# US 2014/0152902 A1 · Systems and methods for display board control > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2014/0152902 A1 - Document ID: US20140152902A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 13/692,412 - Filed: 2012-12-03 - Published: 2014-06-05 - Earliest claimed: 2012-12-01 - Assignees: LSI Industries, Inc. - Applicants: Lsi Industries, Inc. - Inventors: Marc Morrisseau - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140152902A1 ## CPC - G09G 3/3208: organic, e.g. using organic light-emitting diodes [OLED] - G06F 3/1446: {display composed of modules, e.g. video walls} - G06F 13/426: {using an embedded synchronisation, e.g. Firewire bus, Fibre Channel bus, SSA bus} - H04N 5/66: Transforming electric information into light information (scanning details H04N3/00) - G09G 2330/025: Reduction of instantaneous peaks of current - Y02D 10/00: Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management - G09G: ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION (arrangements for transferring data between digital computers and displays G06F3/14; static indicating arrangements comprising an association of a number of separate sources or light control cells G09F9/00; static indicating arrangements comprising integral associations of a number of light sources H01J, H01K, H10H, H05B33/12; scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission, details thereof H04N1/00) - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION - Y02D: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE ## Abstract Systems and methods are described for providing data to the multiple LED blocks of a LED display board. Each LED block can include an electrical connection or interface that has a reduced complexity compared with prior LED display boards. Six pins may be used for the connections between blocks—including a ground pin, an input/output (I/O) pin, two video link pins, and two communication link pins. Systems and methods are described for controlling the power supplied to LED block(s) of a LED display board. A power controller coordinates the supply of power to the LED blocks. The power controller controls the supply of power to selected groups of the blocks of a video board in a way to reduce the differences in peak instantaneous power supplied to sections of the display board or the entire display board itself, and thereby increase the useful service life of the power supply components. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer-implemented method for providing instructions to a plurality of light-emitting diode (LED) blocks arranged according to an order, each LED block from among the plurality of LED blocks having a corresponding input/output (I/O) pin, the method comprising: providing, via a multicast connection, instructions to the plurality of LED blocks to set the corresponding I/O pins to a first value; setting a corresponding I/O pin of the controller to a second value; providing, via the multicast connection, output settings to the plurality of LED blocks, wherein the output settings are provided for processing at one or more LED blocks having the corresponding I/O pin set to the first value and having a corresponding I/O pin of an immediately previous LED block according to the order set to the second value, and wherein the output settings are not provided for processing at one or more LED blocks having the corresponding I/O pin set to the second value or having the corresponding I/O pin of the immediately previous LED block set to the first value; and providing, via the multicast connection, instructions for each LED block to set the corresponding I/O pin to the second value if the corresponding I/O pin of the immediately previous LED block was previously set to the second value. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the corresponding I/O pin of the controller corresponds to the corresponding I/O pin of the immediately previous LED block for a first LED block according to the order. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the multicast connection comprises a video link. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the video link comprises exactly two pins at each LED block. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the multicast connection comprises a communication link. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, wherein the communication link comprises exactly two pins at each LED block. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the I/O pin for a specific LED block serves as an output pin for the specific LED block and an input pin for an immediately next LED block according to the order. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the order corresponds to an order in which the output settings are provided for processing at the plurality of LED blocks. ### Claim 9 A non-transitory computer-readable medium for providing instructions to a plurality of light-emitting diode (LED) blocks arranged according to an order, each LED block from among the plurality of LED blocks having a corresponding input/output (I/O) pin, the computer-readable medium comprising code for: providing, via a multicast connection, instructions to the plurality of LED blocks to set the corresponding I/O pins to a first value; setting a corresponding I/O pin of the controller to a second value; providing, via the multicast connection, output settings to the plurality of LED blocks, wherein the output settings are provided for processing at one or more LED blocks having the corresponding I/O pin set to the first value and having a corresponding I/O pin of an immediately previous LED block according to the order set to the second value, and wherein the output settings are not provided for processing at one or more LED blocks having the corresponding I/O pin set to the second value or having the corresponding I/O pin of the immediately previous LED block set to the first value; and providing, via the multicast connection, instructions for each LED block to set the corresponding I/O pin to the second value if the corresponding I/O pin of the immediately previous LED block was previously set to the second value. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the corresponding I/O pin of the controller corresponds to the corresponding I/O pin of the immediately previous LED block for a first LED block according to the order. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the multicast connection comprises a video link. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the video link comprises exactly two pins at each LED block. ### Claim 13 (depends on 9) The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the multicast connection comprises a communication link. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the communication link comprises exactly two pins at each LED block. ### Claim 15 (depends on 9) The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the I/O pin for a specific LED block serves as an output pin for the specific LED block and an input pin for an immediately next LED block according to the order. ### Claim 16 (depends on 9) The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the order corresponds to an order in which the output settings are provided for processing at the plurality of LED blocks. ### Claim 17 A light-emitting diode (LED) block comprising: exactly six pins, the exactly six pins comprising: a ground pin, an input/output (I/O) pin operative to be set to a first value or a second value, two communication link pins operative to receive communication settings, and two video link pins operative to receive video settings; and processing hardware operative to implement instructions stored in a computer-readable medium; and the computer-readable medium comprising the instructions for: providing for processing of the communication settings or video settings received via the two communication link pins or the two video link pins if the I/O pin is set to the first value and an I/O pin of an immediately previous LED block in an order is set to the second value; and foregoing providing for processing of the communication settings or video settings received via the two communication link pins or the two video link pins if the I/O pin is set to the second value or an I/O pin of the immediately previous LED block in the order is set to the first value. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The LED block of claim 17, wherein the I/O pin is connected to a controller via a connection, the connection being in parallel with a connection to the controller of the I/O pin of the immediately previous LED block. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The LED block of claim 17, wherein the two communication link pins are connected to a controller via a connection, the connection being in series with a connection to the controller of communication link pins of the immediately previous LED block. ### Claim 20 (depends on 17) The LED block of claim 17, wherein the two video link pins are connected to a controller via a connection, the connection being in series with a connection to the controller of video link pins of the immediately previous LED block. ### Claim 21 A system for providing data to LED blocks, the system comprising: a plurality of LED blocks arranged according to an order, each LED block from among the plurality of LED blocks comprising: a ground pin, a corresponding input/output (I/O) pin operative to be set to a first value or a second value, the corresponding I/O pin serving as an input pin for an immediately next LED block according to the order, and at least one and at most four data pins operative to receive output settings, the at least one and at most four data pins being coupled to a controller via a multicast connection; and the controller comprising: processing hardware operative to implement instructions stored in a computer-readable medium, and the computer-readable medium comprising the instructions for: providing, via the multicast connection, instructions to the plurality of LED blocks to set the corresponding I/O pins to the first value; setting a corresponding I/O pin of the controller to the second value, the corresponding I/O pin of the controller functioning as the corresponding input pin of a first LED block according to the order; providing, via the multicast connection, the output settings to the plurality of LED blocks, wherein the output settings are provided for processing at one or more LED blocks having the corresponding I/O pin set to the first value and having a corresponding input pin set to the second value, and wherein the output settings are not provided for processing at one or more LED blocks having the corresponding I/O pin set to the second value or having the corresponding input pin set to the first value; and providing, via the multicast connection, instructions for each LED block having the corresponding input pin previously set to the second value to set the corresponding I/O pin to the second value. ### Claim 22 (depends on 21) The system of claim 21, wherein setting the corresponding I/O pin of the controller to the second value comprises transmitting a message via a unicast connection.