JPH03636B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (a) Field of the Invention The present invention provides a control device for an electronic information display board, such as a road display board, in which a plurality of lamps are arranged in a matrix and are selectively turned on as appropriate to display desired information. Regarding.

(b) Prior art and its problems The lighting control method for this type of information display board has conventionally adopted a dynamic lighting method. That is, for example, a 60 Hz AC power source is used as the lamp lighting source, and the lighting state is maintained by sending the display data stored in the control device to the information display board every half cycle (8.3 msec).

To explain the outline of the operation during the half cycle period, as shown in Figure 1, after the lamp lighting voltage crosses 0, a time of t1 is required until the ignition level L1 is reached, and then all the lamps become incandescent. In addition, the remaining time t3 is used for monitoring processes such as pattern monitoring and out-of-ball monitoring, as well as control commands for the next half cycle (display start address, ignition start timing, display number of columns, display order, etc.).

The problem with such conventional information display board control devices is that the above-mentioned monitoring processing and sending of control commands, etc. are delayed due to the occurrence of internal program conflicts, control bus conflicts, temporal fluctuations in hardware, etc. This means that a situation may arise in which the project is not completed within the specified time period. When such a situation occurs, problems such as the monitoring contents are not guaranteed, the monitoring address becomes incorrect, the necessary monitoring data cannot be obtained, the display is disturbed, and the control operation is disturbed, etc. occur.

To explain why such inconvenience occurs,
From time period t1 to t2, the operation of the information board is started based on the information output from the control device,
In the time period t2, the lighting information is turned on, and the monitoring operation is performed and the monitoring data is taken in. Therefore, in the time periods t1 and t2, the control information,
This is because monitoring information must not be changed.

The information board operates based on the control information and monitoring information set by the CPU of the control device, so if these pieces of information are changed, the control and monitoring operations will be disrupted.

For example, if the above-mentioned display start address, number of display columns, display order, and ignition timing are in time period t3
If the output is not specified, the control action that has already been performed will be changed midway through, resulting in the control action being disrupted, some parts being displayed double or triple, and other parts not being displayed, or the column address and display. The data address may shift and the display state may become distorted.

For example, if the monitoring address is changed at time t3
If this is done elsewhere, the hardware monitoring address will be different and the necessary monitoring data will not be obtained. Also, even if the display data is restored from the monitoring data, the address does not correspond to the hardware, so $0000 or $FFFF remains in the column address monitored by the hardware, and the information that should be displayed in that column remains. It will be displayed in another column and the display will be disrupted.

However, this poses some risks when applied to road display boards, which require extremely accurate display due to their nature, and it is desirable to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks.

(c) Object of the Invention The object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks of the above-mentioned conventional devices and to provide an information display board control device that causes less erroneous display.

(d) Structure and Effects of the Invention In order to achieve the above object, the information display board control device of the present invention includes means for detecting a predetermined time period after a certain period of time from the zero cross of the AC power supply voltage; means for detecting a predetermined time period after a predetermined time period from the cross; and means for determining whether the timing for performing control processing for transmitting data to an information display board in the control device falls within the predetermined time period;
The timing of performing the control processing includes means for stopping the operation of the control device if the timing does not fall within the predetermined time according to the determination result of the determining means, and restarting means for initial restarting due to the stoppage of the operation. It is characterized by being

According to the information display board control device of the present invention, whether or not the timing at which the control device performs the control process for sending data to the information display board falls within a predetermined time period after a certain period of time from the 0 cross of the AC power supply voltage. If it is within this time period, the operation continues; however, if it does not belong to the specified time period and is outside the specified time period, the control device stops operating and then performs an initial restart. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of display errors, disturbances, and control disturbances when the processing timing of control processing and monitoring processing deviates from the proper time period, and it is possible to always display correct information.

(e) Description of Examples The present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to Examples below.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an information display system showing one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a micro CPU that performs processing operations such as monitoring the lighting of the information display board, 2 is a ROM that stores control programs and constants for the CPU 1, and 3 is a ROM that stores variables and data sent and received from a central device (not shown). 4 is an initial restart circuit, 5 is an information display board interface, 6 is a time check register, 7 is a bus, and 8 is an information display board.

The initial restart circuit 4 is a well-known circuit, and is a restart circuit that initializes and restarts the program when the CPU 1 executes a Halt command and stops.

The information display board interface 5 stores display data, sends the display data to the information display board 8 every half cycle of the lamp lighting voltage, and also sends a 0 cross signal of the lamp lighting voltage to the time check register 6. The control signal from CPU1 is sent to the information display board 8, and the signal from the information display board is sent to CPU1.
It also has the function of capturing and storing monitoring data (for example, abnormal lighting data, bulb burnout data) from the information display board 8.

The time check register 6 indicates a certain period of time after the lamp lighting voltage crosses 0 (t1+t2 shown in FIG. 1).
After that, the gate is opened for a predetermined time (t3 shown in FIG. 1). Therefore, the time check register 6 is configured so that correct data cannot be stored or loaded even if store/load processing is performed in a simple period other than time period t3.

When performing control processing or monitoring that would cause inconvenience if it is not completed within the range of time t3 of the above time period, the program stored in ROM2 is stored at the time prior to or after the processing as shown in Figure 3. Predetermined data is stored and loaded into the check register 6, and it is determined whether the resulting value matches the original predetermined data value, and if it does not match, the Halt instruction is executed, assuming that the time is not within the time period t3. ing.

Next, the operation of the portion of the embodiment circuit of FIG. 2 according to the present invention will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 3 and the time chart of FIG. 4.

The operation of the flow shown in FIG. 3 starts when a monitoring request interrupt is input. This monitoring request interrupt is input by hardware, and an example of its waveform is shown in FIG. 4c. In FIG. 4, A is the lamp power supply voltage waveform shown in FIG. 1, and B is a zero-cross detection signal.

When the above-mentioned monitoring request interrupt occurs, control processing is subsequently performed, that is, setting of display start address, number of display columns, display order, ignition start timing, etc. [see Fig. 4D]. If the execution time is not within the above time period t3, problems such as control disturbances will occur, so before starting these processes, first, in step 30, predetermined data is stored in the time check register 6, and then loaded to restore the original predetermined data. It is determined whether or not they match (step 31).
If the data match, it means that the specified data was correctly stored and loaded into the time check register 6. This means that the gate of the time check register 6 was open, that is, the time period was normal. This means that it is time period t3. Therefore, the display start address, number of display columns, display order, ignition start timing, etc. are set (step 32).

On the other hand, if the data do not match in step 31, it means that the predetermined data was not correctly stored or loaded into the time check register 6, and this means that the gate of the time check register 6 was closed, that is, the time period was normal. This means that it is outside the time period t3. In this case, if you force the display address set etc.
Since this may lead to control disturbances, the Halt command is executed to stop the operation (step 38).

As the process following the control process in step 32, it is determined whether the monitoring phase is on (step 32).
33). This monitoring phase indicates whether the polarity of the lamp power supply voltage shown in A is positive or negative half wave, and as shown in Figure 4 F, it becomes "H" in negative half wave.
(monitoring phase).

If the judgment result is NO, that is, the lamp power supply voltage is a positive half-wave, the monitoring column address set [see Figure 4 E] and the abnormal lighting/bulb burnout data set [Figure 4 G] are set.
[see FIG. 4H] and monitor flag setting processing (see FIG. 4H) is performed (step 34). If the result of the determination in step 32 is YES, that is, if it is a negative half wave, the monitoring data is taken into the OPU 1 (see FIG. 4I). Furthermore, the set abnormal lighting/bulb burnout data is reset, that is, set to the original data (see FIG. 4G), and the monitoring flag is reset (see FIG. 4H) (step 35).

When the monitoring process in step 34 or step 35 is completed, predetermined data is stored in the time check register 6 and loaded in the same manner as in step 30, and it is determined whether or not it matches the original predetermined data.
If they match, as in step 31 above,
At this point, it is still within the normal time zone t3, so the operation ends and the process moves on to the next process.

However, if data matching is not obtained, it means that the normal time zone t3 has already been reached at this point, so the Halt command is executed as in step 31 and the operation is stopped. When this stop occurs, although it is not shown in Fig. 3, the initial restart circuit 4 is activated, the program is restarted from the start, and the initial processing returns the information display board to its initial state or the state before the error occurred. will be restored. In this manner, the inconvenience that has already occurred (the time period for control processing and monitoring processing is outside the time period t3) is resolved, and display disturbances and the like are prevented from occurring.

In the above embodiment, a time check register is used as a means for checking the possible time period, but a time check flag may be used instead. The time check flag is normally off and is turned on only during time period t3. Then, the time check flag is checked at the beginning or end of the control processing or monitoring processing, which would cause problems if the processing is not completed within the time period t3 according to the program, and if it is not on, the processing is not carried out, or the CPU is halted.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a signal waveform diagram explaining the operation timing of a general information display board, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an information display control system showing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a processing flow according to the present invention of the embodiment system shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a time chart for explaining the operation of the system. 1: CPU, 2: ROM, 3: RAM, 4: Initial restart circuit, 5: Information display board interface, 6: Time check register, 7: Bus, 8: Information display board.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Data to be displayed is sent from the control device to an information display board consisting of a plurality of lamps arranged in a matrix every half cycle of the AC power supply voltage, so that the lamps are activated in accordance with the data. Select and light up
An information display board control device for displaying desired information on the information display board, comprising: means for detecting a predetermined time period after a predetermined time from a zero cross of the AC power supply voltage; and means for displaying data on the information display board in the control device. means for determining whether or not a timing for performing control processing for transmission falls within the predetermined time period; and a control device when the timing for performing the control processing does not fall within the predetermined time period according to a determination result of the determining means. 1. An information display board control device comprising: means for stopping the operation; and restart means for performing an initial restart upon stopping the operation.