KR100677203B1 - Mehtod of Driving Plasma Display Panel with Trigger-sustain Electrodes Structure - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a driving method and apparatus suitable for a plasma display panel using a spatial discharge by a trigger-sustain electrode structure.

The PDP driving method of the present invention comprises supplying a reset pulse to at least one of the first sustain electrode and the first trigger electrode to initialize the discharge cells, and scan scan to at least one of the first sustain electrode and the first trigger electrode. Supplying the data to write data, supplying the first and second sustain pulses synchronized with the first sustain electrode and the first trigger electrode, and the third and fourth synchronized with the second sustain electrode and the second trigger electrode. Supplying sustain pulses alternately with the first and second sustain pulses to generate a sustain discharge, and supplying at least one erase pulse of a second sustain electrode and a second trigger electrode to erase the sustain discharge. Characterized in that it comprises a.

Accordingly, the efficiency of the PDP can be improved by a driving method suitable for the TS electrode structure.

Trigger-hold electrode, space discharge

Description

{Mehtod of Driving Plasma Display Panel with Trigger-sustain Electrodes Structure}             

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a discharge cell of a conventional three-electrode AC surface discharge plasma display panel.

2 is a view showing a sustain discharge phenomenon in the discharge cell shown in FIG.

3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a sustain electrode group of discharge cells of a conventional trigger-holding plasma display panel.

4 is a diagram showing a sustain discharge phenomenon in the discharge cell shown in FIG.

5 is a driving waveform diagram applied to a method of driving a trigger-holding plasma display panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a holding driver of the plasma display panel suitable for the driving method shown in FIG.

7 is a driving waveform diagram applied to a method of driving a trigger-holding plasma display panel according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a driving waveform diagram applied to a method of driving a trigger-holding plasma display panel according to another embodiment of the present invention.                 

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

10: upper substrate 12: transparent electrode

16, 18: bus electrode 13: scanning / holding electrode

15: common holding electrode 20, 28: dielectric layer

22: protective film 24: lower substrate

26: address electrode 30: partition wall

32: phosphor 31: discharge cell

Ys, Zs: sustain electrode Yt, Zt: trigger electrode

40: first trigger electrode driver 42: scan pulse generator

44: reset pulse generator 46: first sustain pulse generator

50: first sustain electrode driver 52: second sustain pulse generator

60: panel

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plasma display panel, and more particularly to a driving method and apparatus suitable for a plasma display panel using spatial discharge by a trigger-sustain electrode structure.

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 the PDP, a three-electrode AC surface discharge type PDP having three electrodes and using surface discharge by AC voltage is typical.

Referring to FIG. 1, a discharge cell of a three-electrode alternating surface discharge PDP includes a pair of sustain electrodes formed on an upper substrate 10, that is, a scan / hold electrode 13 and a common sustain electrode 15, and a lower substrate 24. Has an address electrode 26 formed thereon. The scan / hold electrode 13 includes a transparent electrode 12 for transmitting visible light and a bus electrode 16 for compensating for resistance of the transparent electrode 12. The common holding electrode 15 formed in parallel with the scan / hold electrode 13 also includes a transparent electrode 14 and a bus electrode 18. The upper dielectric layer 20 and the passivation layer 22 are stacked on the upper substrate 10 having the scan / hold electrode 13 and the common sustain electrode 15 side by side. Wall charges generated during plasma discharge are accumulated in the upper dielectric layer 20. The passivation layer 22 prevents damage to the upper dielectric layer 20 due to sputtering generated during plasma discharge and increases emission efficiency of secondary electrons. As the protective film 20, magnesium oxide (MgO) is usually used. The address electrode 26 is formed on the lower substrate 24 in a direction crossing the scan / hold electrode 13 and the common sustain electrode 15. The lower dielectric layer 28 for wall charge accumulation is formed on the lower substrate 24 on which the address electrode 26 is formed. The partition wall 30 is formed on the lower dielectric layer 28, and the phosphor 32 is coated on the surfaces of the lower dielectric layer 28 and the partition wall 30. The partition wall 24 is formed in parallel with the address electrode 20 to prevent the ultraviolet rays and the visible light generated by the discharge from leaking to the adjacent discharge cells. The phosphor 32 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 by the upper substrate 10, the lower substrate 24, and the partition wall 30.

The discharge cell of this structure is selected by the counter discharge between the address electrode 26 and the scan / hold electrode 13 and then sustains the discharge by the surface discharge between the sustain electrode pairs 13 and 15. In such a discharge cell, the fluorescent material 32 emits light by ultraviolet rays generated during the sustain discharge, so that visible light is emitted to the outside of the cell. As a result, the discharge cells adjust the period during which the discharge is maintained to implement gray scale, and the PDP in which the discharge cells are arranged in a matrix form displays an image.

The luminance of this PDP is determined by the period in which discharge is maintained. In addition, the luminance of the PDP is proportional to the amount of vacuum ultraviolet rays generated during sustain discharge. However, in the surface discharge PDP described above, the vacuum ultraviolet rays are largely lost through the sustain electrode pairs 13 and 15 having a large area, resulting in low light efficiency. In detail, in the sustain discharge, as shown in FIG. 2, an initial discharge occurs between the sustain electrode pairs 13 and 15, so that the discharge spreads along the surfaces of the sustain electrode pairs 13 and 15, thereby performing surface discharge. It can be seen that. In this case, the discharge region is limited to the surface discharge form in the local region where the sustain electrode pairs 13 and 15 are located. Therefore, although the width of the sustain electrode pairs 13 and 15 was set to increase the discharge size, the amount of ultraviolet rays was increased to increase the amount of ultraviolet rays. However, a large amount of the vacuum ultraviolet rays generated by the surface discharge has a large area of the sustain electrode pairs 13 and 15. It is absorbed through 15) and the discharge current increases in proportion to the electrode width. Alternatively, in order to overcome the above limitations of the discharge region, a method of lengthening the discharge path by lengthening the interval between the sustain electrode pairs 13 and 15 has been considered. In this case, the discharge distance is increased and the amount of ultraviolet rays is generated. However, the discharge start voltage is rapidly increased at a certain interval, which makes it difficult for practical application.

In order to overcome the low efficiency of the three-electrode AC surface discharge PDP, as shown in FIG. 3, a trigger-sustaining electrode including four sustain electrodes in one discharge cell has been recently described. The structure was proposed at the 1999 IDW Society ('99 IDW, P-10.2: A Controlled Lateral Volume Discharge for High Luminous Efficiency AC-PDP). The TS electrode shown in FIG. 3 includes four sustain electrode groups, that is, trigger electrode pairs Yt and Zt and sustain electrode pairs Ys and Zs for discharge sustaining. The sustain electrode pairs Ys and Zs shown in FIG. 3 are disposed at distant intervals with shorter electrode widths than the sustain electrode pairs 13 and 15 shown in FIG. 1. The trigger electrode pairs Yt and Zt are disposed at relatively short intervals between the sustain electrode pairs Ys and Zs. The trigger electrode pairs Yt and Zt cause the trigger discharge to be generated primarily by the relatively low voltage. The sustain electrode pairs Ys and Zs generate the main oil dielectric secondary by the voltage applied to the priming charged particles generated by the trigger discharge and the sustain electrode pairs Ys and Zs. Accordingly, the final discharge is generated in the form of a long-path discharge between sustain electrode pairs Ys and Ts, as shown in FIG. 4, thereby increasing the discharge region. In addition, the discharge region by the TS electrode is limited to the surface discharge region formed in close contact with the dielectric layer along the surfaces of the sustain electrode pairs 13 and 15 having a wide width as shown in FIG. The trigger electrode pairs Yt and Zt and the sustain electrode pairs Ys and Zs each having a short width are spaced apart by a predetermined distance, and are spaced apart from the dielectric layer to increase to a spatial discharge region having a predetermined volume. This increase in the discharge area generates more ultraviolet light and improves the light efficiency because there is no ultraviolet light loss on the wide electrode surface as in the conventional surface discharge. Therefore, PDP driving methods for driving PDPs more efficiently by using the TS electrode structure having high light efficiency as described above are required.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a PDP driving method and apparatus capable of efficiently driving a PDP using a TS electrode structure.

In order to achieve the above object, a PDP driving method of a TS electrode structure according to the present invention includes a trigger having a plurality of discharge cells including first and second sustain electrodes and first and second trigger electrodes therebetween. Initializing discharge cells by supplying a reset pulse to at least one of the first sustain electrode and the first trigger electrode to drive the plasma display panel having the sustain electrode structure; Supplying scan pulses to at least one of the first sustain electrode and the first trigger electrode to write data; The first and second sustain pulses are supplied with the first and second sustain pulses synchronized with the first sustain electrode and the first trigger electrode, and the third and fourth sustain pulses synchronized with the second sustain electrode and the second trigger electrode. Supplying alternately with and generating and maintaining a maintenance discharge; And erasing the sustain discharge by supplying at least one erase pulse of the second sustain electrode and the second trigger electrode.

A PDP driving apparatus of a TS electrode structure according to the present invention is a plasma display panel having a trigger-hold electrode structure having a plurality of discharge cells including first and second sustain electrodes and first and second trigger electrodes therebetween. A first sustain electrode driver and a first trigger electrode driver for generating synchronized first and second sustain pulses having different voltages to supply the first sustain electrode and the first trigger electrode, respectively; And a second sustain electrode driver and a second trigger electrode driver for generating synchronized third and fourth sustain pulses having different voltages to supply the second sustain electrode and the second trigger electrode, respectively.

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 in detail with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8.

FIG. 5 illustrates a driving waveform supplied during one subfield period for explaining a PDP driving method of a TS electrode structure according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 5, it can be seen that the first and second trigger electrodes Yt and Zt and the first and second sustain electrodes Ys and Zs are driven separately. To this end, as shown in FIG. 6, the sustain driver includes a first trigger electrode driver 40 and a first sustain electrode driver 50 for driving the first trigger electrode Yt and the first sustain electrode Ys, respectively. And a second trigger electrode driver and a second sustain electrode driver, which are not shown. The first trigger electrode driver 40 includes a scan pulse generation circuit 40, a reset pulse generation circuit 44, and a Yt sustain pulse generation circuit 46. Here, the reset pulse generating circuit 44 is commonly connected to the first trigger electrode Yt and the first sustain electrode Ys to supply the reset pulse. In this case, the reset pulse generation circuit 44 is connected to the first sustain electrode Ys through the diode D1 so that the sustain pulse generated by the Ys sustain pulse generation circuit 52 flows back to the reset pulse generation circuit 44. To prevent it.

During the reset period RPD, the reset pulse generating circuit 44 simultaneously supplies the reset pulse RP to the first sustain electrode and the trigger electrodes Ys and Yt. The reset pulse RP has the same form in which the voltage increases in the set-up period and the voltage decreases in the set-down period in the form of a ramp wave. The reset pulses RPs and RPt generate reset discharges having no large light emission in the setup period, thereby forming wall charges in the dielectric layers around the electrodes Ys, Yt, Zt, and Zs. Subsequently, the charged particles are partially erased by the decreasing voltage in the set-down period of the reset pulse RP, and the wall charges are reduced to such an extent that no false discharge occurs. To reduce the wall charges, the second sustain electrode driver (not shown) and the second trigger electrode driver (not shown) during the set down period of the reset pulse RP, the second sustain electrode and the trigger electrodes Zs and Zt, respectively The first and second DC voltages Vs and Vt having positive polarity (+) are supplied thereto. The first DC voltage Vs supplied to the second sustain electrode Zs is set to be larger than the second DC voltage Vt supplied to the second trigger electrode Zt. Since the reset pulses RPs and RPt are supplied in a decreasing manner with respect to the first and second DC voltages Vs and Vt of the positive polarity (+), the first sustain electrode and the trigger electrodes Ys and Yt are the same. The wall charges are reduced by the negative polarity (−) relative to the second sustain electrode and the trigger electrodes Zs and Zt.

In the address period APD, the scan pulse generator 42 supplies the scan pulse SP to the first trigger electrode Yt, and supplies a data pulse to the address electrode (not shown) by the address driver (not shown). By supplying address discharge, a sufficient wall charge is formed. This wall charge is maintained for a period during which the other discharge cells are addressed.

In the sustain period SPD, the Yt sustain pulse generator 46 and the Ys sustain pulse generator 52 respectively apply sustain pulses SUSPys and SUSPyt to the first sustain electrode Ys and the first trigger electrode Yt. In addition, the sustain pulses SUSPzs and SUSPzt are supplied to the second sustain electrode Zs and the second trigger electrode Yt from the second sustain electrode driver and the second trigger electrode driver. In the discharge cells in which wall charges are sufficiently formed in the address period APD by the sustain pulses SUSPys, SUSPyt, SUSPzs, and SUSPzt, the discharge starts and is maintained. In detail, sustain pulses SUSPys and SUSPyt having a relatively large pulse width are supplied to the first sustain electrode and the trigger electrodes Ys and Yt at the start of the sustain period SPD to start the sustain discharge. In detail, a first trigger discharge occurs between the first and second trigger electrodes Yt and Zt having a short interval by the sustain pulses SUSPys and SUSPyt, and then the first and second sustain electrodes Ys and Zs. Secondary sustain discharges occur successively, and sustain discharge is initiated. Subsequently, sustain pulses SUSPzs, SUSPzt, SUSPys, and SUSPyt having alternately short pulse widths are supplied to the second sustain electrode and the trigger electrodes Zs and Zt and the first sustain electrode and the trigger electrodes Ys and Yt. The discharge is maintained for a period of time. In this case, since the main sustain discharge is generated between the first and second sustain electrodes Ys and Zs, the discharge distance is increased, and as shown in FIG. This will be improved. Here, the trigger discharge and the sustain discharge are discharges having different purposes. In other words, the voltage Vt for trigger discharge is determined to be able to help the next sustain discharge, and the voltage Vs for sustain discharge is determined to obtain the highest discharge efficiency. Therefore, the trigger voltage Vt is set lower than the sustain voltage Vs. In the erase period EPD subsequent to the sustain period SPD, the erase pulses EPs and EPt are supplied to the second sustain electrode and the trigger electrodes Zs and Zt, respectively, to stop the discharge. The reset pulses EPs and EPt have a lamp wave shape with a small light emission size and a short pulse width for discharging the discharge. The charged particles are erased by the short erase discharge by the reset pulses EPs and EPt to stop the discharge.

7 illustrates a driving waveform applied to the PDP driving method of the TS electrode structure according to another embodiment of the present invention. When the driving waveform shown in FIG. 7 is compared with the driving waveform shown in FIG. 5, only the driving waveform supplied to the first sustaining electrode Ys is different, and the driving waveforms supplied to the other electrodes are the same. Referring to the driving process by the driving waveform, the reset discharge is generated by supplying the reset pulse RP to the first trigger electrode Yt during the reset period RPD. The amount of wall charges formed by this reset discharge is reduced to such an extent that no false discharge is caused by the decreasing reset voltage. To reduce the wall charges, the first and second DC voltages Vs and Vt having positive polarities are supplied to the second sustain electrodes and the trigger electrodes Zs and Zt, respectively. In the address period APD, a scan pulse SP is supplied to the first trigger electrode Yt and a data pulse is supplied to the address electrode (not shown) to generate an address discharge so that sufficient wall charges are formed. This wall charge is maintained for a period during which the other discharge cells are addressed. At the start of the sustain period SPD, sustain pulses SUSPys and SUSPyt having a relatively large pulse width are supplied to the first sustain electrode and the trigger electrodes Ys and Yt to supply the first and second trigger electrodes Yt and Zt. A sustain discharge is initiated which leads to a primary trigger discharge between the secondary and a secondary sustain discharge between the first and second sustain electrodes Ys and Zs. Subsequently, sustain pulses SUSPzs, SUSPzt, SUSPys, and SUSPyt having alternately short pulse widths are supplied to the second sustain electrode and the trigger electrodes Zs and Zt and the first sustain electrode and the trigger electrodes Ys and Yt. The discharge is maintained for a period of time. In this case, since the main sustain discharge is generated between the first and second sustain electrodes Ys and Zs, the discharge distance is increased, and as shown in FIG. This will be improved. Here, the voltage Vt for trigger discharge is set lower than the voltage Vs for sustain discharge. In the erase period EPD, the erase pulses EPs and EPt are supplied to the second sustain electrode and the trigger electrodes Zs and Zt, respectively, to stop the discharge.

8 illustrates a driving waveform applied to a method of driving a PDP of a TS electrode structure according to another embodiment of the present invention. In contrast to the driving waveform shown in FIG. 8 and the driving waveform shown in FIG. 5, in FIG. 5, each of the electrodes Ys, Yt, Zs, and Zt is driven by a separate driving waveform, whereas in FIG. It can be seen that the trigger electrodes Ys and Yt are driven by the same driving waveform, and the second sustain electrode and the trigger electrodes Zs and Zt are driven by the same driving waveform. Looking at the driving method by the driving waveform, the reset discharge is generated by supplying the same reset pulse RP to the first sustain electrode and the trigger electrode (Ys, Yt) during the reset period (RPD). The amount of wall charges formed by this reset discharge is reduced to such an extent that no false discharge is caused by the decreasing reset voltage. In order to reduce the wall charge, a positive DC voltage Vs is supplied to each of the second sustain electrode and the trigger electrodes Zs and Zt. In the address period APD, the scan pulse SP is supplied to the first sustain electrode and the trigger electrodes Ys and Yt, and a data pulse is supplied to the address electrode (not shown) by the address driver (not shown). By causing the discharge to occur, sufficient wall charges are formed. This wall charge is maintained for a period during which the other discharge cells are addressed. At the start of the sustain period SPD, a sustain pulse SSUSPy having a relatively large pulse width is supplied to the first sustain electrode Ys and the first trigger electrode Yt to start a sustain discharge. In detail, a primary trigger discharge occurs between the first and second trigger electrodes Yt and Zt having a short interval by the sustain pulse SUSPy, and then, between the first and second sustain electrodes Ys and Zs. Subsequent sustain discharges occur in succession to initiate sustain discharge. Subsequently, discharge is performed while the sustain pulses SUSPz and SUSPy having alternately short pulse widths are supplied to the second sustain electrode and the trigger electrodes Zs and Zt and the first sustain electrode and the trigger electrodes Ys and Yt. Will be maintained. In this case, since the main sustain discharge is generated between the first and second sustain electrodes Ys and Zs, the discharge distance is increased, and as shown in FIG. This will be improved. The driving method drives the first sustaining electrode Ys and the first trigger electrode Yt with the same driving circuit and drives the second sustaining electrode Zs and the second trigger electrode Zt with the same driving circuit. The number of driving circuits can be reduced.

As described above, the PDP driving method and apparatus of the TS electrode structure according to the present invention can improve the efficiency of the PDP by proposing a driving method suitable for the TS electrode structure having a higher light efficiency than the conventional three-electrode surface discharge electrode structure To be.

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 (8)

A driving method of a plasma display panel having a trigger-holding electrode structure having a plurality of discharge cells including first and second sustain electrodes and first and second trigger electrodes therebetween. Initializing the discharge cells by supplying a reset pulse to at least one of the first sustain electrode and the first trigger electrode; Supplying scan pulses to at least one of the first sustain electrode and the first trigger electrode to write data; The first and second sustain pulses are synchronized with the first sustain electrode and the first trigger electrode, and the third and fourth sustain pulses are synchronized with the second sustain electrode and the second trigger electrode. 2 supplying alternating pulses to maintain and generate a sustain discharge; And supplying at least one erase pulse of the second sustain electrode and the second trigger electrode to erase the sustain discharge. The method of claim 1, And the reset pulse is supplied to the first sustain electrode and the first trigger electrode in common. The method of claim 1, And the first sustain electrode and the first trigger electrode are driven in common, and the second sustain electrode and the second trigger electrode are driven in common. The method of claim 1, And the first and second sustain electrodes and the first and second trigger electrodes are driven separately. The method of claim 4, wherein The voltage of the second and fourth sustain pulses supplied to the first and second trigger electrodes is set lower than the voltage of the first and third sustain pulses supplied to the first and second sustain electrodes. A method of driving a plasma display panel having a sustain electrode structure. The method of claim 1, And supplying at least one sustaining pulse having a relatively large pulse width at the start of the sustaining discharge so as to initiate the sustaining discharge. A driving apparatus of a plasma display panel having a trigger-holding electrode structure having a plurality of discharge cells including first and second sustain electrodes and first and second trigger electrodes therebetween. A first sustain electrode driver and a first trigger electrode driver for generating synchronized first and second sustain pulses having different voltages to supply the first sustain electrode and the first trigger electrode, respectively; And a second sustain electrode driver and a second trigger electrode driver for generating synchronized third and fourth sustain pulses having different voltages to supply the second sustain electrode and the second trigger electrode, respectively. An apparatus for driving a plasma display panel having a structure. The method of claim 7, wherein The first sustain electrode driver includes a first sustain pulse generator configured to generate the first sustain pulse. The first trigger electrode driver includes a reset pulse generator for generating a reset pulse, a scan pulse generator for generating a scan pulse, and a second sustain pulse generator for generating the second sustain pulse, And the reset pulse generator is configured to supply the reset pulse to the first sustain electrode in common.

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