JP3262703B2 - Inspection method of LCD module - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid crystal module for displaying an image on a matrix type liquid crystal panel as display means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, portable computers have been increasingly miniaturized, and at the same time, the need for multifunctional and high-performance computers has been increasing. Particularly in a display device, a TFT (Thin Film Tr) having a display performance comparable to that of a CRT is used.
The demand for an anistor type liquid crystal module is increasing.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional liquid crystal module.
Shown in In FIG. 3, 1 is a liquid crystal panel, 2 is a source driver IC (hereinafter, referred to as a source driver IC) for driving a source circuit by supplying a signal to a source line of the liquid crystal panel 1, and 3 is a liquid crystal panel 1. A driving IC for a gate driver (hereinafter, referred to as a gate driver IC) for supplying a signal to a gate line to drive a gate circuit,
This is a control circuit that processes signals input from the connector 5 and converts the signals into signals necessary for the source driver IC2 and the gate driver IC3. A signal group and a power supply necessary for displaying an image on the liquid crystal panel 1 are input to the connector 5.

A signal group input from the connector 5 includes:
Generally, a dot clock (or sometimes simply referred to as a clock), a horizontal synchronization signal, a vertical synchronization signal, and a data signal group are required at a minimum. In this case, a synchronization signal may be added to the data signal, or a composite of horizontal and vertical synchronization signals may be supplied. If these signals are not correctly input, a DC voltage is applied to the liquid crystal panel 1, which leads to deterioration of the liquid crystal material.

For example, as a 6-bit digital input type, it is possible to display 2 ⁶ = 64 gradations for each color of RGB.
The signal input from the connector 5 is transmitted to the control circuit 4
After the signals are converted into signals necessary for the source driver IC2 and the gate driver IC3, the signals are supplied to the liquid crystal panel 1 and displayed on the liquid crystal panel 1.

In the process of producing a liquid crystal module,
Usually, there are a plurality of steps for operating the liquid crystal module. When roughly classified, there are an image inspection step of inspecting the image display quality and function confirmation of the liquid crystal panel, and an aging step of performing an operation test for a predetermined time. In some cases, the operation can be easily checked in other steps. In the image inspection process, it is necessary to display a plurality of image patterns in order to evaluate the liquid crystal device such as pixel defects and unevenness of the liquid crystal panel, but in other processes, it is sufficient to display a simple image pattern. .

On the other hand, a TFT liquid crystal module is being positioned as one of the main components constituting a recent multimedia device, and is required to have a full-color display capability.
Also, with the increase in the display information of personal computers, the shift to higher resolution is also progressing.

[0008]

However, in the conventional liquid crystal module as described above, when the 8-bit / color configuration required to express a natural image without difficulty is used, a total of 24-bit data is required. Bits are required, and in order to achieve high resolution display functions,
Against the background of requiring twice or four times the number of data bits, inspection equipment for displaying a liquid crystal module or the like must transmit multi-bit high-frequency signals.
It becomes a large-scale facility, especially when a large number of liquid crystal modules are operated at the same time as in the aging process, a large-scale signal supply system is required to supply signals, and as described above. In addition, even when an image is simply displayed in the middle of a process, a dedicated signal supply facility is required.

In view of the above, the present invention only needs to supply an external power supply or a power supply and a dot clock (an image selection signal if necessary) in a production process that requires only a specific image signal (inspection pattern). Provided is a method for inspecting a liquid crystal module, which can display an image, greatly simplifies an image signal generator conventionally required outside, and contributes to simplification of inspection equipment and reduction of man-hours. I do.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for inspecting a liquid crystal module, comprising the steps of: When the image display signal including the signal, the horizontal synchronization signal, and the data signal is not supplied, the image display signal including the vertical synchronization signal, the horizontal synchronization signal, and the data signal is internally generated by a signal generation circuit in the liquid crystal module. The supply source of the image display signal is switched by a control circuit inside the liquid crystal module so that the internally generated image display signal is supplied to the driving IC for driving the liquid crystal panel. based on, the liquid crystal panel is driven by a drive signal the driving IC are generated, a plurality of images based on the internally generated image display signal To display the turn to the liquid crystal panel,
The method of inspecting a liquid <br/> crystal module that examines the image quality and function check of the liquid crystal panel, the plurality of image patterns
When displaying over on to the liquid crystal panel, a data input terminal which is not used in the connector, said plurality of image patterns
A method utilizing as a selection bit for selecting an image pattern to be displayed from among the over down.

[0011]

[0012] According to the above method, an image based on the image display signal signal generating circuit as images display signal generating means generates, using a simple image pattern which is built in advance, the display means the image pattern To display ,
Also, there are multiple image patterns in the signal generation circuit,
To selectively display multiple images, select the image selection signal.
However, except for the clock, it is a DC signal.
Therefore, no special circuit for signal transmission is necessary,
Significantly simplified image signal generators previously required externally
To simplify inspection equipment and reduce man-hours.
You .

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a liquid crystal module according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a TFT liquid crystal module which is one of the liquid crystal modules in the present embodiment. Parts common or corresponding to the block diagram of FIG. 3 showing the conventional example are denoted by the same reference numerals. Here, the operation of the TFT liquid crystal module in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In the liquid crystal module shown in FIG. 1, when an image display signal composed of a vertical synchronizing signal, a horizontal synchronizing signal, and a data signal is not input from the outside, the signal generating circuit 6 as an image display signal generating means is used. A horizontal and vertical synchronization signal and a data signal are generated, and a simple image is displayed based on these image display signals. In this embodiment, the clock generation circuit 7 is provided in the liquid crystal module in order to obtain a timing reference signal in this case. However, a dot clock input from outside the liquid crystal module can be used. In this case, a clock generation circuit is not required in the liquid crystal module, but it is necessary to always supply a dot clock from outside the liquid crystal module.

The connector 5 usually has a vertical synchronizing signal for transmitting a vertical scanning start timing of an image, a horizontal synchronizing signal for transmitting a horizontal scanning start timing of an image, a dot clock for synchronizing with a data signal, and a data signal. A group is entered. The data signal group includes red (R), green (G),
Each color of blue (B) has a data width of 6 bits, that is, a total of 18 bits.

As described above, in a normal use state in which the power supply and all of the above signals are externally input via the connector 5, an arbitrary image is displayed on the liquid crystal panel 1 as display means based on the above signals. However, when the control circuit 14 serving as a signal switching unit detects that the vertical synchronizing signal and the horizontal synchronizing signal from outside the liquid crystal module are not input for a certain period, the control signal from the control circuit 14 is used. Based on this, the signal generation circuit 6 internally generates an image display signal composed of the above-described vertical synchronization signal, horizontal synchronization signal, and data signal, and the control circuit 14 converts the image display signal from the signal generation circuit 6 into a drive signal. An image table is provided so as to be supplied to the source driver IC2 and the gate driver IC3 as ICs. Switch the source of the use signal.

At this time, the data corresponding to the image pattern to be displayed on the liquid crystal panel 1 is programmed in advance in the signal generating circuit 6. If there are a plurality of required image patterns, the connector 5 A data input terminal not used in is used as a bit for selecting an image pattern. For example, data R (red data, 6 bits)
It is possible to use these six signal lines to function as selection signals as shown in (Table 1).

[0019]

[Table 1]

With the above-described configuration, an image pattern required in the process can be converted into an image display signal from the signal generating circuit 6 and an external device (outside the liquid crystal module) in accordance with the scale of the inspection equipment in the process. An image pattern based on the image display signal can be simply displayed on the liquid crystal panel 1 by selecting from the image display signal from the inspection equipment).

When an image is to be displayed on a conventional liquid crystal module in the process, as shown in (Table 1), CL
A total of 21 signal lines are required, including three signal lines for K, VS, and HS and 18 data signal lines, and a high-speed signal is included. There is. On the other hand, when displaying an image on the liquid crystal module in the present embodiment in the process, it is possible to display the image only with the power supply or only with the power supply and the clock.

In the above embodiment, the signal generation circuit 6
When there are a plurality of image patterns in the inside and it is necessary to selectively display those plurality of images, it is necessary to supply an image selection signal, but a special circuit for signal transmission is a DC signal other than a clock because it is a DC signal. It is unnecessary.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a circuit for supplying a corresponding image selection signal. In FIG. 2, a high (power supply potential) or low (0 V) signal is supplied by a switch 8 from each of the six red data signal lines in the connector 5 as an image selection signal to be supplied to the liquid crystal module. Of images can be selected.

In each of the above embodiments, the liquid crystal panel is described as a TFT liquid crystal module.
Even a simple matrix type liquid crystal module such as (Super Twist Nematic) can be similarly implemented, and the same effect can be obtained.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, an image based on the image display signal generated by the image display signal generating means is preliminarily built in only by supplying the power or the power and the dot clock from the outside. use as a simple image pattern, it is possible to display on the display means an image pattern, an image pattern in the signal generating circuit double was
When there are many, and you want to display those multiple images selectively
Needs to supply an image selection signal,
Since the outside is a DC signal, a special circuit for signal transmission is
It is unnecessary .

The image signal generator conventionally required outside can be greatly simplified, which contributes to simplification of inspection equipment and the like and reduction of man-hours.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a liquid crystal module showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram when a plurality of image patterns are selected in the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional liquid crystal module.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Liquid crystal panel 2 Source driver IC 3 Gate driver IC 6 Signal generation circuit 14 Control circuit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G09G 3 / 18,3 / 36 G09G 5/00-5/42 C02F 1/133

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] When an image display signal including a vertical synchronizing signal, a horizontal synchronizing signal, and a data signal is not supplied from outside of a liquid crystal module via a connector, the vertical synchronizing signal, the horizontal synchronizing signal, and the data signal are output. An image display signal composed of a liquid crystal module is internally generated by a signal generation circuit inside the liquid crystal module, and the supply source of the image display signal is a liquid crystal so that the internally generated image display signal is supplied to a driving IC for driving a liquid crystal panel. The liquid crystal panel is driven by a drive signal generated by the drive IC based on the internally generated image display signal, and a plurality of images based on the internally generated image display signal. to display the pattern on the liquid crystal panel, it examines the image quality and function check of the liquid crystal panel liquid crystal module Inspection of
A 査 method to display a plurality of image patterns on said liquid crystal panel
When the unused data input terminal of the connector,
A method for inspecting a liquid crystal module, which is used as a selection bit for selecting an image pattern to be displayed from the plurality of image patterns .