Patent Publication Number: US-2007110404-A1

Title: Automotive display having a function of reading data storage media

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates a display, and particularly to an automotive display having a function of reading data storage media.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      Digital products have become very widely used in modern living. For example, mobile phones having functions of taking pictures and recording videos and digital video recorders are products of digital technology. The memory of these devices, which is repeatedly read from and written to, is small in volume and can store a great quantity of digital data. The memory is a necessity of modern life now and even has replaced the compact disc, which is easily scratched and can be written on only once.  
      The miniaturization of the liquid crystal display (LCD) has enabled the LCD to become basic equipment inside an automobile. Current automotive displays are of different types in accordance with installation places; for example, a suspended type and an embedded type. The suspended type of display is disposed inside a roof of the automobile. The embedded type of display is disposed at a dashboard in front of the driver&#39;s seat or at a rear surface of a front seat. In installation, both types of the displays are required to electrically connect with a player disposed at the dashboard for playing media. Therefore, an AV connection line is employed as a signal transmission medium between the player and the display, whereby when the player plays a compact disc, AV signals from the player are transmitted to the display for display.  
      Since only a person who sits in a front seat of an automobile can operate the player, the conventional installation manner of the display allows that person to operate the player and passengers in back seats to watch the displays showing the same AV data. However, the backseat passengers cannot control the display to show different AV data in accordance with their interests. Furthermore, in installation, the AV connection line employed as a transmission medium between the player and the display increases assembly time and complication of the display and is easily shaken when driving, which adversely affects reading quality of the read head of the player.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      An object of the present invention is to provide an automotive display having a function of reading data storage media, which is disposed with at least one data storage medium reading module for reading and coding digital audio/video (AV) data stored in a data storage medium, thereby achieving a combination of a play system and a display and so simplifying assembly of the display.  
      To achieve the above object, an automotive display having a function of reading data storage media of the present invention includes a display panel for displaying AV data and a display driving module for transmitting the AV data to the display panel for display. A data storage media reading module is electrically connected with the display driving module within the display for reading and coding digital AV data stored in a data storage medium and transmitting to the display driving module for display on the display panel.  
      The data storage media reading module includes a host circuit module for reading the digital AV data stored in the data storage media and also includes a coding circuit electrically connected with the host circuit module for coding the digital AV data read by the host circuit module and for transmitting to the display driving module for reading.  
      The host circuit module includes at least one connection port and at least one host circuit.  
      The connection port includes a memory card slot and a USB connection seat for respective insertion of the data storage media including a memory card and a USB interface storage medium. The host circuit reads the digital AV data stored in the data storage media inserted in the connection port.  
      These and other embodiments, aspects and features of the invention will be better understood from a detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, which are further described below in conjunction with the accompanying figures. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  shows a schematic view of an automotive display having a function of reading data storage media of the present invention; and  
       FIGS. 2 and 3  show perspective views of an automotive display having a function of reading data storage media in accordance with two different embodiments of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      Referring to  FIGS. 1-3 ,  FIG. 1  shows a schematic view of an automotive display having a function of reading data storage media of the present invention; and  FIGS. 2 and 3  show perspective views of an automotive display having a function of reading data storage media in accordance with two different embodiments of the present invention.  
      An automotive display having a function of reading data storage media of the present invention may be a suspended type (as shown in  FIG. 3 ) or an embedded type (as shown in  FIG. 2 ) of an automotive display and may be disposed at any proper position inside an automobile, for example, a roof of the automobile, a dashboard in front of the driver&#39;s seat, or a rear surface of a front seat.  
      As shown in the above-mentioned figures, the automotive display  1  having a function of reading data storage media of the present invention includes a display panel  10  and a display driving module  11 . The display panel  10  is employed to display AV data. In this embodiment, the display panel  10  is a TFT LCD but may be another type of display such as an OLED. The display driving module  11  processes the AV data and transmits the AV data to the display panel  10  for display.  
      The automotive display  1  having a function of reading data storage media of the present invention is characterized in that a data storage media reading module  20  is electrically connected with the display driving module  11  within the display  1  for reading and coding digital AV data stored in a data storage medium  30  and for transmitting to the display driving module  11  for displaying on the display panel  10 .  
      The data storage media reading module  20  includes a host circuit module  21  and a coding circuit  22 . The host circuit module  21  is employed to read digital AV data stored in a data storage medium. The coding circuit  22  is electrically connected with the host circuit module  21  for coding the digital data read by the host circuit module  21  and for transmitting the data to the display driving module  11  for reading.  
      The host circuit module  21  includes at least one connection port  211  and at least one host circuit  212 . The connection port  211  may be disposed at any one of side edges of the display  1  for insertion of the data storage media  30 . The host circuit  212  electrically connects with the connection port  211  for reading the digital AV data stored in the data storage medium  30 .  
      In use, the connection port  211  is a memory card slot  21  la and the data storage medium  30  is a memory card  31 . Therefore, the host circuit  212   a  electrically connected with the memory card slot  211   a  reads digital AV data stored in the memory card  31 . The memory card slot  211   a  may be selected from an SD slot, an MMC slot and a CF slot in accordance with the type of the memory card  31  to be read.  
      Furthermore, the connector  211  may be a USB connection seat  21  lb. The data storage medium  30  is a USB interface storage medium  32  (such as a USB portable drive or a hard disc).  
      Therefore, the host circuit  212   b  electrically connected with the USB connection seat  211   b  reads digital AV data stored in the USB interface storage medium  32 . At this time, the host circuit  212   b  is a host circuit with a USB.  
      Alternatively, the connection port  211  may include a memory card slot  211   a  and a USB connection seat  32  and may simultaneously read data stored in the data storage media  30  including a memory card  31  and a USB interface storage medium  32 .  
      The automotive display having a function of reading data storage media of the present invention only requires directly inserting the data storage medium  30 , which stores data and may be the memory card  31  or the USB interface storage medium  32 , into the connection port  211  at the side edge of the display  1 , whereby the host circuit  212  reads the data stored in the data storage medium  30  and transmits the data to the coding circuit  22  for coding. Then, the coded data are transmitted to the display driving module  11 , whereby the coded AV data are displayed on the display panel  10 . The data reading manner of the present invention is different from that of the prior art which employs a read head of a player to read a compact disc, thereby preventing adversely affecting reading quality due to vibration or bouncing of an automobile.  
      The preferred embodiments, aspects, and features of the invention have been described in detail. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerous variations, modifications, and substitutions may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as disclosed and further claimed below.