Abstract:
A programmable LED display system is disclosed. The system includes a programmable controller; a driver operative to generate a control signal in response to a signal provided by the programmable controller; and a display device operative to provide a visual representation of the state of the system in response to the control signal. The system also includes means for determining which state condition is displayed when more than one state condition exists.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates generally to the field of electronic display devices and more specifically to the field of communication system state information displays and extensions thereto.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     Communication systems generally use light emitting diode (LED) display devices to provide a user with information about the internal state of the system. Currently, there is no standard way to reflect system state information. Each system vendor displays system state information of their respective devices according to their own protocol. Thus, the same system state information is often displayed in several different ways across the device families of the various vendors.  
         [0003]     LED display devices are the generally used to provide state information of the underlying system. The LED display device includes a processor, or other computation device, which is configured to receive signals from the underlying system, which represents the status of the various components (i.e. ports) of the system. In response to these signals, the processor directs an associated driver mechanism to display visual information, according to the particular system protocol, corresponding to the received signals. Based on the signals provided by the processor, the LED&#39;s convey information about the state of the underlying system by, for example, being turned on, turned off or blinking.  
         [0004]     A drawback associated with conventional display systems is that they can only handle predefined operations. They cannot be modified to display information that they were not designed to display, or display information from another vendor. In order to obtain the state of systems from a variety of vendors, a controller is needed from each vendor. Thus, there is a need for a universal LED display device that can be used to provide system state information for a variety of controllers from different vendors.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005]     The aforementioned and related drawbacks associated with conventional system state display devices are substantially reduced or eliminated by the present invention. The present invention is directed to a system and method for displaying system state information. The system of the present invention includes a programmable controller operative to determine the present system state of a system, the programmable controller providing a signal representative of system state; a driver operative to generate a control signal in response to the signal provided by the programmable controller; and a display device operative to provide a visual representation of the state of the system in response to the control signal.  
         [0006]     The programmable controller is flexible enough to be implemented into the systems of a variety of vendors to display the system state information thereof. The programmable controller of the present invention includes a register for storing settings appropriate to a specific application or condition, at least one port for receiving event information from the associated system and a processor operative to generate the system state signal in response to the settings and programming information stored in the register.  
         [0007]     The method of operating the display system of the present invention, comprises the steps of providing event signals representative of the condition of the system to the controller; generating signals representative of system state in response to the event signals; and displaying a visual representation of the information representing system state in response to signals generated by the programmable controller.  
         [0008]     An advantage provided by the present invention is the ability to display event information from a variety of communication systems from different vendors.  
         [0009]     Another advantage provided by the present invention is that it is less expensive to implement as compared to conventional systems requiring a microprocessor.  
         [0010]     Yet another advantage of the present invention is that it takes up less real estate than conventional systems.  
         [0011]     A feature associated with the present invention is that it can be implemented in a variety of communications systems.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]     The aforementioned and related advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent upon reviewing the following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the following drawings, where like numerals represent like elements, in which:  
         [0013]      FIG. 1 . is a simplified block diagram of the programmable LED system according to the present invention;  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a simplified diagram of the programmable controller of the present invention;  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a simplified diagram of the driver of the present invention; and  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is a timing diagram showing operation and control signals at various points on the device at various times. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0017]     The programmable LED display device of the present invention will now be described with reference to  FIGS. 1-4 .  FIG. 1  is a simplified block diagram of the programmable display system  10  according to the present invention. The system generally includes a programmable controller  12 , a driver  14  and a display device  16 . Programming information  18  appropriate to a particular system is input into the programmable controller  12 . Event information  20  indicative of the present status of a corresponding communication system  22  is provided to the programmable controller  12  by the communication system. The programmable controller  12  processes the event information  20  using functions defined by the programming information  18 , and produces a signal  24  indicative of the present state of the communication system  22 . The operation of the programmable controller  12  is described in greater detail with reference to  FIG. 2 .  
         [0018]     The driver  14  receives the signal  24  from the programmable controller  12 , and generates a control signal  26  in response to the signal  24 . The display device  16  receives the control signal  26 , and provides a visual representation of the present state of the system in response to the control signal  26 .  
         [0019]      FIG. 2  is a simplified diagram of the programmable controller  12  at  50  according to one embodiment of the present invention. The programmable controller  12  contains a plurality of sixteen bit registers ( 28 ,  40 ,  42 ,  44 ) which maintain the programming information  18 , provided thereto. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, each bit stores a value (0 or 1) independent of the value of any other bit. The program information  18  ( FIG. 1 ) determines the value of each register bit. The value of each bit is programmed to be zero or one, as is appropriate to the configuration of a particular communication system. An example of one such register is shown in Table 1.  
         [0020]     Table 1 illustrates default bit values of an LED Effect Register 1E3.  
                                     TABLE 1                           Register 1E3: LED Effect with Link Event.            Reg. bit   Name   Description   Mode   Default               15:11   Reserved       RO   00000       10:8    LED On with   When Link Up, turn   RW   011           Link Event   on corresponding LED2:0       7   Reserved       RO   0       6:4   LED Blink with   When Link Up, blink   RW   011           Link Event Event   corresponding LED2:0       3   Reserved       RO   0       2:0   LED Off with   When Link Up, turn off   RW   000           Link Event   corresponding LED2:0                  
 
 As shown in Table 1, bits  10 : 8  of Register  1 E 3  control when LED&#39;s  0  through  2  turn on. Bits  6 : 4  control when LED&#39;s  0  through  2  blink. Bits  2 : 0  control when LED&#39;s  0  through  2  turn off. Bits  15 : 11 ,  7  and  3  are reserved. LED&#39;s  0  through  2  will blink when a Link occurs and bits  6 : 4  have corresponding values of  011 . LED&#39;s  0  through  2  will not turn off when a Link occurs when the value of bits  2 : 0  have corresponding values of 000. Due to an LED operating hierarchy, LED&#39;s  0  through  2  will blink rather than be turned on when bits  10 : 8  have corresponding values of 011 and bits  6 : 4  have corresponding values of 011. This relationship is explained in more detail in Table 2. 
 
         [0022]     In one embodiment of the present invention a first event signal  30  carrying information relating to the present state of the communication system  22  containing a plurality of ports ( 31 ,  33 ,  35 ), is received by the programmable controller  12 . First event signal  30  is processed by logic functions defined by the values stored in the first register  28 , and the resulting status signal  32  is transmitted to the driver  14 . Status signal  32  carries information indicative of the present state of the communication system  22 . Driver  14  receives status signal  32  and induces a state in the first LED  46 , within LED array  16 , in response to status signal  32 . The driver  14  causes LED  46  to turn on, blink or turn off to indicate the present condition of the communication system  22  based on the information contained in Register  1 E 3  (Table 1).  
         [0023]     In the preferred embodiment of the present invention a first event signal  30  carrying information on the status of port  31  of the communication system  22  is processed with a second event signal  36  carrying different information regarding the state of port  31  using functions defined by the values stored in first register  28  and second register  40 , and producing a signal  32  responsive to both first event signal  30  and second event signal  36 . The event signals ( 30 ,  36 ,  38 ) determine the state (on, off, blink) of a corresponding one of the plurality of LED&#39;s of the display  16 .  
         [0024]     Table 2 illustrates the logical relationship between the event information received by the programmable controller  12  and the resulting state of the corresponding LED.  
                                 TABLE 2                           Port LED Programmability Table            Event   ON Condition   BLINK Condition   OFF Condition               Link (L)   A 0 =(R A0 &amp;L) | !R A0     B 0 =(R B0 &amp;L) | !R B0     C 0 =(R C0 &amp;L) |R C0         Isolate (I)   A 1 =(R A1 &amp;I) | !R A1     B 1 =(R B1 &amp;I) | !R B1     C 1 =(R C1 &amp;I) |R C1         Speed (S)   A 2 =(R A2 &amp;S) | !R A2     B 2 =(R B2 &amp;S) | !R B2     C 2 =(R C2 &amp;S) |R C2         Duplex (D)   A 3 =(R A3 &amp;D) | !R A3     B 3 =(R B3 &amp;D) | !R B3     C 3 =(R C3 &amp;D) |R C3         TX/RX Activity   A 4 =(R A4 &amp;TRA) | !R A4     B 4 =(R B4 &amp;TRA) | !R B4     C 4 =(R C4 &amp;D) |R C4         (TRA)       TX Activity   A 5 =(R A5 &amp;TA) | !R A5     B 5 =(R B3 &amp;TA) | !R B5     C 5 =(R C5 &amp;TA) | !R C5         (TA)       RX Activity   A 6 =(R A6 &amp;RA) | !R A6     B 5 =(R B6 &amp;RA) | !R B6     C 6 (Rc 6 &amp;RA) | !R C6         (RA)       Auto-Negotiate   A 7 =(R A7 &amp;N) | !R A7     B 7 =(R B7 &amp;N) | !R B7     C 7 (R C7 &amp;N) | !R C7         Active (N)       Port Disabled   A 8 =(R A8 &amp;PD) | !R A8     B 8 =(R B8 &amp;PD) | !R B8     C 8 =(R C8 &amp;PD) | !R C8         (PD)       Collision (C)   A 9 =(R A9 &amp;C) | !R A9     B 9 (R B9 &amp;C) I !R B9     C 9 =(R C9 &amp;C) | !R C9         Result   LED ON =(A 0 &amp;A 1 &amp;A 2 &amp;   LED BLINK =(B 0 &amp;B 1 &amp;B 2 &amp;   LED OFF =(C 0 &amp;C 1 &amp;C 2 &amp;           A 3 &amp;A 4 &amp;A 5 &amp;A 4 &amp;A 7 &amp;A 8 &amp;   B 3 &amp;B 4 &amp;B 5 &amp;B 6 &amp;B 7 &amp;B 8     C 3 &amp;C 4 &amp;C 5 &amp;C 6 &amp;C 7 &amp;           A 9 )&amp;({overscore (LED)} BLINK &amp;{overscore (LED)} OFF )   &amp;B 9 )&amp;{overscore (LED)} OFF     C 8 &amp;C 9 )                  
 
 A0 through A9 represent intermediate variables of the logic equations which determine when LED  46  turns on. The events occurring in a corresponding port of the communication system  22  are represented by variables Link (L), Isolate (I), Speed (S), Duplex (D), TX/RX (TRA), TX Activity (TA), RX Activity (RA), Auto-Negotiate Active (N), Port Disabled (PD) and Collision (C). As illustrated in Table 2, LED on =1 (or true) when A 0  through A 9 =1 and LED BLINK and LED OFF =0 (or false). When LED on =1 (or true), the programmable controller  12  transmits the status signal  32  which directs the driver  16  to turn first LED  46  on. First LED  46  will be directed to blink when LED BLINK==1  (or true) in the same manner as first LED  46  is directed to turn on when LED on equals one (or true) as described above. First LED  46  will be directed to turn off when LED OFF =1 (or true) in the same manner as first LED  46  is directed to turn on when LED on equals one (or true) as described above. 
 
         [0026]     As illustrated in Table 2, the Off condition of an LED supercedes the Blink condition, which in turn supercedes the On condition. This occurs because LED ON =true requires that both LED OFF  and LED BLINK  are false, as shown in the result of the ON Condition column of Table 2. Similarly for LED BLINK  to be true LED OFF  must be false.  
         [0027]     In an exemplary embodiment programming information  18  ( FIG. 1 ) sets register values R A0 , R A1 , R A6  and R B9  to 1, and all other register bits to 0. LED  46  will turn on when the Link (L) event in port  31  occurs, the Isolate (I) event in port  31  occurs, and the RX Activity (RX) event in port  31  occurs, but no other event occurrence will cause LED  46  to turn on. LED  46  will blink, for example, when the Collision (C) event in port  31  occurs.  
         [0028]     First LED  46  can be turned on, off, or blink by manipulating the values of register bits R A0  through R C9  as illustrated by the equations of Table 2. The programmable controller  12  can be programmed through the input of programming information  18  to cause any LED in array  16  corresponding to a particular port to turn on, off or blink in response to any event or any combination of events occurring in that port.  
         [0029]      FIG. 3  is a schematic circuit diagram of the driver  14  and LED array  16  of one embodiment of the present invention at  100 . The driver  14  includes a state machine  62  and a plurality of relay lines ( 64 ,  66 ,  68 ). Each of the relay lines controls the active status of a corresponding column of LED&#39;s  46  within the LED array  16 .  
         [0030]     According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the state machine  62  is a counter which consecutively induces a positive voltage signal for a short time period in each of the relay lines. Thus, for example, when a voltage is provided on relay line  64 , the corresponding column  76  of LED&#39;s in array  16  is made active When first relay line  64  induces a positive voltage signal in a first tri-state device  70 , tri-state device  70  will close and allow a first signal portion  73  of the signal  24  ( FIG. 2 ) from programable controller  12  ( FIG. 2 ) directed to first LED  46  to transmit through tri-state device  70  along a first driver line  71 , and through first latch  72 , transmitting a positive voltage signal to the anode of first LED  46 . At the same time the positive voltage signal in the first relay line  64  will be inverted by a first inverter  74  and transmit a negative voltage signal through a first column line  76  of the LED array  16  to a cathode lead of first LED  46 . If the cathode lead of first LED  46  receives a positive voltage signal while the anode lead of first LED  46  receives a negative voltage signal, current will pass through first LED  46  and first LED  46  will emit light. First LED  46  will only emit light when first relay line  64  carries a positive voltage signal and first tri-state device  70  receives a positive voltage signal from the programmable controller  12 . First tri-state device  70  is one tri-state device in an array of identical tri-state devices. A second LED  78  will only emit light when third relay line  68  carries a positive voltage value and a second signal portion  80  of signal  24  ( FIG. 2 ) transmits a positive voltage value to a second tri-state device  82 . In this way an LED array of nine LEDs can be driven with only three relay lines and three driver lines, and an LED array of sixteen LEDs can be driven by four relay lines and four driver lines. In the preferred embodiment sixty-four LEDs are driven by eight relay lines and eight driver lines, with sixty-four tri-state devices receiving portions of the signal  24  ( FIG. 2 ).  
         [0031]     Because an LED in the LED array  16  can emit for a portion of the cycle generated by counter  62 , counter  62  must cycle through the relay lines rapidly enough such that a human eye cannot discern the cycles in the light emitted by the LEDs. To facilitate blinking in first LED  46 , the first signal portion  73  will carry a positive signal for only a portion of time such that first LED  46  will blink. The blink rate of signal portion  73  will be much lower than the cycle rate of counter  62 . An exemplary blink rate for signal portion  73  of two to four hertz is desirable.  
         [0032]      FIG. 4  is a timing diagram showing voltage values of the programmable display apparatus. At time period  1  first relay line  64  carries a positive voltage value, first column line  76  carries a negative voltage value and first signal portion  73  carries a positive voltage value. These values cause first LED  46  to carry a positive voltage value and emit light. At time period  4  first relay line  64  carries a positive voltage value, first column line  76  carries a negative voltage value and first signal portion  73  carries a positive voltage value causing first LED  46  to again emit light. At time period  2  and time period  3  first LED  46  does not emit light. This period of time when first LED  46  is not emitting light is not discernable to human vision.  
         [0033]     Although the present invention has been described in terms of specific embodiments, it is anticipated that alterations and modifications thereof will no doubt become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is therefore intended that the following claims be interpreted as covering all such alterations and modification as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.