JPH07295508A - Driving method for gas discharge type display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the size of a driving circuit for data display electrodes and its power circuit by leveling the output current of the driving circuit. CONSTITUTION:This driving method is for the gas discharge type display device constituted by sticking a 1st insulating substrate, which has plural linear data display electrodes, and a 2nd insulating substrate, which has plural linear scanning electrodes, on each other across partition walls so that the respective electrodes cross each other in three dimensions. One frame is divided into (n) subordinate fields and while the respective subordinate fields are made different in illumination time, the scanning electrodes are divided into plural groups. The subordinate fields are made different in illumination time, group by group.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a first insulating substrate having a plurality of line-shaped data display electrodes arranged in parallel with each other on one surface and a plurality of line-shaped scanning electrodes arranged in parallel with each other. Driving a gas discharge type display device in which a second insulating substrate provided on the surface is bonded to each other via a partition so that the respective electrodes intersect each other in three dimensions, and a discharge cell having a memory function is set in the intersection. It is about the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, flat gas discharge type display devices have been developed which are configured to display TV images in high brightness in color. Such a gas discharge type display device has a memory function and is driven based on a time chart as shown in FIG. In this case, 1 frame (1/60 second = 1
(6.6 msec) is evenly divided into eight first to eighth subfields, so the field period in each subfield is about 2 msec.

The vertical axis of FIG. 3A is the scanning electrode,
Each lighting time (ON time) is indicated by a horizontal parallel thin line. The first scan electrode in the first subfield enters the ON state at the start of the subfield,
The ON state is maintained throughout the line scanning time width. The second and subsequent scan electrodes in the first subfield sequentially enter the ON state with a delay of a fixed time (writing time), and maintain the ON state in the entire line scanning time width. Then, the final scan electrode enters the ON state near the end time point of the subfield, and maintains the ON state over the entire line scanning time width.

Each scan electrode in the second subfield is
The ON state is maintained for a time width corresponding to 1/2 of the line scanning time width of the subfield. Then, each scanning electrode in the third sub-field is kept in the ON state for a time width corresponding to ¼ of the line scanning time width of the sub-field.
/ 8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, 1/128,
The on-time width is set shorter in sequence. Since the maximum luminance is obtained in the first subfield having the longest ON time width and the lower luminance is sequentially obtained in the second to eighth subfields, the weighting with respect to the luminance is performed in subfield units, 2 depending on the combination
It is possible to display an image in 256 gradations, which is the eighth power of.

FIG. 3B shows an output current waveform of the data electrode drive circuit at the time of full lighting in one frame period, which is shown corresponding to the subfield in FIG. The current value in the period D in which the peak current is supplied throughout the period is set to 1. The output current gradually increases with the start of the first subfield, reaches a peak at the start of the second subfield, and begins to decrease from around the midpoint of the second subfield.

[0006]

As described above, since the output current of the drive circuit for driving the data display electrode is maximized in the subfield in which the lighting time is maximized, the circuit is integrated or the power supply for the circuit is changed. There was a problem that it was difficult to downsize.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method of driving a gas discharge type display device which can level the output current of a drive circuit for a data display electrode and downsize the circuit and its power supply circuit.

[0008]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a first insulating substrate having a plurality of line-shaped data display electrodes arranged in parallel with each other on one surface and a first insulating substrate in parallel with each other are provided. In driving a gas discharge display device in which a second insulating substrate having a plurality of line-shaped scanning electrodes arranged on one surface thereof is attached to each other through partition walls so that the electrodes intersect each other in three frames, one frame Are equally divided into n subfields to make the lighting time different for each subfield, while the scanning electrodes are divided into a plurality of groups, and the lighting time in each subfield is made different for each group, and 2 n There is provided a method of driving a gas discharge display device, which is characterized in that an image is displayed with a power luminance gradation.

[0009]

In the present invention, one frame is evenly divided into n subfields to make the lighting time different for each subfield, while the scanning electrodes are divided into a plurality of groups and the lighting time in each subfield is grouped. Since the data display electrode drive circuit is made different for each unit, the output current of the data display electrode drive circuit can be leveled, and the data display electrode drive circuit and its power supply circuit can be integrated or downsized.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1A, one frame is divided into eight first to eighth subfields, while the scanning electrodes are located in the upper half and the lower half. It is divided into groups. The first scan electrode in the upper half portion of the first subfield enters the ON state at the start of the first subfield, and maintains the ON state over the entire line scanning time width. The second and subsequent scan electrodes in the first subfield sequentially enter the ON state with a delay of a fixed time (writing time), and maintain the ON state over the entire line scanning time width. Thus, when the upper half of the first subfield is line-scanned, the next line scan, that is, the first scan electrode of the lower half is turned on. here,
The line is turned on for a time width corresponding to 1/128 of the line scan time width. The second and subsequent scan electrodes sequentially enter the ON state with a delay of the writing time, and become 1 / of the line scan time.
The ON state is maintained for a time width corresponding to 128.

In this case, in each upper half of the first to eighth subfields, 1, 1/2, 1 / of the line scanning time width
4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64 and 1 /
While the ON state is maintained for each time width corresponding to each magnification of 128, 1/128, 1/64, 1 in each lower half
The ON state is maintained for the time widths corresponding to the respective magnifications of / 32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 and 1. Therefore, not only an image can be displayed with a brightness gradation of 256 by the combination, but also the output current of the data display electrode drive circuit at the time of full lighting is leveled as shown in FIG. 1 (b). The peak value of this is half that of that shown in FIG. 3B, and therefore the data display electrode drive circuit and its power supply circuit can be integrated into an IC or downsized.

Referring to FIG. 2A showing another embodiment of the present invention, also in this case, one frame is equally divided into eight subfields, ie, first to eighth subfields. On the other hand, the scan electrodes are divided into an odd-order array group and an even-order array group, and the on-time of the scan electrodes in each subfield is made different for each group.

In each subfield, line scanning of odd-numbered groups and line scanning of even-numbered groups are alternately performed with a certain delay time (writing time). That is, the odd-numbered scan electrodes in the first sub-field are kept in the ON state over the entire line scan time width, and the even-order scan electrodes are kept in the ON state for a time width corresponding to 1/128 of the line scan time width. Keep Further, the odd-numbered scan electrodes in the second subfield are kept in the ON state for a time width corresponding to 1/2 of the line scan time width, and the even-order scan electrodes correspond to 1/64 of the line scan time width. The ON state is maintained for the duration of time.

As described above, the scan electrodes of the odd-numbered groups are 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, and 1/8 of the line scan time width from the first subfield to the eighth subfield.
The scan electrodes of the even-numbered groups are kept in the ON state sequentially for a short time at each of the magnifications of 1/16, 1/32, 1/64 and 1/128, while the scan electrodes of the even-numbered group are arranged in the first to eighth subfields. Up to subfield, 1/1 of line scan time width
28, 1/64, 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1 /
The magnification is set to 4, 1/2 and 1 so that the ON state is maintained for a long time sequentially.

The output current waveform of the display electrode drive circuit at the time of full lighting in this embodiment is as shown in FIG.
The peak value is half the value shown in FIG. 3 (b). Then, an image can be displayed with a brightness gradation of 256 by combining eight subfields.

In the above embodiment, one frame (1
The field) is equally divided into eight subfields, but the present invention is not limited to this and the point is to divide it into n (n is a natural number). Further, the grouping of the scan electrodes and the lighting time distribution in each subfield can be variously selected without being limited to the above-described embodiment.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, the color T
While displaying a V image or the like with a brightness gradation of 2 n,
Since the peak value of the output current of the data display electrode drive circuit can be leveled, the drive circuit and its power supply circuit can be downsized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an operation time chart of a method for driving a gas discharge display device according to an embodiment of the present invention and an output current waveform diagram of a display electrode drive circuit at the time of full lighting.

FIG. 2 is an operation time chart of a method for driving a gas discharge display device according to another embodiment of the present invention and an output current waveform diagram of a display electrode drive circuit at the time of full lighting.

FIG. 3 is an operation time chart of a driving method of a conventional gas discharge display device and an output current waveform diagram of a display electrode drive circuit at the time of full lighting.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first insulating substrate having a plurality of line-shaped data display electrodes arranged in parallel with each other on one surface, and a second insulating substrate having a plurality of line-shaped scanning electrodes arranged in parallel with each other on one surface. In driving a gas discharge display device in which an insulating substrate and a respective electrode are laminated via a partition wall so as to intersect each other in a three-dimensional manner, one frame is evenly divided into n subfields and a lighting time is calculated for each subfield. Gas discharge display, characterized in that the scanning electrodes are divided into a plurality of groups and the lighting time in each subfield is made different for each group, and an image is displayed with a brightness gradation of 2n. Device driving method. 2. The gas discharge display device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of scan electrodes are divided into a group arranged in an upper half part and a group arranged in a lower half part. Driving method. 3. The method of driving a gas discharge display device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of scan electrodes are divided into an odd-order array group and an even-order array group.