KR100421671B1 - Driving Method for Scanning of Plasma Display Panel and Apparatus Thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a scan driving method and apparatus for a plasma display panel, in which a high-speed addressing is performed by maximally overlapping a scanning pulse.

In the scan driving method of the plasma display panel according to the present invention, the first data pulse corresponding to the video signal of '1' is applied to the address electrode, the first data pulse is applied, and the width of the first data pulse is different from the first data pulse. A second data pulse corresponding to the video signal of '1' is applied before and after the first data pulse, and the first data pulse and the second data pulse are applied to the scan / sustain electrode formed in a direction crossing the address electrode. And supplying a scanning pulse having a slope waveform gradually descending in synchronization with.

According to the present invention, it is possible to further increase the overlapping time and further reduce the addressing time by forming a slope waveform that gradually lowers the initial stage of the overlapping scanning pulses.

Description

Scanning driving method of a plasma display panel and apparatus therefor {Driving Method for Scanning of Plasma Display Panel and Apparatus Thereof}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for driving a plasma display panel, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for driving a scan of a plasma display panel in which high-speed addressing is possible by maximally overlapping a scanning pulse.

Recently, a plasma display panel (hereinafter referred to as "PDP"), which is easy to manufacture a large panel, has attracted attention as a flat panel display device. As a PDP, a three-electrode AC surface discharge type PDP having three electrodes and driven by an alternating voltage is typical.

Referring to FIG. 1, a discharge cell of a three-electrode alternating surface discharge type PDP is formed on a scan / sustain electrode 12Y and a common sustain electrode 12Z formed on an upper substrate 10, and a lower substrate 18. An address electrode 20X is provided. The upper dielectric layer 14 and the passivation layer 16 are stacked on the upper substrate 10 having the scan / sustain electrode 12Y and the common sustain electrode 12Z side by side. Wall charges generated during plasma discharge are accumulated in the upper dielectric layer 14. The protective layer 16 prevents damage to the upper dielectric layer 14 due to sputtering generated during plasma discharge, and increases emission efficiency of secondary electrons. As the protective film 16, magnesium oxide (MgO) is usually used. The lower dielectric layer 22 and the partition wall 24 are formed on the lower substrate 18 on which the address electrode 20X is formed, and the phosphor 26 is coated on the surfaces of the lower dielectric layer 22 and the partition wall 24. The address electrode 20X is formed in the direction crossing the scan / sustain electrode 12Y and the common sustain electrode 12Z. The partition wall 24 is formed in parallel with the address electrode 20X to prevent ultraviolet rays and visible light generated by the discharge from leaking to the adjacent discharge cells. The phosphor 26 is excited by ultraviolet rays generated during plasma discharge to generate visible light of any one of red, green, and blue. Inert gas for gas discharge is injected into the discharge space provided between the upper and lower plates and the partition wall.

These discharge cells are arranged in a matrix form as shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, the discharge cells 1 are provided at the intersections of the scan / sustain electrode lines Y1 to Ym, the common sustain electrode lines Z1 to Zm, and the address electrode lines X1 to Xn. The scan / sustain electrode lines Y1 to Ym are sequentially driven, and the common sustain electrode lines Z1 to Zm are commonly driven. The address electrode lines X1 to Xn are driven by being divided into odd-numbered lines and even-numbered lines.

The three-electrode AC surface discharge type PDP is driven by being divided into a plurality of subfields, and gray scale display is performed by emitting light a number of times proportional to the weight of video data in each subfield period. For example, when an image is displayed in 256 gray scales using 8-bit video data, one frame display period (for example, 1/60 second = about 16.7 msec) in each discharge cell 1 is shown in FIG. As shown, the data is divided into eight subfields SF1 to SF8. Each subfield SF1 to SF8 is further divided into a reset period, an address period and a sustain period, and 1: 2: 4: 8:... The weight is given at the ratio of 128. Here, the reset period is a period for initializing the discharge cells, the address period is a period for causing selective address discharge according to the logic value of the video data, and the sustain period is for sustaining the discharge in the discharge cells in which the address discharge has occurred. It is a period. The reset period and the address period are equally allocated to each subfield period.

4 is a view showing a waveform diagram according to a conventional method for driving a PDP.

Referring to FIG. 4, first, all discharge cells are initialized by causing discharge to occur in all discharge cells in a reset period (not shown). Following the reset period, in the address period, the scan pulse SP is sequentially supplied to the scan / sustain electrode lines Y1 to Ym, and the data pulse DP synchronized with the scan pulse SP is applied to the address electrode lines. Supplying to (X1 to Xn) causes selective address discharge to occur. Subsequently, in the sustain period, the discharge cells in which the address discharge is generated by alternately supplying sustain pulses SUSPy and SUSPz to the scan / sustain electrode lines Y1 to Ym and the common sustain electrode lines Z1 to Zm. The sustain discharge at is kept for a predetermined period of time.

In such a subfield driving method, the sustain period is a period for displaying an image, and a certain amount of time must be secured in order to achieve appropriate luminance. However, when the resolution becomes high or the size of the screen increases, the number of scan / sustain electrode lines Y of the PDP increases. Accordingly, since the address period is increased, the sustain period is naturally shortened, resulting in a problem of low luminance. For this reason, when the address electrode line is divided and multi-addressed, a driving IC is added to increase the manufacturing cost.

In order to solve this problem, the pulse width for address discharge should be reduced, but if the pulse width is reduced, the discharge becomes unstable and the probability of address failure increases. In order to eliminate such an address failure, a method of providing priming particles before an address discharge occurs by adding auxiliary electrode lines and a method by reconstruction and optimization of an address pulse in an existing three-electrode structure may be considered. However, the production of priming particles by the auxiliary electrode line has a disadvantage in that the manufacturing process of the panel is complicated and difficult to drive. Therefore, the method of improving the address pulse in the conventional three-electrode structure is the best method. However, when the number of scan / sustain electrode lines (Y) increases, address discharge should occur for a very short period of about 1 ms per line, but it is known that an address is impossible with a conventional 1 ms pulse. This is because sufficient discharge of wall charges necessary for sustaining discharge during address discharge cannot be formed on the scan / sustain electrode 12Y and the common sustain electrode 12Z because the discharge is not matured enough for 1 ms. In addition, the state of the space charge is different for each discharge cell, and the address becomes unstable due to influence by adjacent cells. In order to solve this problem, a driving waveform as shown in FIG. 5 has been proposed through Korean Patent Application No. 10-2000-0064827 filed by the present applicant. FIG. 5 shows Korean Patent Application No. 10-2000-0064827. Referring to FIG. 5, scan pulses Vs are sequentially applied to the scan / sustain electrode line Y in the address period of the conventional drive waveform, and the address electrode line X is applied. The auxiliary data pulse ADP and the main data pulse MDP are supplied in synchronization with the scan pulse Vs supplied to the scan / sustain electrode line Y. When a data pulse DP having a logic value of '1' is supplied to the address electrode line X, a main data pulse MDP having a small width Td is applied, and a logic value of data is '0'. The main data pulse MDP is not applied. In addition, when the main data pulse MDP is applied, an auxiliary data pulse ADP having a width Tad smaller than the width Td of the main data pulse MDP is applied before and after the main data pulse MDP. . The scan pulse Vs sequentially applied to the scan / sustain electrode lines Y1 to Ym has a main scan having a width (Tad + Td = Ts) of the main data pulse MDP and the auxiliary data pulse ADP. It is divided into an auxiliary scan pulse ASP having a pulse MSP and an auxiliary data pulse ADP width Tad = Tas. The main scan pulse MSP is sequentially applied to the scan / sustain electrode lines Y1 to Ym, and the auxiliary scan pulse ASP is applied before the main scan pulse MSP. The scan pulses Vs sequentially supplied to the scan / sustain electrode lines Y are applied so as to overlap each other by the width Tas of the auxiliary scan pulse ASP.

Referring to the process of applying the conventional driving waveform in detail, first, when the first main data pulse MDP1 is applied to the first address electrode line X1 as shown in FIG. 5A, one auxiliary data pulse ADP is applied. Is approved. In addition, when the second main data pulse MDP2 having a width smaller than the first main data pulse MDP1 is applied to the discharge cells after the second address electrode line X2, as shown in B and C of FIG. 5. The auxiliary data pulses ADP are applied before and after the data pulses MDP. In addition, when the main data pulse MDP is not applied, the auxiliary data pulse ADP is not applied.

As a result, in the conventional driving waveform, the address discharge occurs in the discharge cell supplied with the main data pulse MDP during the time of Tad + Td + Tad, thereby increasing the address discharge time. In addition, by allowing the scan pulses Vs supplied to the scan / sustain electrode line Y to overlap each other for a predetermined time, the address time can be shortened by the overlapping time.

However, since the time when the scan pulses Vs overlap in the prior art is limited to the portion where the auxiliary data pulses ADP overlap, there is a limit in reducing the address time.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a scan driving method and apparatus for a plasma display panel in which high-speed addressing is possible by increasing the overlapping time of scanning pulses.

1 is a perspective view showing a discharge cell structure of a conventional three-electrode AC surface discharge type plasma display panel.

FIG. 2 is an overall electrode layout of the plasma display panel including the discharge cells shown in FIG.

3 is a frame configuration diagram for explaining a conventional subfield driving method.

4 is a waveform diagram showing a method of driving a conventional plasma display panel.

Fig. 5 is a waveform diagram showing a method of driving a plasma display panel according to another conventional technique.

6 is a waveform diagram illustrating a method of driving a plasma display panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a driving circuit diagram for showing the driving method shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a drive waveform diagram of a switch element for driving the drive circuit shown in FIG.

9 is another driving circuit diagram for illustrating the driving method shown in FIG. 6;

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

1: discharge cell 10: upper substrate

12Y: scan / sustain electrode 12Z: common sustain electrode

14,22 dielectric layer 16: protective film

18: lower substrate 20X: address electrode

24: partition 26: phosphor layer

40: scan driver 42, 44: slope waveform generator

In order to achieve the above object, a scan driving method of a plasma display panel according to the present invention includes applying a first data pulse corresponding to a video signal of '1' to an address electrode, and applying the first data pulse to the address electrode. A second data pulse corresponding to a video signal of '1' different from the width of one data pulse is applied before and after the first data pulse, and the scan / sustain electrode formed in a direction crossing the address electrode. And supplying a scanning pulse having a slope waveform gradually falling in synchronization with the first data pulse and the second data pulse.

In this case, the pulse width of the second data pulse is set smaller than the pulse width of the first data pulse.

The scan / sustain electrode is divided into at least two blocks, and the scan pulses of the slope waveform are sequentially supplied to the scan / sustain electrodes included in the respective blocks so as to be synchronized with the second data pulses. .

A scan driving apparatus for a plasma display panel according to the present invention includes a scan voltage source for generating a scan voltage, a first switch element connected to the scan voltage source for driving the scan voltage source for an address period, and a first switch element. And a scan waveform generator connected to the scan / sustain electrode to supply a scan pulse, and a slope waveform generator connected to the scan driver to have a slope waveform falling to the scan pulse.

In this case, the slope waveform generating unit includes: a fourth switch element for switching to supply a slope-type pulse; a first switch connected to a gate of the fourth switch element to turn on the fourth switch element; and the first switch and the fourth switch. A first resistance element connected between the gates of the switch elements to control a voltage input to the fourth switch element, and connected between the gate and the drain of the fourth switch element to form a resonance circuit together with the first resistance element. Characterized in that the capacitor is provided.

Other objects and features of the present invention in addition to the above object will be apparent from the description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9.

6 is a waveform diagram illustrating a driving waveform of an address period according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, the scan pulse SP is sequentially supplied to the scan / sustain electrode line Y and the scan / sustain electrode line Y is supplied to the address electrode line X in the address period according to the embodiment of the present invention. Auxiliary pulse ADP and main data pulse MDP are supplied in synchronization with the scanning pulse SP supplied to the N-axis. The scan pulse SP supplied to the scan / sustain electrode line Y is applied so as to overlap each predetermined time. At this time, the scan pulse SP having a slope waveform is applied to the remaining scan / sustain electrode lines Y2 to Ym except the first scan / sustain electrode line Y1 for the predetermined time.

When a data pulse DP having a logic value of '1' is supplied to the address electrode line X, a main data pulse MDP having a small width Td is applied, and a logic value of data is '0'. The main data pulse MDP is not applied. In addition, when the main data pulse MDP is applied, an auxiliary data pulse ADP having a width Tad smaller than the width Td of the main data pulse MDP is applied before and after the main data pulse MDP. . In addition, the scan pulse SP sequentially applied to the scan / sustain electrode line Y has a main scan pulse MSP having a width (Tad + Td = Ts) of the main data pulse MDP and the auxiliary data pulse ADP. ) And a slope auxiliary scan pulse (SASP) having an auxiliary data pulse (ADP) width (Tad = Tas). The main scan pulse MSP is sequentially applied to the scan / sustain electrode line Y, and the slope auxiliary scan pulse SASP is applied before the main scan pulse MSP. The scan pulses sequentially supplied to the scan / sustain electrode lines Y are applied so as to overlap each other by the width Tas of the slope auxiliary scan pulse SASP. In this case, the slope auxiliary scan pulse SASP is changed while having a waveform of a slope shape.

When the driving waveform of the present invention is described in detail, the first scan / sustain electrode line Y1 has the first main data pulse MDP1 + first auxiliary data pulse on the address electrode X as in the conventional art. When (ADP1) is input, the scanning pulse Vsc is applied in synchronization with this. This causes normal address discharge.

Next, when there is the second main data pulse MDP2, the data pulse for the second scan / sustain electrode line Y2 is the first slope auxiliary data pulse SADP1 + the second main data pulse MDP2 + second. It becomes the slope auxiliary data pulse SADP2. In this case, the influence of the first slope auxiliary data pulse SADP1 is rather unacceptable. Of course, the address discharge condition becomes weaker than the case where the scan pulse SP of the second scan / sustain electrode line Y2 starts with a square wave while the first slope auxiliary data pulse SADP1 is present. However, this problem can be solved for two reasons.

First, a strong address discharge does not occur during the driving time to which the scan pulse SP and the first slope auxiliary data pulse SADP1 are applied to the second scan / sustain electrode line Y2, but is weak due to a slowly falling pulse. The discharge is made, which causes the effect of the address discharge. For example, in the prior art in which reset discharge is caused by lamp pulses, there is an effect of preventing strong discharge by lamp pulses, but it does not affect reset discharge or effects.

Second, it is possible to further increase the overlap time by the slowly falling scanning pulse (SP). In other words, the effect of overlap is not a substitute effect of the simple overlapping method, but the address time can be further reduced by increasing the overlap time.

In FIG. 6, the slope waveform portion is displayed to coincide with the portions ADP1, ADP2, ... overlapping the scanning pulse SP, but it does not have to be true. That is, the shape, slope, and overlapping time of the slowly changing waveform can be adjusted through the actual display.

7 is a view showing a driving circuit for applying a scanning pulse having a slope waveform of the PDP according to the present invention, Figure 8 is a drive waveform diagram of the switch element for driving the driving circuit shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 7, the driving circuit of the PDP includes a first switch element Q1, a scan driver 40, and a slope waveform generator 42.

The first switch element Q1 is connected between the scan voltage source Vsc and the scan driver 40 so that the scan voltage source Vsc is supplied during the address period.

The scan driver 40 is connected in series between the first switch element Q1 and the slope waveform generator 42 to sequentially output the scan pulse SP. The scan driver 40 also includes a second switch element Q2 and a third switch element Q3 in series connection for the switching action. The scan pulse SP has a high voltage when the second switch element Q2 is turned on, and has a low voltage when the third switch element Q3 is turned on.

The slope waveform generator 42 is connected between the first switch SW1 for inputting a signal into the circuit, between the first switch SW1 and the ground voltage source GND, and performs a switching action with the fourth switch element Q4; A resistance element R connected between the gate of the first switch SW1 and the fourth switch element Q4 and adjusting the slope slope of the input pulse voltage input from the first switch SW1, and the fourth switch element ( A capacitor C is connected between the gate and the drain of Q4 to form an RC resonant circuit together with the resistance element R to generate a resonance waveform.

Referring to FIG. 8, since the first switch element Q1 is a function of supplying a scan voltage to the scan / sustain electrode line Y, the first switch element Q1 is always on during the address period. The second switch element Q2 and the third switch element Q3 represent one channel as a switch inside the scan driver 40. The scan pulse SP is generated when the output waveform falls when the third switch element Q3 is turned on. The fourth switch element Q4 is a switch for producing a slope waveform according to the present invention and performs the same switching operation as that of the third switch element Q3. That is, when the third switch element Q3 is turned on, the operation means that the output terminal is connected to the fourth switch element Q4. In addition, the actual slope waveform is generated by the fourth switch element Q4 and the peripheral circuit and output through the third switch element Q3.

FIG. 9 is a drive circuit diagram in which a means for stabilizing a switching operation or an operation of the drive circuit is added to the drive circuit shown in FIG.

In FIG. 9, elements having the same reference signs as those in FIG. 7 perform the same operation, and description thereof will be omitted.

Referring to FIG. 9, the slope waveform generator 44 is connected between a first switch SW1 for inputting a signal into a circuit and a first switch SW1 and a ground voltage source GND to switch the fourth switch. The first resistance element R1 connected between the element Q4 and the gate of the first switch SW1 and the fourth switch element Q4 to adjust the slope slope of the input pulse voltage input from the first switch SW1. And a capacitor C1 connected between the gate and the drain of the fourth switch element Q4 to form an RC resonance circuit together with the first resistance element R1 to generate a resonance waveform.

In addition, the second resistor element R2 and the third resistor element R3 of series connection are connected between the capacitor C1 and the drain of the fourth switch element Q4 to form an RC resonant circuit together with the capacitor C. The first diode D1 connected in parallel with the second resistor element R2 and the gate of the first switch SW1 and the fourth switch small Q4 and in parallel with the first resistor element R1 are connected to each other. The fourth resistance element R4 and the second diode D2 connected to each other are provided.

The fourth resistor element R4 and the second diode D2 enable a fast switching operation when the first switch SW1 falls to a low level. Therefore, the first resistor R1 may have a value much larger than that of the fourth resistor R4.

As described above, according to the scan driving method and apparatus of the plasma display panel according to the present invention, the overlapping time is further increased by forming a slope waveform which gradually lowers the initial stage of the overlapping scanning pulses, thereby increasing the addressing time. It can be further reduced.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention should not be limited to the contents described in the detailed description of the specification but should be defined by the claims.

Claims (10)

Applying a first data pulse corresponding to a video signal of '1' to the address electrode; Applying a first data pulse and a second data pulse corresponding to a video signal of '1' different from the width of the first data pulse before and after the first data pulse; And a scan pulse having a slope waveform gradually falling in synchronization with the first data pulse and the second data pulse to a scan / sustain electrode formed in a direction crossing the address electrode. Scan driving method of panel. The method of claim 1, The pulse width of the second data pulse is set to be narrower than the pulse width of the first data pulse. The method of claim 1, The scan / sustain electrode is divided into at least two blocks, and the scan pulses of the slope waveform are sequentially supplied to the scan / sustain electrodes included in the respective blocks so as to be synchronized with the second data pulses. Scan driving method of a plasma display panel. The method of claim 3, wherein The shape, the slope, and the overlapping time of the scan pulse of the slope waveform are variable. A scan voltage source for generating a scan voltage, A first switch element connected to said scan voltage source for driving said scan voltage source for an address period; A scan driver connected to the first switch element for supplying a scan pulse to a scan / sustain electrode; And a slope waveform generator connected to the scan driver to have a slope waveform falling on the scan pulse. The method of claim 5, wherein The scan driver comprises: a second switch element configured to supply a high voltage scan pulse to the scan / sustain electrode; And a third switch element connected to said second switch element for supplying a scan pulse of a low voltage to said scan / sustain electrode. The method of claim 5, wherein The slope waveform generator comprises: a fourth switch element for switching to supply a slope pulse; A first switch connected to a gate of the fourth switch element to turn on a fourth switch element; A first resistor element connected between the gate of the first switch and the fourth switch element to control a voltage input to the fourth switch element; And a capacitor connected between the gate and the drain of the fourth switch element to form a resonance circuit together with the first resistance element. The method of claim 7, wherein A second resistance element and a third resistance element connected between the capacitor and the drain of the fourth switch element to form a resonance circuit with the capacitor to control the time of the slope type scanning pulse; And a first diode connected in parallel to said second resistance element. The method of claim 7, wherein And a fourth resistance element and a second diode connected to the first resistance element in parallel to perform a fast switching operation when the first switch signal falls to a low level. . The method of claim 9, And the fourth resistor element has a resistance value that is much smaller than that of the first resistor element.