated data to the image transmission unit. A driving circuit of a display panel of the image transmission unit is utilized to transform the integrated data into a first electrical signal. A data transmission between the local system and the peripheral system utilizes at least one electrode of the display panel to transmit the first electrical signal to retrieve the transmission data. A transmitting device of the peripheral system transmits a second electrical signal. A receiving device of image transmission unit retrieves the second electrical signal. Then the receiving device transmits the second electrical signal to the peripheral hub. Accordingly the data transmission architecture can be utilized in data/files transmission, and cooperating with existing transmission system.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of Invention 
     The invention relates to a data transmission architecture. 
     Related Art 
     In recent years, for increasing the applications of consumer electronic devices, some companies added the near field communication, NFC, (or short range communication) function into an electronic device. NFC (or short range communication) can, within the user reachable range, provide a connection without physical wiring so that information, such as commands, music, pictures, business cards, data, or files can be transferred from an electronic device to another electronic device. In addition to the convenience of transmission between electronic devices, it can also extend the applications, such as the situation requiring IC card, for example, access control system, tickets, payment by credit card, or situation to receive advertising messages, such as receiving coupons form store&#39;s screen via Bluetooth communication. 
     It is becoming an inevitable trend that to equip an electronic device with near field communication function. Therefore, in view of expanding the applications, a plan to work out a new architecture of short range communication for electronic device has been actively developed by the industry. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An objective of the present invention is to provide a new data transmission architecture for transmitting data in short range wirelessly. This data transmission architecture can transmit data or files in short range and can act jointly with an existing communication system. For example, a local system using this architecture can transmit data or file to a peripheral system in a short range through signal coupling or the peripheral system can transmit the data to the local system. Thus the applications of an electronic system can be expanded. 
     The present invention can be implemented by following technical solutions. 
     The data transmission architecture includes a local system and a peripheral system. The local system includes at least one core computing unit, an image transmission unit and a peripheral hub. The peripheral hub connects electrically with the core computing unit and image transmission unit, respectively. The image transmission unit includes a display panel and a receiving module. The display panel includes at least one electrode and a driving circuit. A display data and a transmission data are integrated and processed by the core computing unit and the peripheral hub, and then transmitted to the image transmission unit. The driving circuit receives the display data and the transmission data, and converts into a first electrical signal. The peripheral system includes a receiving device and transmitting device. The information transmission between the local system and the peripheral system is achieved by one of the following ways: the first electrical signal is transmitted by the at least one electrode and the receiving device couples the first electrical signal to receive the transmission data, or the transmitting device transmits a second electrical signal which received by the receiving module to obtain a receiving data and the receiving module transmits the receiving data to the peripheral hub. 
     In one embodiment, the transmission data can be a picture, video, sound data, text document, password, encoded file or a combination of those. 
     In one embodiment, the at least one electrode is a stand-alone electrode of the display panel or one of the plural column electrodes or plural row electrodes of the display panel. 
     In one embodiment, the transmission data includes a data tag, and the data tag includes the information of the receiving side, i.e., the peripheral system. 
     In one embodiment, the transmission data includes a data tag, and the data tag includes information of the transmitting side, i.e., the local system. 
     In one embodiment, the receiving data includes a data tag, and the data tag includes information of the receiving side, i.e., the local system. 
     In one embodiment, the receiving data includes a data tag, and the data tag includes information of the transmitting side, i.e., the peripheral system. 
     In one embodiment, according to the content of receiving data, the peripheral hub transmits the receiving data to another unit of the local system or other peripheral systems. 
     In one embodiment, the display data and the transmission data are integrated by a software program, hardware, or firmware. 
     In one embodiment, the image transmission unit further includes a transmitting module and the information transmission between the local system and the peripheral system further includes: transmitting the transmission data through the electrode of the display panel or the transmitting module separately or simultaneously. 
     In one embodiment, the peripheral system includes a Bluetooth device, or a radio frequency unit, or a speaker, or a microphone, or a camera, or a video camera, or a multi-function printer, or a keyboard, or a mouse, or a storage device, or a payments device, or a cash machine, or a data query device or their combination. 
     According to above descriptions, in the data transmission architecture of the present invention, the information transmission between the local system and the peripheral system is achieved by one of the following ways: the first electrical signal is transmitted by the at least one electrode of the display panel of the image transmission unit and the receiving device of the peripheral system couples the first electrical signal to receive the transmission data; or the transmitting device of the peripheral system transmits a second electrical signal which is received by the receiving module of the image transmission unit to obtain a receiving data and the receiving module transmits the receiving data to the peripheral hub. In addition to transmitting data or files in short range, the data transmission system of the present invention can collaborate with the existing communication system to expand the applications of the electronic system. Also, in this invention, the display panel of the image transmission unit of the local system is not only for displaying images but also for transmitting data within a short range to expand the applications of the electronic system. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a function block diagram of a data transmission architecture according to a preferred embodiment of this invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a function block diagram of a data transmission architecture according to another preferred embodiment of this invention; and 
         FIGS. 3-5  are function block diagrams of different types of local systems of this invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same references relate to the same elements. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , it is a function block diagram of a data transmission architecture according to a preferred embodiment of this invention. 
     The data transmission architecture includes a local system  1  and a peripheral system  2 . The local system  1  is coupled to the peripheral system  2  via at least one wireless electrical coupling so that data can be transmitted from the local system  1  to peripheral system  2 . The local system  1  and the peripheral system  2  can, respectively, include independent functional systems such as a processing system, a storage system, or a transmission system and so on. And the “system” may consist of hardware, software, firmware or their combination. 
     The local system  1 , with a separate central processing unit (CPU) and operating system that can support independent operation, may be a mobile phone, a computer (such as tablet, notebook), a public information display, a billboard, an electrical whiteboard, a personal digital assistant or a combination of those. Additionally, the peripheral system  2  can be a passive device or a device with an independent CPU and operation system that can work independently and may include a docking station, a mobile phone, a computer, a Bluetooth device, a radio frequency unit, a speaker, a microphone, a camera, a video camera, a multi-function printer, a keyboard, a mouse, a storage device, a payments device, a cash machine, a data query device or a combination of those. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the local system  1  includes at least one core computing unit  11 , a peripheral hub  12  and an image transmission unit  13 . The peripheral system  2  includes a receiving device  21  and a transmitting device  22 . 
     The core computing unit  11  can be a CPU for computing data. The peripheral hub  12  is for connecting the core computing unit  11  with other devices and can gather and fulfill the requests for all connected devices. For instance, the core computing unit  11  requests data from the storage device or the other device requests data computing from the core computing unit  11 . In addition to the receiving device  21  and the transmission device  22 , the peripheral system  2  further can include other receiving or transmitting modules or units. For instance, the peripheral system  2  can include a wire or wireless local area network (the wireless module can be a WiFi or WLAN), a Bluetooth module, a telecommunication network module, a radio frequency module, or a combination of those. Additionally, the local system  1  and the peripheral system  2  can include other devices, units or components, for instance, the data storage device or other data computing device which is not restricted. 
     The peripheral hub  12  is electrically connected with the core computing unit  11  and the image transmission unit  13 . The core computing unit  11  and the peripheral hub  12  can process and integrate a display data DD and a transmission data TD, and transmit to the image transmission unit  13  afterward. The integration and processing of the display data DD and transmission data TD can be done by a software, hardware, or firmware. In addition, the display data DD and transmission data TD can be generated via an internal or external command of the local system  1  on data from the memory of local system  1  or from an external device by transmission. The display data DD can be a grey scale data of image frames of the display panel  131 . The transmission data TD can be a stream of digital data or file, such as images, video or sound data, text document, password or encoded file or a combination of those. 
     The image transmission unit  13  includes a display panel  131  and a receiving module  132 . The display panel  131  can be a liquid crystal display panel (LCD panel) or an organic light emitting diode display panel (OLED panel). The display panel  131  includes at least one electrode  1311  and a driving circuit  1312 . The driving circuit  1312  can be driver ICs that are located outside the display panel  131  or a driving circuit integrated on the display panel  131 . The display panel  131  further includes a pixel matrix which can be an active matrix or a passive matrix. The display panel  131  further includes a plurality of row electrodes (ex: scan line, not shown in figure), a plurality of column electrodes (ex: data line, not shown in figure) and a plurality of pixel electrodes. The row electrodes and the column electrodes are crisscross disposed. The electrode  1311  can be a stand-alone electrode of the display panel  131  or one of the row or column electrodes of the display panel  131 , which is not limited. The display panel  131  further includes a plurality of transistors (not shown) that are electrically connected to the column electrodes, row electrodes and the pixel electrodes. 
     Additionally, in traditional communication technology, the transmitter and receiver should match with each other by adopting the same communication technology or protocol in order to form the data transmitting and receiving functions for the bi-directional data exchange. However, the data transmission architecture of this invention is different from the traditional technology that a unidirectional data transmission, from display panel  131  to receiving device  21 , is established so that the transmission data TD can be transmitted from local system  1  to peripheral system  2 . Therefore, the display panel  131  and the receiving device  21  should use the same communication technology or protocol. On the other hand, when the data is transmitted from the peripheral system  2  to the local system  1 , the data is transmitted from the transmitting device  22  to the receiving module  132 . The transmitting device  22  and the receiving module  132  should also use the same communication technology or protocol which may not be the same as the communication technology or protocol between the display  131  and the receiving device  21 . It may even utilize an existing bi-directional data exchange technology for the transmitting device  22  and receiving module  132 , for example, a wire or wireless local area network module (the wireless module can be a WiFi or WLAN), a Bluetooth module, a telecommunication network module, a radio frequency module or a combination of those. 
     After receiving the display data DD and the transmission data TD, the driving circuit  1312  can convert the display data DD and the transmission data TD into a first electrical signal ES 1 . The conversion of data may include serial-to-parallel conversion, encoding, encryption, adding header information, or other conversion processes. It is noted that in the serial-to-parallel conversion, the serial data can be converted in sequential order or interlaced order or their combination. 
     The way of data transmission from local system  1  is different from the conventional communication system that at least one electrode of the display panel  131  of local system  1  can be used as a transmitter for the data transmission. Spatial separation or modulation technology can be applied to these communication channels for simultaneous or non-simultaneous transmission and reducing the interference between the channels. The first electrical signal ES 1  is transmitted by the electrode  1311  of the display panel  131 . The transmission data TD can be transmitted, for example, between the time interval of the display data DD (blanking time), such as between two frames, or between the scanning of two row electrodes, or in the interval created by shortening the driving time of display data DD, or by superimposing a signal, with higher frequency than display data DD, on the display data DD directly. 
     In the data transmission architecture of this invention, the information transmission between the local system  1  and the peripheral system  2  includes one of the following ways: the first electrical signal ES 1  is transmitted via the electrode  1311  of the display panel  131  of the image transmission unit  13 , and the first electrical signal ES 1  is coupled and received by the receiving device  21  of the peripheral system  2  to receive the transmission data TD; or a second electrical signal ES 2  is transmitted via the transmitting device  22  of peripheral system  2 , received by the receiving module  132  of the image transmission unit  13 , and formed a receiving data RD that is further transmitted to peripheral hub  12  from the receiving unit  132 . The display panel  131  and the receiving module  132  of the image transmission unit  13  perform, respectively, as the transmitting and receiving channels for data transmission (functioning like a connecting port) so that local system  1  can establish data exchange with external peripheral system  2  via the image transmission unit  13 . The display panel  131  not only displays the image, but also functions as a channel to connect with external system. The first electrical signal ES 1  is transmitted from the electrode  1311  in a wireless way and the transmission of second electrical signal ES 2  from transmitting device  22  can be either wire or wireless (such as Bluetooth or WiFi). Because the transmission path of the first electrical signal ES 1  and the second electrical signal ES 2  are different, the first electrical signal ES 1  and the second electrical signal ES 2  will not interfere with each other and it does not matter whether the respective data are transmitted simultaneously or not, or in different order, or for representing different or same contents, or using same or different signal formats. 
     To be more specific, when the peripheral system  2  is near to the display panel  131  of the image transmission unit  13  (contacted or not), the local system  1  can transmit the first electrical signal ES 1  via the electrode  1311  of the display panel  131  and the first electrical signal ES 1  is coupled (such as capacitive coupling or inductive coupling) and received by the receiving device  21  of the peripheral system  2 . The coupling is a wireless method that signals are transmitted by near field. For different applications, the first electrical signal ES 1  or the second electrical signal ES 2  can be formed by any information to be transmitted, such as image data, sound data, text data, password data, encoded data or a combination of those. 
     When the peripheral system  2  includes other receiving devices or modules other than the receiving device  21  or there are other peripheral systems existing simultaneously, the transmission data TD may include a data tag in order to identify to which receiving device or peripheral system the data is transmitted. The data tag includes the information of receiver (i.e., the information to identify the destination of transmission data TD, such as which receiving device  21  or peripheral system) to ensure the correct delivery of information. In other words, with the data tag in the transmission data TD, the receiving device  21  can recognize whether it is the correct receiver of transmission data TD or not after receiving the first electrical signal ES 1  and may ignore the transmission data TD when it is transmitted for other devices or peripheral systems. The data tag of the transmission data TD can include information of the local system  1  (the sender information) so that the peripheral system  2  can recognize which local system, or which module or device of the local system, sends the transmission data TD. The data tag can be added into the transmission data TD by the core computing unit  11  and the peripheral hub  12 . In the same way, the receiving data RD can include a data tag with the sender information (from which peripheral system or transmitting device  22  of peripheral system  2  that the receiving data RD is transmitted) or receiver information (to which local system or receiving module of local system that the receiving data RD is sent). 
     Additionally, after the receiving module  132  receives the receiving data RD, the receiving data RD can be sent to the peripheral hub  12 . When the receiving data RD is received by the peripheral hub  12 , the peripheral hub  12  can perform the corresponding processes according to the content of receiving data RD. For instance, the receiving data RD can be sent to another unit of the local system  1 , such as to a memory device for storage, or to core computing unit  11  for computing, or to another peripheral system through the transmitting channel, like display panel  131  or other transmission modules or devices. 
       FIG. 2  is a function block diagram of a data transmission architecture according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
     Different from the data transmission architecture in  FIG. 1 , in the data transmission architecture of  FIG. 2 , the image transmitting unit  13   a  of local system  1   a  can further include a transmitting module  133  and the information transmission between local system  1   a  and peripheral system  2  may further include: transmitting the transmission data TD, simultaneously or separately, through the electrode  1311  of the display panel  131  or through the transmitting module  133 . In other words, the local system  1   a  can use both the display panel  131  and the transmitting module  133  of the image transmitting unit  13   a  as transmission channels to transmit the transmission data TD to peripheral system  2  simultaneously or separately. And, by comparing the content of two received transmission data TD, the peripheral system  2  can not only verify any problems during the transmission process but also confirm the transmission data TD is correct or not. Or, the peripheral system  2  can use the transmission data from display panel  131  for verifying personal identity or activating the function of transmitting large size data or in high speed via the transmitting unit  133 . The transmitting module  133  can be a wire or wireless (such as Bluetooth or WiFi) type transmission module. 
       FIGS. 3-5  are function block diagrams of different types of local systems  1   b ,  1   c ,  1   d  of the present invention. 
     As shown in  FIG. 3 , the local system  1   b , different from the local system  1  in  FIG. 1 , includes another core computing unit  14 , a bus  15 , an image processor  16 , a data storage unit  17 , an image decoding unit  18  and a data unit  19 . The core computing units  11 ,  14 , the peripheral hub  12 , the image processor  16 , the data storage unit  17 , the image decoding unit  18  and the data unit  19  are connected by the bus  15  and can exchange data through bus  15 . When the peripheral hub  12  receives the receiving data RD (not shown in figure), the receiving data RD can be sent to a corresponding device via the bus  15  for processing, for instance, if the receiving data RD is a high definition image, the receiving data RD can be sent to the image decoding unit  18  for decoding. Then the decoded image data is sent to and processed by the image processor  16  and, through bus  15  and peripheral hub  12 , displayed by the image processing unit  13 . Or, for the received signal from the data unit  19  (ex: Wifi, 3G or GPS), the data can be sent, via bus  15 , to the data storage unit  17  for storing or to peripheral hub  12  for subsequent processing. 
     As shown in  FIG. 4 , the local system  1   c  is different from the local system  1  in  FIG. 1  that the local system  1   c  includes more (3 units in  FIG. 4 ) core computing units  14   a ,  14   b ,  14   c , a bus  15 , an image processor  16 , a data storage unit  17 , an image decoding unit  18  and a data unit  19 . The core computing units  11 ,  14   a ,  14   b ,  14   c  and data storage unit  17  connect directly to bus  15  and the peripheral hub  12 , image decoding unit  18 , image processor  16 , and data unit  19  are connected to bus  15  through core computing unit  11 ,  14   a ,  14   b , and  14   c , respectively. According to this structure, the data that should be processed in high speed and the data that can be processed in low speed can be sent to the corresponding core computing units for processing. For example, the data, which can be processed in low speed, is received via data unit  19  and, after processed by core computing unit  14   c  and through bus  15 , is stored in data storage unit  17 . On the other hand, the image signal requiring high speed processing can be handled first by the core computing unit  14   b  then, through bus  15 , sent to the core computing unit  14   a  and image decoding unit  18  for other high speed processing. 
     As shown in  FIG. 5 , the local system  1   d  is different from the local system  1  in  FIG. 1  that the local system  1   d  includes a bus  15 , two image processors  16   a ,  16   b , a data storage unit  17 , and a data unit  19 . The core computing unit  11 , peripheral hub  12 , image processor  16   a ,  16   b , data storage unit  17  and data unit  19  are directly connected to the bus  15  respectively and can exchange data through bus  15 . The data that received by data unit  19  or receiving module  132  of the image transmission unit  13  can transmit through the bus  15  for corresponding processes, for example, stored (by data storage unit  17 ), computed (by core computing unit  11 ), image processed (by image processor  16   a ,  16   b ), transmitted (through hub and the electrode  1311  of display panel  131 ) or other processes. 
     Additionally, other technical features of the local system  1   c ,  1   d ,  1   e  in  FIGS. 3-5  can be referred to the local system  1  in  FIG. 1 . 
     In summary, in the data transmission architecture of the present invention, the information exchange between the local system and the peripheral system includes one of the following ways: a first electrical signal is transmitted by the electrode of the display panel of the image transmission unit and the receiving device of the peripheral system receives this first electrical signal by coupling and obtains the transmission data; or, a second electrical signal is transmitted by the transmitting device of the peripheral system and the receiving module of the image transmission unit receives this signal and obtains a receiving data which is sent from receiving module to the peripheral hub. In this way, not only data or file can be transmitted in a short distance, it can also act jointly with the existing communication system to expand the applications of the electronic system. Additionally, in present invention, the display panel of the image transmission unit is not only applied for displaying images, but also for data transmission in short distances, which may further expand the applications of the electronic system. 
     Although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art. It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover all modifications that fall within the true scope of the invention.