Abstract:
The present invention discloses a video adapter for installing video wall quickly. The video adapter includes a microcontroller unit; a number generating unit coupled to the microcontroller unit to set a number for one display in the video wall and transmit the number to the microcontroller unit; a first connector coupled to the display; and a second connector coupled to one end of a video and audio cable; wherein the microcontroller unit processes the number and transmits the number to a video and audio control device coupled to the other end of the video and audio cable; wherein the video and audio control device assigns corresponding video signals according to the number, so as to transmit the corresponding video signals to the display in the video wall.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
       [0001]    This invention relates to video adapters, and in particular, it relates to a video adapter for achieving fast installation of video walls and related method. 
       Description of Related Art 
       [0002]    Video walls (also called TV walls) are widely used in advertisement boards, concerts, electronic billboards, etc. Because a video wall is typically formed of multiple display devices composed together, there is a large number of connection cables between the multiple display devices and the video switch which provides the video signals. When the cables between the video wall and the video switch need to be re-connected, the large number of cables may cause confusion in the connection order (e.g. which cable should be connected to which port of the video switch). Typically, the user needs to physically label the cables to indicate their corresponding display devices, making the process cumbersome. Moreover, if a connection mistake is made, it is time-consuming to identify the correct connection order. 
         [0003]    Further, when an ordinary consumer needs to connect multiple video sources to a video switch, once the connection order of one or more video sources is changed, the consumer will need to re-adapt to the new order of the video sources relative to the video terminals of the television. The above-described problems of the connection between video wall and video switch and of the connection between the video switch and multiple video sources have long caused inconvenience to the user. 
         [0004]    Therefore, there is a need to solve the above-described problems of the connection between video wall and video switch and of the connection between the video switch and multiple video sources. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    To solve the above-described problems of the connection between video wall and video switch and of the connection between the video switch and multiple video sources, embodiments of the present invention provide a video adapter for achieving fast installation of video walls and related method. 
         [0006]    To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a video adapter for fast installation of a video wall, which includes: a microcontroller unit; a number generator, coupled to the microcontroller unit, configured to set a sequence number for a display device among a plurality of display devices forming the video wall, and to transmit the sequence number to the microcontroller unit; a first connector, configured to be coupled to the display device; and a second connector, configured to be coupled to one end of a video cable; wherein the microcontroller unit processes the sequence number and transmits it to a video control device which is coupled to another end of the video cable; and wherein the video control device allocates a corresponding video signal based on the sequence number and transmits the video signal to the display device of the video wall. 
         [0007]    In another aspect, the present invention provides a video adapter for fast installation of a video wall, which includes: a microcontroller unit; a number generator, coupled to the microcontroller unit, configured to set a sequence number for a display device among a plurality of display devices forming the video wall, and to transmit the sequence number to the microcontroller unit; a first connector, configured to be coupled to the display device; a second connector, configured to be coupled to one end of a video cable; and a first hot plug detect (HPD) line, coupled to the microcontroller unit, wherein the microcontroller unit determines a voltage level of the first HPD line, processes the sequence number based on the voltage level, and transmits the sequence number to a video control device coupled to another end of the video cable, and wherein the video control device allocates a corresponding video signal based on the sequence number and transmits the video control to the display device of the video wall. 
         [0008]    In another aspect, the present invention provides a method of fast installation of a video wall, which includes: a number generator generating a sequence number and transmitting the sequence number to a microcontroller unit, wherein the sequence number is a sequence number of a display device of the video wall; the microcontroller unit processing the sequence number and transmitting it to a video control device; and the video control device allocating a corresponding video signal based on the sequence number and transmitting the video signal to the display device of the video wall. 
         [0009]    An advantage of the present invention is that the user does not need to remember the order of the multiple video cables or put physical labels on the video cables; the user can directly connect the video cables from multiple display devices or from multiple video sources to the video control device in any arbitrary order. 
         [0010]    It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description with reference to the drawings are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]    The above aspects and other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will be described in detail by referring to the following drawings: 
           [0012]      FIG. 1  schematically illustrates an application scenario of video adapter for fast installation of a video wall according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  schematically illustrates another application scenario of video adapters for fast installation of a video wall according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a video adapter for fast installation of a video wall according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram of another video adapter for fast installation of a video wall according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0016]      FIG. 5  is a block diagram of another video adapter for fast installation of a video wall according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0017]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart showing a method of fast installation of a video wall according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 7  schematically illustrates another application scenario of a video adapter for fast installation of a video wall according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0019]    Embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below. The descriptions are intended to explain the structure and method flow of the embodiments, which are intended for description purposes and do not limit the scope of the invention. In addition to the specific embodiments described herein, the invention may be applied in other embodiments. 
         [0020]    Embodiments of the present invention provide a video adapter for achieving fast installation of video walls and related method. Referring to  FIG. 1 , by using the video adapter of the present embodiments, the multiple display devices  103  of the video wall can be connected to the video control device  104  via video cables  101  in an arbitrary (i.e. undefined) order; there is no requirement for a particular connection order, i.e. no requirement for a particular correspondence between the display devices  103  and the ports of the video control device  104 . Thus, the user does not need to remember the order of the multiple video cables  101  or put physical labels on the video cables  101 ; the user can directly connect the video cables  101  to the video control device  104  in any arbitrary order. 
         [0021]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , as described above, the user can directly connect the video cables  101  to the video control device  104  in any arbitrary order. Even when the user directly connects the video cables  101  to the video control device  104  in an arbitrary order, the video control device  104  can allocate the correct video signals of the corresponding sub-images to the display devices based on the sequence numbers transmitted from the video adaptors. In  FIG. 2 , the multiple sub-images and their corresponding sequence numbers are shown on the right. For example, the display in the upper-right corner of the video wall matrix, which is numbered “1”, is connected to the connection port  3  of the video control device  104 , so the video control device  104  controls port  3  to output the correct sub-image that corresponds to display device  1 . In some embodiments, the video cables  101  include without limitation HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) cables or DVI (Digital Video Interface) cables. 
         [0022]    Note here that the term “sequence number”, or simply referred to as the “number” in this disclosure, is not limited to natural numbers or any particular numbering scheme; the term is used broadly to mean any identification scheme for identifying the position of the display devices in the video wall, so long as the definition is shared by the video control device  104  and all the video adapters. For example, the sequence number can use a pair of numbers (e.g. “1,1”, “1,2”, “3,3”, etc.), or a representation that uses characters (e.g. “A1”, “A2”, “C3”, etc.), or any suitable representation. 
         [0023]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a video adapter for fast installation of a video wall according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the video adapter  102  for fast installation of a video wall according to this embodiment includes a first connector  1022 , a second connector  1021 , a microcontroller unit  1025 , a number generator  1026 , a high-pass filter  1027  and low-pass filters  1028 . The first connector  1022  is for coupling to the port of a display device  103 . The second connector  1021  is for coupling to an end of a video cable  101 . In one embodiment, the first connector  1022  and the second connector  1021  are, without limitation, connectors compliant with HDMI or DVI specifications. The video adapter  102  further includes a power line  1023  and video signal transmission lines  1024 . The power line  1023  is coupled to the power wire of the video cable  101 , and the video signal transmission lines  1024  are coupled to the video signal transmission lines of the video cable  101 . The microcontroller unit  1025  is coupled to the power line  1023  which supplies power to the microcontroller unit  1025 . In one embodiment, one low-pass filter  1028  is coupled between the microcontroller unit  1025  and each of the video signal transmission lines  1024 , to prevent high frequency signals on the video signal transmission lines  1024  from entering the microcontroller unit  1025 . In one embodiment, the above-referenced high frequency signal includes, without limitation, TMDS (Transition Minimized Differential Signaling) signals. In one embodiment, the high-pass filter  1027  is coupled on the video signal transmission lines  1024  to prevent low frequency signals on the video signal transmission lines  1024  from entering the display device  103 . 
         [0024]    The number generator  1026  is coupled to the microcontroller unit  1025 . The number generator  1026  is used to set a sequence number for the display device  103  as one of the display devices of the video wall, and transmit the number to the microcontroller unit  1025 . In one embodiment, the microcontroller unit  1025  processes the number, and transmits the number in a low frequency signal via the video signal transmission lines  1024  to the video control device  104  which is coupled to the other end of the video cable  101 . The low frequency signal passes through the low-pass filters  1028  and is loaded onto and carried by the video signal transmission lines  1024  for transmission. Based on the number, the video control device  104  allocates a video signal of a corresponding sub-image and transmits the video signal to the display device  103  of the video wall. In one embodiment, the number generator  1026  may be, without limitation, a DIP switch or a unique number chip (e.g. a MAC address (Media Access Control address) chip). The DIP switch allows the user to manually set a number to generate the number for the display device. The unique number chip may pre-store (e.g. by burning) a unique number. When the number generator  1026  is a unique number chip, the number transmitted by the microcontroller unit  1025  is a unique number; when the video control device  104  receives the unique number, it first correlates the unique number to a sequence number of a corresponding display device, before allocating the corresponding video signal of a sub-image based on the sequence number. In one embodiment, the order of the numbers of the display devices is in accordance with the order of the numbers assigned to the image signals of the sub-images of the video wall. Note that when the number generator  1026  is a unique number chip, the video control device  104  needs to pre-store a correspondence between the unique number of each video adapter  102  and a sequence number representing the position of its connected display device in the video wall. Thus, the same video adapter  102  (with the unique number chip) should always be connected to the same display device  103 , unless the correspondence information stored in the video control device  104  is updated to reflect any change. On the other hand, when a DIP switch is used, the user may manually set the sequence number of the DIP switch for a video adapter  102  when connecting it to a display device  103 , based on the location of the display device  103  in the video wall. Thus, the same video adapter  102  does not have to be connected to the same display device  103 , as long as the DIP switch is set correctly when making a connection. 
         [0025]    In the block diagram in the upper portion of  FIG. 3 , because the low frequency signal is loaded onto and carried by the video signal transmission lines  1024 , such as TMDS which is a differential signal, the low frequency signal also needs to be a differential signal, i.e., two symmetrical low frequency signals are respectively carried by the TMDS+ and TMDS− signal lines. In the block diagram in the lower portion of  FIG. 3 , which shows the video control device  104  connected to the video cable  101 , because taking the low frequency signal from the video signal transmission lines does not affect the differential characteristics of the signal on the lines, the low frequency signal only needs to be taken from one of the TMDS+ and TMDS− signal lines. Thus, in the diagram in the upper portion of  FIG. 3 , two low-pass filters are provided, whereas in the diagram in the lower portion of  FIG. 3 , only one low-pass filter is provided. It should be noted that the numbers of components described above, such as the two low frequency signals, the two TMDS+ and TMDS− signals, one low-pass filter, two low-pass filters, or the two video signal transmission lines  1024  shown in  FIG. 3 , are all for purposes of illustration only and do not limit the scope of the invention. 
         [0026]    As shown in  FIG. 3 , in one embodiment, the video control device  104  includes video signal transmission lines  1041 , a programmable chip  1042 , a high-pass filter  1045  and a low-pass filter  1046 . The programmable chip  1042  includes a video unit  1043  and an input/output unit  1044 . In one embodiment, the programmable chip  1042  includes, without limitation, an FPGA (field-programmable gate array). In one embodiment, the input/output unit  1044  includes, without limitation, a GPIO (general-purpose input/output). One end of the video signal transmission lines  1041  are coupled to the video signal transmission lines of the video cable  101 , and the other ends of the video signal transmission lines  1041  are coupled to the video unit  1043  of the programmable chip  1042 . The high-pass filter  1045  is coupled on the video signal transmission lines  1041 , for preventing the low frequency signal from entering the video unit  1043  of the programmable chip  1042 . Thus, the video unit  1043  receives high frequency signals, such as, without limitation, TMDS signals. The low-pass filter  1046  is coupled between one of the video signal transmission lines  1041  and the input/output unit  1044  of the programmable chip  1042 , for preventing the high frequency signal from entering the input/output unit  1044 . Thus, the input/output unit  1044  receives the low frequency signal described earlier. Based on the number contained in the low frequency signal, the input/output unit  1044  of the video control device  104  allocates the video signal of the corresponding sub-image, and transmits that video signal to the display device  103  of the video wall. 
         [0027]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram of another video adapter for fast installation of a video wall according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 4 , the video adapter  102 ′ includes a first connector  1022 ′, a second connector  1021 ′, a microcontroller unit  1025 ′, and a number generator  1026 ′. The first connector  1022 ′ is coupled to a port of the display device  103 . The second connector  1021 ′ is coupled to one end of the video cable  101 . The video adapter  102 ′ further includes a power line  1023 ′, a hot plug detect (HPD) line  1024 ′, and a control line  1027 ′. The power line  1023 ′ is coupled to the power line of the video cable  101 ; the HPD line  1024 ′ is coupled to the HPD line of the video cable  101 , and the control line  1027 ′ is coupled to the control line of the video cable  101 . The microcontroller unit  1025 ′ is coupled to the power line  1023 ′, the HPD line  1024 ′ and the control line  1027 ′. The power line  1023 ′ provides power to the microcontroller unit  1025 ′. 
         [0028]    The number generator  1026 ′ is coupled to the microcontroller unit  1025 ′. The number generator  1026 ′ is used to set a sequence number for the display device  103  as one of the display device of the video wall, and transmit the number to the microcontroller unit  1025 ′. In one embodiment, the microcontroller unit  1025 ′ determines the voltage level of the HPD line  1024 ′, processes the number based on the voltage level, and transmits the number as a low frequency signal via the control line  1027 ′ to the video control device  104 ′ which is coupled to the other end of the video cable  101 . The low frequency signal is carried by the control line  1027 ′ for transmission. In one embodiment, when the microcontroller unit  1025 ′ determines that the voltage level on the HPD line  1024 ′ is a low level, the microcontroller unit  1025 ′ processes the number and transmits the number as a low frequency signal via the control line  1027 ′ to the video control device  104 ′ at the other end of the video cable  101 . Based on that number, the video control device  104 ′ allocates a video signal of a corresponding sub-image and transmits the video signal to the display device  103  of the video wall. In one embodiment, the number generator  1026 ′ may be, without limitation, a DIP switch or a unique number chip (e.g. a MAC address chip). The DIP switch allows the user to manually set a number to generate the number for the display device. The unique number chip may pre-store (e.g. by burning) a unique number. When the number generator  1026 ′ is a unique number chip, the number transmitted by the microcontroller unit  1025 ′ is a unique number; when the video control device  104 ′ receives the unique number, it first correlates the unique number to a sequence number of a corresponding display device, before allocating the corresponding video signal of a sub-image to the display device. In one embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , the order of the numbers of the display devices is in accordance with the order of the numbers assigned to the image signals for the sub-images of the video wall. 
         [0029]    As shown in  FIG. 4 , in one embodiment, the video control device  104 ′ includes a HPD line  1041 ′, a control line  1045 ′, a programmable chip  1042 ′, and a switch  1046 ′. The programmable chip  1042 ′ includes a control signal unit  1043 ′ and an input/output unit  1044 ′. In one embodiment, the programmable chip  1042 ′ includes, without limitation, an FPGA (field-programmable gate array). In one embodiment, the input/output unit  1044 ′ includes, without limitation, a GPIO (general-purpose input/output). In one embodiment, the switch  1046 ′ may be, without limitation, a one-input-two-output switch, where the control line  1045 ′ is coupled to the input of the switch  1046 ′, and the control signal unit  1043 ′ and the input/output unit  1044 ′ are respectively coupled to the two outputs of the switch  1046 ′; the HPD signal in the HPD line  1041 ′ is used as a trigger signal for the switch  1046 ′. When the HPD signal in the HPD line  1041 ′ is at a low voltage level, the switch  1046 ′ switches the control line  1045 ′ to the input/output unit  1044 ′, to forward the low frequency signal to the input/output unit  1044 ′; when the HPD signal in the HPD line  1041 ′ is at a high voltage level, the switch  1046 ′ switches the control line  1045 ′ to the control signal unit  1043 ′, to forward the control signal to the control signal unit  1043 ′. In one embodiment, the control signal is, without limitation, a CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) signal. Based on the number contained in the low frequency signal, the input/output unit  1044 ′ of the video control device  104 ′ allocates the video signal of the corresponding sub-image, and transmits that video signal to the display device  103  of the video wall. 
         [0030]      FIG. 5  is a block diagram of another video adapter for fast installation of a video wall according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 5 , the video adapter  102 ″ includes a first connector  1022 ″, a second connector  1021 ″, a microcontroller unit  1025 ″, and a number generator  1026 ″. The first connector  1022 ″ is coupled to a port of the display device  103 . The second connector  1021 ″ is coupled to one end of the video cable  101 ′. In one embodiment, the video cable  101 ′ is, without limitation, a Display Port (DP) cable. In one embodiment, the first connector  1022 ″ and the second connector  1021 ″ are, without limitation, connectors compliant with DP specifications. The video adapter  102 ″ further includes a power line  1023 ″, a HPD line  1024 ″, and an auxiliary channel line  1027 ″. The power line  1023 ″ is coupled to the power line of the video cable  101 ′; the HPD line  1024 ″ is coupled to the HPD line of the video cable  101 ′, and the auxiliary channel line  1027 ″ is coupled to the auxiliary channel line of the video cable  101 ′. The microcontroller unit  1025 ″ is coupled to the power line  1023 ″, the HPD line  1024 ″ and the auxiliary channel line  1027 ″. The power line  1023 ″ provides power to the microcontroller unit  1025 ″. 
         [0031]    The number generator  1026 ″ is coupled to the microcontroller unit  1025 ″. The number generator  1026 ″ is used to set a sequence number for the display device  103  as one of the display device of the video wall, and transmit the number to the microcontroller unit  1025 ″. In one embodiment, the microcontroller unit  1025 ″ determines the voltage level of the HPD line  1024 ″, processes the number based on the voltage level, and transmits the number as a low frequency signal via the auxiliary channel line  1027 ″ to the video control device  104 ″ which is coupled to the other end of the video cable  101 ′. The low frequency signal is carried by the auxiliary channel line  1027 ″ for transmission. In one embodiment, when the microcontroller unit  1025 ″ determines that the voltage level on the HPD line  1024 ″ is a low voltage level, the microcontroller unit  1025 ″ processes the number, and transmits the number as a low frequency signal via the auxiliary channel line  1027 ″ to the video control device  104 ″ at the other end of the video cable  101 ′. Based on that number, the video control device  104 ″ allocates a video signal of a corresponding sub-image and transmits the video signal to the display device  103  of the video wall. In one embodiment, the number generator  1026 ″ may be, without limitation, a DIP switch or a unique number chip (e.g. a MAC address chip). The DIP switch allows the user to manually set a number to generate the number for the display device. The unique number chip may pre-store (e.g. by burning) a unique number. When the number generator  1026 ″ is a unique number chip, the number transmitted by the microcontroller unit  1025 ″ is a unique number; when the video control device  104 ″ receives the unique number, it first correlates the unique number to a number of a corresponding display device, before allocating the corresponding video signal of a sub-image to the display device. In one embodiment, the order of the numbers of the display devices is in accordance with the order of the numbers assigned to the image signals for the sub-images of the video wall. 
         [0032]    As shown in  FIG. 5 , in one embodiment, the video control device  104 ″ includes a HPD line  1041 ″, an auxiliary channel line  1045 ″, a programmable chip  1042 ″, and a switch  1046 ″. The programmable chip  1042 ″ includes an auxiliary channel signal unit  1043 ″ and an input/output unit  1044 ″. In one embodiment, the programmable chip  1042 ″ includes, without limitation, an FPGA (field-programmable gate array). In one embodiment, the input/output unit  1044 ″ includes, without limitation, a GPIO (general-purpose input/output). In one embodiment, the switch  1046 ″ may be, without limitation, a one-input-two-output switch, where the auxiliary channel line  1045 ″ is coupled to the input of the switch  1046 ″, and the auxiliary channel signal unit  1043 ″ and the input/output unit  1044 ″ are respectively coupled to the two outputs of the switch  1046 ″; the HPD signal in the HPD line  1041 ″ is used as a trigger signal for the switch  1046 ″. When the HPD signal in the HPD line  1041 ″ is at a low voltage level, the switch  1046 ″ switches the auxiliary channel line  1045 ″ to the input/output unit  1044 ″, to forward the low frequency signal to the input/output unit  1044 ″; when the HPD signal in the HPD line  1041 ″ is at a high voltage level, the switch  1046 ″ switches the auxiliary channel line  1045 ″ to the auxiliary channel signal unit  1043 ″, to forward the auxiliary channel signal to the auxiliary channel signal unit  1043 ″. In one embodiment, the auxiliary channel signal is, without limitation, an AUX signal of the Display Port specification. Based on the number contained in the low frequency signal, the input/output unit  1044 ″ of the video control device  104 ″ allocates the video signal of the corresponding sub-image, and transmits that video signal to the display device  103  of the video wall. 
         [0033]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart showing a method of fast installation of a video wall according to another embodiment of the present invention. The method  60  of fast installation of a video wall includes step  601 : a number generator generates a sequence number and transmits the number to a microcontroller unit, where the sequence number is a sequence number of one of the display devices of a video wall. In one embodiment, the method  60  optionally includes step  601   a : the microcontroller unit determines a voltage level of a HPD signal; if the voltage level of the HPD signal is a low level, continue to perform step  602 . Then, in step  602 , the microcontroller unit processes the number and transmits the number to a video control device. Then, in step  603 , the video control device allocates the corresponding video signal based on the number, and transmits that video signal to the display device of the video wall. 
         [0034]    As discussed above, using the video adapter and method of the embodiments of the present invention, the user does not need to remember the order of the multiple video cables  101  or  101 ′ or put physical labels on the video cables  101  or  101 ′; the user can directly connect the video cables  101  or  101 ′ between the video control device  104  and the display devices  103  of the video wall in any arbitrary order. Similarly, as shown in  FIG. 7 , the video adapter and method can also be used between a video control device and video source devices. The upper portion of  FIG. 7  shows a connection order that the user is familiar with; the lower portion of  FIG. 7  shows that using the video adapter and method of the present embodiments, even though the connection order of the video cables has changed, the user does not need to become familiar with the new positions of the video source devices; rather, the video control device can use the numbers of the video sources transmitted from the video adapters to allocate the video signals from the multiple video sources to the corresponding display ports. In one embodiment, the order of the numbers of the ports of the display device is in accordance with the order of the numbers of the video sources, e.g., a port which the video source numbered  2  is plugged into (arbitrarily) will be numbered port  2  accordingly. 
         [0035]    It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modification and variations can be made in the video adapter device and related method of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations that come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.