Macroblock

Macroblock has been in the LED driver IC industry for more than 20 years. It has continued to invest in the existing LED display market and continuously competed in new fields; "Electric Vehicles/ Intelligent Cockpits", the automotive applications, is one of them. Macroblock are showcasing several LED driver ICs for current or upcoming automotive lighting or automotive displays at Touch Taiwan 2023.

Automotive Lighting Demonstration: Adaptive Driving Beam (ADB)
The "software-defined vehicles" concept became increasingly prevalent in the automotive industry. Designing electric vehicles/ intelligent cockpits is as flexible as developing software, and vehicles will be smarter and more autonomous. The adaptive driving beam (ADB) is an example. Vehicles automatically adjust irradiation angles and irradiation areas of ​​the high beam and low beam after considering the speed and surrounding environment. Without affecting driving visibility, vehicles with ADB can avoid strong light interference to oncoming vehicles and vehicles in front, and can specially illuminate important objects on the road, such as pedestrians, animals, road signs, etc.

Macroblock exhibits an adaptive driving beam using LED driver IC MBI6353Q at the booth. MBI6353Q has 48 channels and supports 4-scan design. It can control 192 LED zones in time-multiplexing technology. With 100mA maximum current and 24V voltage, it enables tremendous design flexibility. It can increase brightness by driving multiple LEDs in cascade. It can also drive the channels in parallel to boost drive current. As a single product meets multi-pixel, high-current and high-brightness requirements, it can streamline customers’ inventory process.

Automotive Lighting Demonstration: Full-width Rear Light
Recently, in addition to using LEDs, vehicle manufacturers have gradually begun to design LED displays as vehicle lights. Using the independent control function of LEDs, the shape design of the lights is not limited. Macroblock demonstrates an LED display as a full-width rear light. The so-called full-width rear light is designed to modify the traditional rear light or the third central brake light in a strip or narrow shape. By increasing the light-emitting area to achieve visual extension, the recognition is better after being lit at night. The full-width rear light is built-in Macroblock LED driver IC MBI5353Q that meets the automotive safety integrity level ASIL A, and the pixel pitch is 0.9375mm.

In addition to the use of LED displays for automotive lighting by car manufacturers, due to the increased autonomy of vehicle control in future electric vehicles/ intelligent cockpits, when the vehicle is stationary, the lighting system will be converted to display functions to transmit vehicle-related information, such as charging status, etc.

In-vehicle Display Demonstration: The FALD Backlight for an Interactive Safe Driving Screen, a Curved FALD Backlight Module for a Center Information Display
As vehicles were adopted more new technologies, new display usage scenarios become feasible. In addition, automakers use displays to transform vehicle interiors into futuristic and digital use experiences, creating electric vehicles/ intelligent cockpits demands for center information displays, dashboards, head-up displays, rearview mirrors, and rear-seat entertainment displays increase constantly, driving the continuous growth of vehicle display markets.

Macroblock demonstrates two full-array local dimming backlight modules:
1. The FALD Backlight for an Interactive Safe Driving Screen
A display is mounted on a steering wheel to provide driving information for the driver. Its backlight module is designed with Macroblock LED driver IC MBI5353Q, which complies with the automotive safety integrity level ASIL A. MBI5353Q also features 16-bit grayscale and the high contrast ratio brought by the local dimming, providing images with details to small size displays. Furthermore, Macroblock’s LED driver ICs come with a scanning architecture, compared to competitors who need to control the same number of zones, users only need one LED driver IC, MBI5353Q, to control dimming zones up to 1,536 zones.

2. A Curved FALD Backlight Module for a Center Information Display
The Curved Local Dimming Backlight Module is built in driver IC MBI6353Q, its innovative hybrid dimming technology, Hybrid Mode improves performances of the image at low grayscale, even in dim light, the information on the display can still be clearly delivered; In addition, MBI6353Q provides error detection with real-time reporting to meet ASIL B requirements in the vehicle safety integrity level. 

In the face of the booming global electric vehicles/ intelligent cockpits markets, Macroblock continues to explore the new specifications required for future vehicles, flexibly brings the mature technology of the original product lines and advanced technology to a promising future of electric vehicles/ intelligent cockpits.

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