KR100565196B1 - Apparatus and method for driving electronic ink display panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an electronic ink display panel driving apparatus and method suitable for improving the contrast of a panel by using a manual driving method capable of driving a panel in a passive matrix form and for improving the image quality by equalizing the state of cells. A method of driving an electronic ink display panel having a plurality of data lines and scan lines for applying a driving voltage, the method comprising: applying a data pulse to the plurality of data lines, and selecting one of the floating scan lines Applying a scan line reset pulse after applying a scan pulse synchronized with the data pulse to the scan line, and sequentially performing the step on all the scan lines, and then applying a frame reset pulse to all the scan lines. By doing so, it is possible to drive the electronic ink display panel in the form of a passive matrix. In addition, the contrast of the panel can be improved, and the image quality can be improved by equalizing the state of the cells.

Description

Electronic ink display panel driving device and method {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DRIVING ELECTRONIC INK DISPLAY PANEL}

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a cell structure of a typical electronic ink display element.

2 is an exemplary view showing a reaction of an electronic ink display device according to an operating voltage.

3 is a drive waveform diagram of a general matrix method.

FIG. 4 is a diagram comparing voltages applied to respective electronic ink display elements in part A of FIG.

Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing the construction of the electronic ink display panel drive device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a detailed view of the scan driver of FIG. 5; FIG.

Fig. 7 is a drive waveform diagram of the method for driving an electronic ink display panel of the present invention.

** Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings **

10: Scan drive unit 11: Pulse generator

12: Floating drive unit 20: Electronic ink display panel

30: data driver 31: drive IC

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for driving an electronic ink display panel, and in particular, by using a manual driving method capable of driving a panel in a passive matrix form, to improve the contrast of the panel and to improve the image quality by equalizing the state of cells. The present invention relates to an electronic ink display panel driving apparatus and method suitable for the present invention.

Digital paper displays are being developed as next-generation display devices, followed by liquid crystal displays, plasma display panels, and organic luminescence devices. In particular, electronic paper is a flexible substrate such as a thin plastic with millions of beads scattered in an oil hole, and a display element that can display characters or images. It can be reproduced and used millions of times. It is expected to be a material to replace existing print media such as newspapers and magazines.

Electronic Ink Display Device is the core of flexible (or paper) display, and is based on electrophoresis which is based on electrophoresis that applies electromagnetic field to conductive material to make it moveable. After the conductive particles are distributed between the flexible substrates, the data are represented by a change in the arrangement of the particles due to a change in polarity of the electromagnetic field.

The electronic ink display device is portable and flexible by using a flexible substrate, and has a simple electrode structure, a simple process, low cost, large size, and no backlight. On the other hand, since it relies on the movement of the fine particles in principle, it is not suitable for realizing moving images due to a slow response time, and has a disadvantage in that full color and gray scale are limited.

The structure and operation of such an electronic ink display device and a method of driving a panel in a passive matrix form are as follows.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a cell structure of a general electronic ink display device. As shown, the upper and lower substrates 1 and 8 formed of either plastic or glass, and the upper and lower electrodes 2 and 7 for applying a driving voltage of the device on the upper and lower substrates 1 and 8. ), A capsule (6) formed between the two electrodes (2, 7), black particles (5) and white particles (3) and dielectric fluid (4) formed inside the capsule (6) It is composed.

The electronic ink display device having the above configuration may implement black and white by applying an electric field to the upper electrode 2 and the lower electrode 7. That is, when a positive potential is applied on the upper electrode 2 and the lower electrode 7, the white fine particles 3 are drawn upwards, and the black fine particles 5 are drawn downwards to display white. On the contrary, when a negative potential is applied to the upper electrode 2 and the lower electrode 7, the opposite phenomenon occurs to display black.

Figure 2 shows the response of the cell to the operating voltage, the negative voltage is applied to the upper and lower electrodes (2, 7) to the R (red) cell, the voltage is not applied to the G (green) cell B A positive voltage was applied to the (blue) cell. Looking at the operation of each cell when the voltage is applied as described above, the red cell (R) particles (M _R ) are attracted to the lower electrode (7), because the R cell is applied a negative voltage, the black particles (M _BL ) Is attracted to the upper electrode 2 and becomes black. In the B cell, since the positive voltage is applied, the blue (B) fine particles (M _B ) are attracted to the upper electrode (2), and the black fine particles (M _BL ) are attracted to the lower electrode (7) to form a blue color. Since no voltage is applied to the cell, the cells are in a form in which green (G) particles (M _G ) and black particles (M _BL ) are randomly mixed.

At this time, the change of the cell reacts sensitively according to the voltage applied between the upper electrode 2 and the lower electrode 7, but when driven by the conventional simple matrix method, there is a difference in the amount or speed at which fine particles are attracted. do.

3 illustrates a conventional simple matrix driving method, and describes an operation when the driving method is applied to an electronic ink display panel of a passive matrix type. As shown in FIG. 3, the conventional simple matrix driving method is not shown, but a plurality of data lines (upper electrode lines) and scan lines (lower electrode lines) (scan lines 1 to N) are configured in a matrix form. Applying a scan pulse falling from a predetermined negative voltage (-V _s ) to the ground voltage to the electronic ink display device connected to the first scan line in the plurality of data lines, and a plurality of data lines configured in the display panel during the time Data pulses are applied to D ₁ to D _m ) to operate the display elements. The ground voltage is applied to the remaining scan lines to which the scan pulse is not applied, and this process is performed for all scan lines.

After all display elements operate, a reset pulse having a predetermined negative voltage is applied to all data lines D ₁ to D _m .

However, since the electronic ink display device does not have a threshold voltage unlike other display devices in the related art, a predetermined voltage is applied to the non-driven electronic ink display device to drive a cell, thereby driving all cells. There is this.

FIG. 4 shows the voltage applied to the cell during the portion A of FIG. 3, and as shown in FIG. 4, the cell of the first scan line (scan line 1) to which the data pulse and the scan pulse are simultaneously applied operates normally, and the data pulse The voltage applied to the cells of the first scan line (data line scan line 1) also to the cells of the other scan lines (data line scan line 2 to data line scan line N) which are only applied and not subjected to the scan pulse. It takes _a lower voltage (V _b ) than V _a ) and slows it down, but the particles move inside the cell. In this case, one data signal is caught by the scan electrodes of the other cells so that the operation of the cells cannot be distinguished, and thus driving is impossible. In other words, manual driving cannot be performed.

Due to these problems, electronic ink display devices are being developed by other companies or advanced companies using active matrix panels. However, the active matrix electronic ink display panel has a disadvantage in that it is complicated to manufacture, expensive, and complicated to drive compared to the passive matrix type.

As described above, the electronic ink display panel of the conventional active matrix type has a problem in that the manufacturing process is complicated, expensive, and complicated to drive compared to the passive matrix type electronic ink display panel.

In addition, the conventional passive matrix type electronic ink display panel has a problem in that the electronic ink display device cannot use the passive driving method because there is no threshold voltage.

Therefore, in view of the above problem, the present invention applies a data pulse having a positive voltage to a plurality of data lines, and applies a scan pulse having a negative voltage synchronized with the data pulse to a selected scan line among the floating scan lines. By applying a scan line reset pulse having a predetermined amount of voltage after application, and applying the frame reset pulse having a predetermined amount of voltage to all scan lines when the above process is performed for all scan lines, An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic ink display panel driving apparatus and method suitable for not only driving an electronic ink display panel but also improving the contrast of the panel and equalizing the state of the cells to improve the image quality.

In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic ink display panel driving apparatus and method capable of simplifying the configuration of the panel by driving the panel in a passive matrix form, thereby simplifying the manufacturing process of the panel.

The electronic ink display panel driving apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object is a electronic ink display panel driving apparatus having a plurality of data lines and scan lines for applying a driving voltage, the predetermined amount of the plurality of data lines. A data driver for applying a data pulse having a voltage of; Floating a plurality of scan lines, applying a scan pulse having a predetermined negative voltage or a scan line reset pulse having a predetermined positive voltage or configuring the panel to a selected scan line; And a scan driver for applying a frame reset pulse having a predetermined amount of voltage to all the scan lines.

The scan driver may include a pulse generator configured to output a pulse signal of one of the scan pulse, the scan line reset pulse, and the frame reset pulse by turning on / off a plurality of switching means provided by an externally input switching control signal. Wow; The floating driving unit is configured to float the plurality of scan lines and to switch on / off a plurality of switching means provided by an externally input switching control signal to apply a pulse signal output from the pulse generator to the selected scan line. It is characterized by comprising the configuration.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of driving an electronic ink display panel, comprising: applying data pulses to the plurality of data lines; Applying a scan pulse in synchronization with the data pulse to a selected one of the floating scan lines in a floating state and then applying a scan line reset pulse; The step of applying the scan line reset pulse sequentially to all the scan line, characterized in that consisting of applying a frame reset pulse to all the scan line.

The pulse width and voltage level of the frame reset pulse may be greater than the pulse width and voltage level of the scan line reset pulse.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of the electronic ink display panel driving apparatus and method of the present invention having the above characteristics will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing the construction of the electronic ink display panel drive device of the present invention. As shown, an electronic ink display panel in which a plurality of data lines D ₁ to D _m and a scan line (Scan lines 1 to N) are vertically intersected and cells exist at the intersections. 20 and a data driver 30 having a plurality of switching means SWa and SWb and comprising a plurality of driving ICs 31 for applying a data pulse having a predetermined amount of voltage V _D to the data line. And a scan pulse having a predetermined negative voltage or a scan line reset pulse or a frame reset pulse having a predetermined positive voltage to a selected scan line among a floating scan line having a plurality of switching means. It comprises a scan driver 10 to apply.

The scan driver 10 outputs a scan pulse, a scan line reset pulse, or a frame reset pulse by a control signal (not shown) input from the outside, and is output from the pulse generator 11. And a floating driver 12 for applying a predetermined pulse signal to selected scan lines among the floating scan lines.

FIG. 6 shows a detailed configuration of the scan driver shown in FIG. As shown, the pulse generator 11 includes a plurality of switching means sw1 to sw3 and applies a predetermined negative voltage (-V _s ) which is synchronized with the data pulse output from the driving IC 31. Outputs a scan pulse having a predetermined amount of voltage V _r or a scan line reset pulse having a predetermined amount of voltage V _F , and the floating driver 12 outputs a plurality of switching means SW1. SWN), and applies a predetermined pulse signal (one of a scan pulse, a scan line reset pulse, and a frame reset pulse) output from the pulse generator 11 to a selected scan line among the floating scan lines. .

Here, the plurality of switching means provided in the pulse generator 11 and the floating generator 12 is controlled (on or off) by a predetermined switching control signal output from an externally configured controller (not shown), The control signals applied to the switching means of the floating driver 12 are basically in the state in which the off switching control signal is applied, and all the scan lines (scan lines 1 to scan line N) are in the floating state. The on switching control signal is input for a predetermined time to apply a predetermined pulse signal output from the pulse generator 11 to the selected scan line.

FIG. 7 illustrates a driving waveform for the present invention. As shown, the driving method of the present invention applies a data pulse having a positive voltage V _D to a plurality of data lines D ₁ to D _m . And a scan line having a positive voltage V _r after applying a scan pulse having a negative voltage (-V _s ) synchronized with the data pulse to a selected one of the floating scan lines in a floating state. Applying a reset pulse, and sequentially performing the step on all scan lines (Scanline 1 to Scanline N) and then applying a frame reset pulse having a positive voltage V _F to all scan lines. Is made of.

The scan line reset pulse remains on because there is no charge movement even when the cell is turned off after the scan pulse is applied (cell on), and the cell which is on for driving the next data remains black. The frame reset pulse serves to maintain a black state regardless of all cell states constituting the panel 20. The width and voltage level V _r of the scan line reset pulse are such that they do not affect adjacent scan lines, and these values can be determined by the product manufacturer.

In addition, since the frame reset pulse has a slow response speed due to the characteristics of the electronic ink display device, a pulse width having a wide pulse width and a high voltage level is supplied to rapidly change the state of the cell, thereby controlling the contrast and the response speed of the cell. That is, the voltage level V _F of the frame reset pulse is greater than the voltage level V _{r of the} scan line reset pulse, and the pulse width is also wider than the pulse width of the scan line reset pulse.

Then, the operation of the present invention made of these steps will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

First, when frame data is input to externally drive a cell, each driver IC 31 of the data driver 30 outputs a data pulse for driving the cell as a data line. In other words, the SWa is turned on for a predetermined time and then turned off to output the V _D voltage by the externally input switching control signal, and the SWb is turned on to output the ground voltage GND to output the data pulse having the V _D voltage level. Apply to the line.

To drive the cell to which the data pulse is applied, for example, to drive the cells connected to the first scan line (scan line 1), sw3 of the pulse generator 11 and SW1 of the floating driver 12 are turned on. Therefore, a scan pulse having a voltage level of -V _s is applied to only the first scan line among the floating scan lines. Data pulses applied to the plurality of data lines and scan pulses applied to the first scan line are synchronized to drive cells connected to the first scan line to display predetermined data.

Here, since the scan lines other than the selected scan line are all floating during the time that the data pulse is applied, no voltage is applied to the unselected cells unlike the conventional passive driving method.

After a scan pulse is applied to the selected scan line, a scan line reset pulse having a predetermined width and positive voltage V _r is applied to maintain the cells of the scan line to which the scan pulse is applied. That is, sw2 of the pulse generator 11 and SW1 of the floating driver 12 are turned on for a predetermined time to apply a scan line reset pulse to the scan line 1 to maintain the cells in the on state. At this time, the 0V voltage GND is applied to all data lines.

This process is performed sequentially from the first scan line (scan line 1) to the last scan line (scan line N), that is, after inputting a scan pulse synchronized with a data pulse applied as a data line to the selected scan line, The process of applying a scan line reset pulse for maintaining the cells of the selected scan line in a black state is sequentially performed until the last scan line, and after a predetermined time, the cell data for displaying the next frame data is displayed. A frame reset pulse is applied to all scan lines to keep all cells black regardless of state.

Referring to the process of applying the frame reset pulse to all the scan line, all the switching provided in the sw1 and the floating driver 12 of the pulse generator 11 to make all cells black after all the frame data is displayed. The means SW1 to SWN are turned on for a predetermined time (a time sufficient to keep all cells black) to apply a frame reset pulse having a V _F voltage level to all scan lines. Of course, SWb of all the driving ICs 31 of the data driver 30 is turned on during the time when the frame reset pulse is applied, and the ground voltage is applied to all the data lines.

Since the present invention applies a positive voltage to the data line and a negative voltage to the scan line, the voltage applied to the cell can be divided to lower the voltage of the driving IC, thereby reducing the cost of the driving IC. There is an advantage.

In addition, using the driving method of the present invention can drive the panel of the passive matrix form has the advantage that the manufacturing process is simple and the price can be cheap, so that the price can be competitive.

As described in detail above, the present invention applies a data pulse having a positive voltage to a plurality of data lines, and applies a scan pulse having a negative voltage synchronized with the data pulse to a selected scan line among floating scan lines. By applying a scan line reset pulse having a predetermined amount of voltage after application, and applying the frame reset pulse having a predetermined amount of voltage to all scan lines when the above process is performed for all scan lines, Not only can the electronic ink display panel be driven, but also the contrast of the panel can be improved, and the image quality can be improved by equalizing the state of the cells.

In addition, the present invention has the effect that by driving the panel of the passive matrix form, the manufacturing process of the panel is simple, the price is low, and the configuration of the panel can be simplified.

Claims (5)

An electronic ink display panel driver having a plurality of data lines and scan lines for applying a driving voltage, A data driver for applying a data pulse having a predetermined amount of voltage to the plurality of data lines; Plot a plurality of scan lines, apply scan pulses having a predetermined negative voltage or scan line reset pulses having a predetermined positive voltage or synthesizing the panel to selected scan lines. And a scan driver for applying a frame reset pulse having a predetermined positive voltage to the line. The method of claim 1, wherein the scan driver is configured to switch on / off a plurality of switching means provided by an externally input switching control signal to output one pulse signal among the scan pulse, the scan line reset pulse, and the frame reset pulse. A pulse generator; The floating driving unit is configured to float the plurality of scan lines and to switch on / off a plurality of switching means provided by an externally input switching control signal to apply a pulse signal output from the pulse generator to the selected scan line. And an electronic ink display panel drive device. A method of driving an electronic ink display panel having a plurality of data lines and scan lines for applying a driving voltage, Applying data pulses to the plurality of data lines; Applying a scan pulse in synchronization with the data pulse to a selected one of the floating scan lines in a floating state and then applying a scan line reset pulse; And applying frame reset pulses to all scan lines after sequentially applying the scan line reset pulses to all scan lines. The method of claim 3, wherein the data pulse, the scan line reset pulse, and the frame reset pulse have a positive voltage, and the scan pulse has a negative voltage. The method of claim 4, wherein the pulse width and voltage level of the frame reset pulse are greater than the pulse width and voltage level of the scan line reset pulse.

Images