US-12628251-B2 - Lamp system for vehicle

US12628251B2US 12628251 B2US12628251 B2US 12628251B2US-12628251-B2

Abstract

A lamp system for a vehicle including an optical output unit including a light source drive unit, a reception unit, and a power supply unit configured to supply power to an electrical load unit and the optical output unit, one or more processors configured to execute instructions and a memory storing the instructions which configure the processors to generate the integrated control signal for controlling one or more of the electrical load unit and the optical output unit and a transmission unit providing the integrated control signal to the reception unit, the reception unit being configured to provide a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal for power control to the power supply unit based on the received integrated control signal, and the power supply unit variably supplies power to the electrical load unit and the light source drive unit based on the PWM signal.

Inventors

Myeong Je Kim

Assignees

HYUNDAI MOBIS CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20240226
Priority Date: 20230718

Claims (12)

1 . A lamp system for a vehicle, the system comprising: an optical output unit comprising: a light source drive unit configured to drive a light source unit; and a reception unit configured to receive an integrated control signal; a power supply unit configured to supply power to an electrical load unit and the optical output unit; a memory for storing instructions; a single processor, upon execution of the instructions, is configured to generate the integrated control signal for controlling the electrical load unit and the optical output unit; and a transmission unit configured to provide the integrated control signal to the reception unit, wherein the integrated control signal includes image data and a power control signal, wherein the reception unit is further configured to provide a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal for power control to the power supply unit based on the integrated control signal received from the transmission unit, wherein the power supply unit variably supplies power to the electrical load unit and the light source drive unit based on the PWM signal, wherein the transmission unit comprises an image interface configured to receive the image data, and wherein the power control signal is transmitted as a virtual PWM signal by using data from an unused data line among plural lines of the image data input to the image interface.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the power control signal includes a virtual PWM signal that is generated based on a general purpose input/output (GPIO) signal.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to: receive a pixel clock (PCLK) of the image data by using a GPIO port in the processor; and synchronize the virtual PWM signal with the image data based on the received PCLK.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the electrical load unit comprises a fan, and wherein the power supply unit controls a speed of the fan based on the PWM signal.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the power supply unit is configured to control a current flowing in the optical output unit based on the PWM signal.
6 . An apparatus, comprising: a light source; a power supply unit; a light source drive unit; an optical output unit comprising an image signal transmission line, the light source, and an electrical load; a memory for storing instructions; and a single processor, upon execution of the instructions, is configured to: generate integrated control signals for controlling the electrical load and the light source, the integrated control signals including image data and power control signals; and control the power supply unit to generate a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal to control a power supply based on the integrated control signal, wherein the power supply unit is configured to variably supply power to the electrical load and the light source drive unit based on the PWM signal, and wherein the PWM signal is provided to the optical output unit through the image signal transmission line.
7 . The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the electrical load comprises a fan configured to cool the light source.
8 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the PWM is generated to control a speed of the fan.
9 . The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the one or more processor is further configured to: encode the image data and the power control signal into a virtual PWM signal, the virtual PWM signal including a predetermined period and a duty ratio; and decode the virtual PWM signal in synchronization with a pixel clock (PCLK) signal of the optical output unit.
10 . A display apparatus, comprising: a power supply configured to provide power to a lamp, a fan, and an optical output device of the display apparatus; a control unit comprising one or more processors configured to control operations of the display apparatus, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: generate an integrated control signal including image data and power control signals; and transmit the integrated control signal to a transmission device, the transmission device transmitting the integrated control signal to a reception device of the optical output device as general purpose input/output (GPIO) signals, and wherein the reception device is configured to: decode the GPIO signals into virtual pulse width modulation (PWM) signals; and transmit the virtual PWM signal through unused data lines of an image interface of the display apparatus to provide the image data to an image source drive device of the optical output device and power control signals to the power supply.
11 . The display apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the generating of the PWM signs includes a duty ratio of 85%.
12 . The display apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising: an image signal transmission line configured to transmit the virtual PWM signal from the one or more processors to the optical output device.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2023-0092797, filed on Jul. 18, 2023, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 1. FIELD The following disclosure relates to a lamp system, and more particularly, to a lamp system for a vehicle. 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART In the recent development of an automobile headlamp, the development of an intelligent headlamp with a large emphasis on safety is actively progressing around the world, and the automobile headlamp has been evolving along with the development of lighting technology using electricity. New types of light sources such as a sealed beam lamp utilizing a headlamp like a single filament bulb, a halogen lamp using a halogen gas, and a high-intensity discharge (HID) lamp have emerged one after another. A light emitting diode (LED) lamp using light emitting diodes has been spotlighted after the 21st century. Accordingly, a high-resolution LED market is gradually expanding, and an application for road image projection of a high-resolution LED is gradually expanding. Meanwhile, it is necessary to control a current of the LED and a speed of a fan in order to drive a high-resolution communication lamp. Here, a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal may be necessary to control the LED and the fan. However, as shown in FIG. 1, the PWM signal cannot be transmitted using a conventional image signal transmission line. Therefore, an additional control unit (or a micro controller unit (MCU), for example, a second control unit 11) may be necessary to transmit the PWM signal. SUMMARY This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. In a general aspect, here is provided a lamp system for a vehicle including an optical output unit including a light source drive unit configured to drive a light source unit and a reception unit configured to receive an integrated control signal, and a power supply unit configured to supply power to an electrical load unit and the optical output unit, where one or more processors are configured to execute instructions and a memory storing the instructions, wherein execution of the instructions configures the one or more processors to generate the integrated control signal for controlling one or more of the electrical load unit and the optical output unit and a transmission unit providing the integrated control signal to the reception unit, the integrated control signal includes image data and a power control signal, the reception unit is configured to provide a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal for power control to the power supply unit based on the received integrated control signal, and the power supply unit variably supplies power to the electrical load unit and the light source drive unit based on the PWM signal. The power control signal may include a virtual PWM signal generated based on a general purpose input/output (GPIO) signal. The transmission unit may include an image interface configured to receive the image data and the power control signal may be transmitted as a virtual PWM signal by using data from an unused data line among plural lines of the image data input to the image interface. The processors may be further configured to receive a pixel clock (PCLK) of the image data by using a GPIO port in the processor and synchronize the virtual PWM signal with the image data based on the received PCLK. The electrical load unit may be a fan, and the power supply unit may control a speed of the fan based on the PWM signal. The power supply unit may be configured to control a current flowing in the optical output unit based on the PWM signal. In a general aspect, here is an apparatus including a light source, one or more processors configured to execute instructions, and a memory storing the instructions, wherein execution of the instructions configures the one or more processors to generate integrated control signals for controlling one or more of an electrical load and the light source, the integrated control signals including image data and power control signals and generate a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal to control a power supply based on the integrated control signal, the power supply variably supplying power to the electrical load and a light source drive unit based on the PWM signal. The electrical load may be a fan configured to cool the light source. The PWM may be generated to control a speed of the fan. The apparatus may include an optical output unit including an image signal transmission line, the light source, and the electrical load, the