Display system for automotive vehicle

US4787040A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

• Richard N. Ames · Boca Raton, US
• Layton Balliet · Boca Raton, US
• Richard V. Ballou · Boynton Beach, US
• Stanley M. Belyeu · Boca Raton, US
• Joseph A. Boscove · Highland Beach, US
• Akram Bou-Ghannam · Boynton Beach, US
• Peter Langer · Munich, DE
• Andrew B. McNeill, Jr. · Deerfield Beach, US
• Gerald U. Merckel · Jacksonville, US
• Robert Miller, Jr. · Poughkeepsie, US
• Thomas K. Pate · Boca Raton, US
• Nicholas Schwartz · Savannah, US
• Frederick T. Slater · Boca Raton, US
• Stanford A. Strickland · Boca Raton, US
• William Craig Troop · Raleigh, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 22, 1986
• Grant date: Nov 22, 1988
• Expiry date: Dec 22, 2006

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G05B2219/23121
• WIPO field: Transport
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

An advanced display system controller is described for use in automotive vehicles. The controller has electronic circuitry to allow it to be programmed to display monochrome or color graphics and text on an all-points-addressable display device such as a CRT or an Electro-Luminescent (EL) Flat panel. The display resolution and scan rates may be programmed differently depending on the display type and size. The vehicle operator controls the display system via a reconfigurable switch system (RSS), such as an Infrared Touch Panel or Mylar Touch Switch Matrix mounted over the face of the display. In addition, external discrete switches may also be attached to the controller. The controller includes a master microprocessor and a slave microprocessor with preferred partitioning of functions and communicates with other parts of the vehicle via two serial data communication links, a Random Access bus and a Poll/Response bus. The design of this controller allows the display characteristics and supported functions to be changed through reconfigurable hardware and software, allowing a broad range of applications in different model automobiles.