JPH10133622A - Driving method for plasma display panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the peak value of a discharging current by making the potentials of cloumn electrodes by pixels or pixel groups in a maintenance discharging period. SOLUTION: When address electrodes A1 and A3 are grounded, address electrodes A2 and A4 are held at a given positive potential and when the address electrodes A1 and A3 are at the given potential, the address electrodes A2 and A4 are grounded. Therefore, the address electrodes A1 and A3 of one discharge cell have a value different from the potential of the address electrodes A2 and A4 of another adjacent discharge cell on the same maintenance electrode couple at the same time in the maintenance discharge period. Thus, the potential of the address electrodes of one cell on the same display line and the potential of the address electrodes of another electrode are made different in the maintenance discharge period to make a current flowing to the cell and a current flowing to the adjacent cell become maximum in different timing, so the total peak current of the same maintenance electrode couple decreases.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a matrix display type surface discharge type plasma display panel (PD).
P).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, practical use of a plasma display panel (PDP) as a large and thin color display device is expected. As is well known, a PDP is configured to provide a group of electrodes that intersect with each other inside a pair of substrates disposed to face each other with a discharge space therebetween, and configure a discharge cell at the intersection of each electrode to selectively emit light. ing.

For example, in a surface discharge type AC-PDP, a plurality of sustain electrode groups extending in parallel with each other are formed on the inner surface of a substrate on the display surface side, and a dielectric layer and an MgO (magnesium oxide) layer are sequentially formed thereon. Have been. On the other hand, address electrodes are formed in parallel on the rear substrate so as to intersect with the sustain electrode pairs, phosphors are formed on the address electrodes, and ribs are formed between the address electrodes. In the discharge space,
A mixed rare gas is sealed.

[0004] For example, the PDP performs a display operation by first selecting a light-on cell and a light-off cell in accordance with pixel data, and then applying an alternating sustain pulse to a sustain electrode pair.

Incidentally, the above-mentioned surface discharge type AC-PDP
Since the sustain electrodes are transparent electrodes, the resistivity is large. Therefore, conventionally, in order to supplement the conductivity of the sustain electrodes, bus electrodes made of metal electrodes are further laminated to reduce the wiring resistance.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION However, PDP
As the size of the device increases, the wiring length of the metal electrode increases, so that the wiring resistance of the bus electrode itself cannot be ignored.

In order to reduce the wiring resistance, it is conceivable to increase the width of the metal electrode or increase its thickness. In the former case, light emission in a unit light emitting region (discharge cell) is blocked. The effect is more pronounced as the discharge cell size decreases, and in the latter case, the process cost increases because the film formation time increases, and the film formation by vapor deposition also increases. There is a limit to thickening.

On the other hand, in the AC-PDP, the current flowing in each discharge cell is not constant in time, but becomes maximum, for example, about several hundred nanoseconds after the voltage pulse is applied.
After that, almost no flow occurs in about several hundred nanoseconds. In the sustain discharge (sustain discharge) for display, the pulse interval is about several microseconds, so that all the discharge cells on one sustain electrode pair (sustain line) discharge almost simultaneously, and almost all the discharge cells. Current flows at the same time.

Therefore, the maximum value of the current of one sustain electrode pair is the sum of the maximum values of the current flowing through each cell, and as a result, a large current instantaneously flows through one sustain electrode pair. become. The large instantaneous current causes a large voltage drop due to the wiring resistance of the sustain electrode, and deteriorates the display characteristics. As described above, as the peak value of the discharge current increases, the load on the driver circuit and the power supply of the AC-PDP increases, and it becomes more difficult to increase the size of the PDP. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to reduce a peak value of a discharge current.

[0010]

According to the present invention, there are provided a plurality of row electrode pairs and a plurality of column electrode pairs arranged so as to intersect the row electrode pairs and form a pixel at each intersection with a column electrode. An address period in which a scanning pulse is applied to one of the row electrode pairs and a pixel data pulse is applied to the column electrodes to select on / off pixels according to the pixel data, and a sustaining pulse is alternately applied to the row electrode pairs. Is a method of driving a plasma display panel that performs display using a sustain discharge period in which light-on and light-off pixels are maintained by applying a voltage. It is characterized in that it differs for each pixel group.

[0011]

According to the present invention, since the potential of the column electrode is made different for each pixel or for each pixel group formed by a plurality of pixels during the sustain discharge period, one sustain electrode pair (sustain line) is formed. Since the timing at which the current flowing for each pixel or each pixel group becomes the maximum is dispersed without matching,
The maximum value of the current flowing through one sustain electrode pair can be reduced.

[0012]

Next, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic structure of a surface discharge type AC-PDP driven by a method of driving a plasma display panel in each embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a PDP has a pair of a front glass substrate 1 and a rear glass substrate 2 opposed to each other with a discharge space 4 interposed therebetween, and is provided on an inner surface (a surface facing the rear glass substrate 2) of the front glass substrate 1 as a display surface. Is composed of a plurality of pairs of sustain electrodes X and Y composed of transparent electrodes 3a and 3b made of a transparent conductive film and bus electrodes 3c made of a metal film for supplementing the conductivity of the transparent conductive film. Each scanning line of the PDP is formed.

The bus electrodes 3c are formed on the transparent electrodes 3a and 3b, respectively, have an area smaller than the respective areas of the transparent electrodes 3a and 3b, and are formed on the edge of the sustain electrode pair 3 opposite to the discharge gap 5. Is provided. Further, a dielectric layer 6 made of low-melting glass is formed on the sustain electrode pairs X and Y, and an MgO layer 7 is formed on the dielectric layer 6.

On the other hand, a plurality of address electrodes A extending in a direction intersecting the plurality of sustain electrode pairs 3 are formed in parallel on the inner surface of the opposite rear glass substrate 2. . A phosphor layer 9 is formed so as to cover the address electrode A. The phosphor layer 9 has a pair of red light emitters 9a, green light emitters 9b, and blue light emitters 9c formed on three adjacent address electrodes 8.

A partition (rib) 10 having a predetermined height is formed between each address electrode 8 on the rear glass substrate 2, and the discharge space 4 is defined by the partition 10. The phosphor layer 9 is also formed on the side wall of the partition (rib) 10. In the discharge space 4, for example, a discharge gas in which xenon is mixed with neon is sealed. Sustain electrode pair X,
At each intersection between Y and the address electrode A, a discharge cell serving as a pixel is formed.

Next, a driving method in the case where the above-described surface discharge type AC-PDP emits light will be described. First, in the simultaneous reset period, a reset pulse is applied simultaneously between the sustain electrode pairs X and Y of the surface discharge type AC-PDP in FIG. 1 to cause all the discharge cells to discharge once, and the wall to all the discharge cells. Form a charge. In the subsequent address period, by sequentially applying a scan pulse to one of the sustain electrode pairs X and Y and applying a pixel data pulse to each address electrode A in synchronization with the scan pulse, the wall charges formed in the simultaneous reset period Is selectively erased in accordance with the pixel data to select a lit cell (a lit pixel) and a lit cell (a lit pixel).

Next, in the sustain discharge period, alternating sustain pulses IPx and IPy are applied to each of the sustain electrode pairs X and Y, and the pixels (lighted pixels) whose wall charges have not been erased in the address period are subjected to the sustain pulse. On the other hand, discharge light emission occurs, while discharge light emission does not occur on a pixel (wall-off pixel) from which wall charges have been erased during the address period even if a sustain pulse is applied. As described above, the voltage of the wall charge is added to the voltage of the sustain pulse only in the discharge cells in which the wall charges are formed, and a voltage equal to or higher than the discharge start voltage is applied, so that the lighting state is maintained.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a driving method of the plasma display panel according to the first embodiment of the present invention, showing a driving pulse waveform applied to each sustain electrode pair and each address electrode during a sustain discharge period. .

In FIG. 2, AP1, AP2, AP3,
An address pulse indicated by AP4 is composed of address electrodes (four address electrodes in the figure) A adjacent to each other and sequentially arranged.
The pulses respectively applied corresponding to 1, A2, A3, and A4 are shown. The address pulses AP1 and AP3 applied to the address electrodes A1 and A3 are applied in synchronization with the sustain pulse IPx with the same polarity as the sustain pulse IPx applied to one sustain electrode X of the sustain electrode pair X and Y, and the address is applied. Electrode A
2, address pulses AP2 and AP4 applied to A4
Are applied in synchronization with sustain pulse IPy with the same polarity as sustain pulse IPy applied to one sustain electrode Y of sustain electrode pair X, Y. That is, when the address electrodes A1 and A3 are at the ground potential, the address electrodes A2 and A4 are at a predetermined positive potential, and when the address electrodes A1 and A3 are at the predetermined positive potential, the address electrodes A2 and A4 are at the ground potential.

Therefore, at the same time during the sustain discharge period, the potentials of the address electrodes (column electrodes) of one discharge cell (pixel) (the potentials of the address electrodes A1 and A3) are higher than the same sustain electrode pair (row electrode pair). Of the address electrodes (column electrodes) of other adjacent discharge cells (pixels) (address electrodes A2, A
4 potential).

As described above, during the sustain discharge period, the potential of the address electrode of one cell on the same display line is made different from the potential of the address electrode of one cell adjacent to and adjacent to another cell. Since the maximum current is shifted from the current flowing in the same sustain electrode pair with the current flowing in another adjacent cell, the overall peak current of the same sustain electrode pair decreases.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a driving method of a plasma display panel according to a second embodiment of the present invention, showing a driving pulse waveform applied to each sustain electrode pair and each address electrode during a sustain discharge period. .

In this embodiment, the period of the address pulse is set to be three times the period of the address pulse of the first embodiment, and cells on the same display line are grouped into a plurality of adjacent cells to form a plurality of cell groups. The potentials of the address electrode groups (A1 and A2, A3 and A4) corresponding to each cell group are made different for each cell group. That is, when the address electrodes A1 and A2 are at a predetermined positive potential, a pair of adjacent address electrodes is provided,
When the address electrodes A3 and A4 are at the ground potential and the address electrodes A1 and A2 are at the ground potential, the address electrodes A2 and A4
Is a predetermined positive potential. Even when the potential of the address electrode is changed in this way, the same operation and effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained.

In the above-described first and second embodiments, cells on the same display line are divided into a plurality of cell groups by grouping a plurality of cells, and an address electrode corresponding to each cell group is divided for each cell group. Although the configuration is such that the potentials of the groups are different, the configuration may be such that the potentials of the address electrodes are different for each cell (pixel).

Further, in the first and second embodiments described above, the address pulses are alternately applied to each address electrode group. However, a constant potential having a different value is applied to each address electrode group. The same operation and effect can be obtained.

[0026]

According to the present invention, since the potential of the column electrode is made different for each pixel or for each pixel group formed by a plurality of pixels during the sustain discharge period, one sustain electrode pair (sustain line) is formed. Since the timing at which the current flowing through each pixel or each pixel group in the parentheses) becomes maximum is dispersed without being coincident, the maximum value of the current flowing through one sustain electrode pair can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a surface discharge type AC-PD driven by a driving method of a plasma display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a figure which shows the schematic structure of P.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a driving pulse waveform of each sustain electrode pair and each address electrode driven by the driving method of the plasma display panel according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a drive pulse waveform of each sustain electrode pair and each address electrode driven by a method of driving a plasma display panel according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 front glass substrate 2 rear glass substrate X, Y ... sustain electrode pair 3a transparent electrode 3b transparent electrode 3c bus electrode 4 discharge Space 5: Discharge gap 6: Dielectric layer 7: MgO layer A: Address electrode 9: Phosphor layer 9a: Red light emitter 9b: Green Light-emitting body 9c Blue light-emitting body 10 Partition wall (rib)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A row electrode comprising: a plurality of row electrode pairs; and a plurality of column electrode pairs arranged so as to intersect the row electrode pairs and form a pixel at each intersection with the column electrode. Applying a scan pulse to one of the pair and applying a pixel data pulse to the column electrode to select an on / off pixel according to the pixel data, and an address period for alternately applying a sustaining pulse to the row electrode pair. A driving method for a plasma display panel that performs display using a sustain discharge period for maintaining the lit and unlit pixels, wherein the potential of the column electrode is set for each pixel or for a plurality of the pixels during the sustain discharge period. A driving method for a plasma display panel, wherein the driving method is different for each pixel group. 2. The driving method of a plasma display panel according to claim 1, wherein a potential of said column electrode during said sustain discharge period changes in synchronization with said discharge sustain pulse. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the potential of the column electrode during the sustain discharge period is set to a constant value different from each other for each of the pixels or for each of a pixel group formed by a plurality of the pixels. The driving method of the plasma display panel described in the above.