Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 8
Claim 1
Independent Claim
249 words
A display system for a vehicle comprising a display unit (36) for displaying graphics and text to an operator of the vehicle, touch switch entry means (36b) for entry of desired function information by the operator and generation of touch input signals, discrete switch entry means (36c) for entry of additional function information by the operator and generation of discrete signals, and a display controller (34) for controlling said display system operations by selective partitioning of system functions, characterised in that said display controller comprises an input/output (I/O) channel, an interprocessor data link (57) for transferring data and commands between data processors, a master microprocessor (50) for issuing control signals and responding to control signals representative of selected system functions, storage means (51,52) associated with said master microprocessor for storing master data and commands and a master control program to control master functions in said system, said master functions including control of graphics and text for display on said display unit in response to said touch switch means and said discrete switch means, and a slave microprocessor (60) for issuing and responding to control and data signals involving communication with said master microprocessor via said input/output channel and said interprocessor data link, and storage means (61,62) associated with said slave microprocessor for storing slave data and commands and a slave control program to control slave functions in said system, said slave functions including control and monitoring of communications internally within said display controller and externally by said display controller.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
249 words
A display system for a vehicle comprising a display unit (36) for displaying graphics and text to an operator of the vehicle, touch switch entry means (36b) for entry of desired function information by the operator and generation of touch input signals, discrete switch entry means (36c) for entry of additional function information by the operator and generation of discrete signals, and a display controller (34) for controlling said display system operations by selective partitioning of system functions, characterised in that said display controller comprises an input/output (I/O) channel, an interprocessor data link (57) for transferring data and commands between data processors, a master microprocessor (50) for issuing control signals and responding to control signals representative of selected system functions, storage means (51,52) associated with said master microprocessor for storing master data and commands and a master control program to control master functions in said system, said master functions including control of graphics and text for display on said display unit in response to said touch switch means and said discrete switch means, and a slave microprocessor (60) for issuing and responding to control and data signals involving communication with said master microprocessor via said input/output channel and said interprocessor data link, and storage means (61,62) associated with said slave microprocessor for storing slave data and commands and a slave control program to control slave functions in said system, said slave functions including control and monitoring of communications internally within said display controller and externally by said display controller.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
79 words
A display system as claimed in claim 1 characterised in that said display controller comprises a Poll/Response bus (17) for transmitting to said display controller monitoring and control signals involving Poll-Response devices in said vehicle such as, for example, engine control, body control and instrument panel modules, and a Random Access bus (16) for transmitting to said display controller control and monitoring signals involving random access devices in said vehicle such as for example, entertainment and climate control modules.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
33 words
A display system as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 characterised in that said display controller comprises means for generating different styles of graphics and text for displaying on said display unit.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
58 words
A display system as claimed in claim 3 characterised in that said display controller comprises supervisor control means incorporated in the control program of said master microprocessor for automatically reconfiguring said video graphics and text as well as messages and formats in accordance with the characteristics of the vehicle in which said display system is to be incorporated.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
43 words
A display system as claimed in claim 4 characterised in that said display controllercomprises means for reconfiguring said graphics and text by selectively loading tables into the storage means of said master microprocessor and using said tables to initialise said graphics and text.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
84 words
A display system as claimed in claim 5 as dependent on claim 2 characterised in that said master control program includes master supervisor control means for said master processor and said slave control program includes slave supervisor control means for said slave processor, and in that said master and slave supervisor control means support loading of message identification and response tables from said master microprocessor for processing of data and commands by said slave microprocessor via said Poll/Response bus and said Random Access bus.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
23 words
A display system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims characterised in that said interprocessor data link comprises RAM arbitration logic.