ISELED – A revolutionary Approach to Ambient Lighting and Display Matrix Backlight in Automotive Applications

The paper introduces the ISELED smart LED concept, which could be an RGB or any other colored LED with an integrated circuit (ISELED). Such smart LEDs can be connected in a daisy chain, via a bidirectional differential bus. Calibration and Control of the LED can be done very comfortably over the daisy chained ISELED bus. Diagnostics of the LEDs and the bus are possible, due the read back function of the bus and intagrated sensors in the controller. Capabilities which are very important in automotive applications. Each LED can be individually addressed and controlled, which allows dynamic and functional lighting applications not possible before. Two typical automotive applications - an advanced ambient lighting system as well as a new approach to matrix backlighting for LCD panels allowing local dimming and high contrast - are then explained in detail.